Are you feminist?

                                  

I never thought about that until a doctor asked me that at work.  In Sweden it is not such a strange thing that men call themselves feminist. 

And while I just thought about equality for the LGBTIQ community, it came again to my mind that this is also something we deal with on and on. 

But what is a feminist nowadays? It sure is not only a woman fighting aggressive for her rights. It’s not only fighting for being part of the congress, getting the laws changed and fighting together as black and white.

It has become more. Women fight loud but also in silence and they fight on different places. Now it’s education, family times and still family planning or also called Planned Parenthood.  They also fight for same wage as this is still unbelievable unfair and women now have understood that they have to demand men to fight with them, to understand deep inside that what they seek is right and has to make into reality.

You know it is unbelievable that we after 100 years since the women started to fight for equality have not come that far.  Why is it so hard to achieve success? Is it that we went more silent after the 80tis? Is it that young women have to discover feminist for themselves and make it their own thing? Find new ways and remember that being loud is still necessary. 

So a man fighting along side by side with a woman is a feminist?

Thought as far as I remember what I have read, most of those men still are very much living the cliché and those 50/50 thing is more a which, than reality, in everyday life and also those men pay women less than for a man.  Women are many times o.k. with this, or believe it just is that way or even more it has to be, thought they should know better.  But yes, we have still also those women who truly believe a woman has to be home, make children and her husband has to bring home the money. They believe women should not have extra rights- and this is the problem! It’s not about extra rights it’s about to get the same rights, to have the same possibilities and choices.  Sure in many ways men and women are different, but that does not mean they are weaker, or less worth, or should have less rights as they can be smart the same as men and work hard as a man and even feel. They can make decisions and those without being victims of hormones. Many forget that men have also hormones, which makes them act stupid.

And why is it still a problem to live out sexuality as women? Why is it still for men and women a problem if a woman gets a divorce, but not when the man does? That’s bigotry and lying to yourself about what and who we are. 

But back to men who are called feminist. They are no less man of course, thought many would like to call them so. They fight for women rights; sometimes they just call it a fight for equality. And without men the revolution will not succeed in the end. We always need both sides.  And also those men who just fight and are into equality. Like myself, a man who does not call themselves a feminist.

But let’s be true, we do to less and women also stand in their own way. We have to try harder but how can we make others understand that the time is now, not tomorrow as it can be too late then or even harder to achieve things. As this is a question of power, of money and who will lead the world. It is a question of peace and war and where we put each other. It is a question of respect and empathy.  Things the new generation of feminist have to understand and some already work that way. The older generation is looking back and into the future and will hope that we go on fighting as they see how hard it still is, how unequal we act and how hard some groups fight to get women back into the dark age again. So we have to talk, to teach and be visible.

May you call yourself a feminist or not, but start discussing what went wrong, to know our history and what should we do and how can we prepare our children to not do the same mistakes or act the same unequal way. Yes, it starts with how we teach them, how uncles, mothers and grandparents act and all those other folks. Only together we will make it better as it is not enough when just parents make it right. 

Let's think about it with Love & Light