problems.

[x]

equity.

hey. I just wanted to do a quick post to talk about the difference between equity and equality.

 A lot of social justice folks talk about equality.

With equality, we're saying everyone has the same opportunities, and is treated the same as everyone else. 

Which is great! But let me give you a different way to think about it.

If a person is diagnosed with cancer, and needs to get radiation therapy, equality says he should be able to get the treatment he needs. The thing is, not everyone needs to get radiation therapy. If I fall and break my arm, I should be able to go and get a cast, but not everyone needs a cast on their arm. 

Have you ever heard the argument, if you don't like gay marriage, don't get one? Its the same thing. If you're gay and want to get married, you should be able to, but not everyone needs to marry someone of the same sex. 

Equity says, everyone should be able to get what they need. If you break your arm, you get a cast. If you want to go to college but don't have the money, you'll get some help. Everyone gets what they need, because they need it. Not just because they have the money, a certain skin tone, etc. 

I recently heard an argument about correct definitions of terms. There are a lot of terms we don't often use the full, correct definition for, but many people use a similar, shared definition. The example used was using the term racism, when you may actually mean prejudice based on race. Equality is one of those words.

A lot of people use the term equality, but what they probably mean, is equity. I still use equality in a lot of conversations, but when the time is right, I'll break out the more accurate term, equity.

Okay, that wasn't so quick. But you learned something important! Hooray!

viva la selfie.

If you haven't heard, Selfie was named word of the year by the Oxford Dictionary for 2013 [x]. Officially, it is defined as "A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically taken with a smart phone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website." [x]

But why do you care? Because selfies are pretty fucking powerful, thats why. In a billion dollar beauty industry focused on convincing us we don't look good enough and need their products, something focused on self celebration and showing off how good we look is a big deal. We are saying "Fuck you, we will look good however we feel we look good, and don't need you to tell us how to look." But the important thing to remember is this means different things to different people! To someone, showing off how good they look sans makeup may mean power. To someone else, taking a photo to document how perfect their eyeliner is that day may be what they need. Just because we're saying screw the beauty industry's standards, doesn't mean we can't still appreciate and use their products. 

This issue isn't new, its something second wave feminists dealt with a lot, and defines the split between the radical liberation feminists and the radical cultural feminists. Some people felt in order for women to be empowered, they had to deny anything feminism and try to be either more masculine or androgynous to reclaim their power. Others wanted to celebrate the feminine identity and be extra feminine! 

In today's world we respect both, and need to realize that the big issue at play is choice. Its not about which is better, but that we're free to do whatever we think its for us. If that means wearing no makeup and sweats, thats fine. If that means caking on the makeup with a mini skirt and stilettos, thats cool too. 

Unfortunately, its not always as easy as that. Saying that its fine to do whatever you want, wont stop the judgement and expectations from others based on what you wear or how you look. 

There are days I leave the house in a particularly feminine get up, and feel guilty as soon as I start talking about carpentry, or welding. I feel my identity as a woman who works in a male dominated industry is betrayed for wanting to wear a dress or high heals. 

There are days when the opposite happens, I go out in work boots and baggy paint stained clothes, and I feel unattractive or unimpressive. 

I will follow both of those by saying there are also days when I go out in a cute dress and feel kick ass for surprising people with my knowledge of carpentry, and days when I leave the house in my gross work clothes and love to see the reactions when I act particularly nice and sweet. 

It all comes down to who you want to be, and accepting that who you want to be may change from day to day. But if you like who you are today, go ahead, take a picture. Show off who you are, and why that is so great.

Viva la selfie.

For further reading, check out...

 "The Clothes I Wear Help Me to Know My Own Power" by  BETTY LUTHER HILLMAN

and

"Feminist Thought" by ROSEMARIE TONG

justification.

Now, I don't want to fall into a pattern of just reposting stuff and telling you what other people think, but there is cool stuff out there, and I want everyone to know.

I found this list via Facebook, and am excited to explore this author's articles further.

So here ya are...

18 Things Women Shouldn't Have To Justify
JAN. 4, 2014
By BRIANNA WIEST


1. Putting themselves first. When Barbara Walters asked Michelle Obama if it were selfish that she openly makes herself her first priority she responded: “No, no, it’s practical…. a lot of times we just slip pretty low on our own priority list because we’re so busy caring for everyone else. And one of the things that I want to model for my girls is investing in themselves as much as they invest in others.”

2. How little or much they’re eating, especially if it’s “unhealthy.” You can eat a big lunch without having to say “I haven’t eaten anything all day” or have some delicious ass nachos without saying “I totally deserve this, I was so good this week, I’ll start the diet again tomorrow.” More importantly, you shouldn’t have to always be interrogated with “that’s all you’re having?” or “you’re going to eat all that?!”

3. Healthy eating as a means of actual health, not weight loss, because for some reason, people tend to be skeptical that a woman could actually just want to treat her body right and not be perpetually concerned with her size.

4. Not having baby fever. You aren’t more or less of a woman– or person– if having a child isn’t for you now or ever. You shouldn’t have to back it up with the reasons you’re not maternally inclined but will maybe consider it down the road because “who really knows– maybe someday!” when you do really know that you don’t want kids but don’t want to be glared at like a heartless monster.

5. Having baby fever. Nobody should have to face a flurry of interrogative questions when they proclaim that they do indeed want to have children young, because it’s just as acceptable to feel that way as it is the alternative. If you want to travel, you’ll travel. If you want to pursue a career in addition to motherhood, pursue you shall. As long as you are aware of the implications, no further justification to other people who don’t feel the same way is needed.

6. Whether or not they’re having sex, and to what degree. There doesn’t have to be a reason that you slept with so-and-so, and you don’t have to feel obligated to give an excuse for why you’ve been celibate.

7. Enjoying what would otherwise be called guilty pleasures because they’re “girly” things. They don’t have to be “guilty” pleasures, they can just be pleasures. You can enjoy getting your nails painted and wearing a skirt and re-watching 13 Going On 30 a thousand times without floundering in stereotypes.

8. “Looking like shit today.” Whenever a woman leaves the house looking anything less than airbrushed and runs into someone they know, they tend to feel the need to apologize for it. You don’t have to apologize to someone else for not being a certain way, you have to apologize to yourself for feeling like you had to in the first place.

9. Experimenting with sexuality. It doesn’t have to be because you were “lost and confused” or just “a wild crazy girl in college.” If you made out with a girl at a party because it was the cool thing to do, fine, if it was more than that, just call it for what it was.

10. Weight, because size actually does not determine what “a real woman” is or not.

11. Amount of makeup worn on any given day. If you want to rock it au naturale, you do that, you beautiful little thing, and if you want to work it like you’re in a drag show, you can do that too. Your face. Your rules.

12. Sometimes conventionally frowned upon clothing choices. You don’t have to say you wear leggings “because they’re so comfortable” or a really short dress because you’re just “being crazy tonight.” These things require no explanation, and you shouldn’t let other people pressure you into feeling as though they do.

13. Being upset about something that warrants an emotional response. You don’t have to apologize for feeling something or acting out on it if it’s real to you. The people who judge you for being a human being, and not being ultimately demure and emotionless and in your place, are the ones who need to apologize.

14. Moving for a relationship if one is invested and ready… or just putting a relationship first if it’s a healthy and happy thing or something you want/need to work on. There’s a big difference between being dismissive and walked on and stepping up and taking part as an equal in a relationship, a role that usually requires compromising and effort.

15. Wanting to get married young.

16. Not wanting to get married young.

17. Attractiveness despite something. You don’t have to justify your so-called-imperfections with that which you like about yourself– you aren’t attractive because you have great hair despite being a little overweight. You can be attractive without fitting into social conventions of it. The beauty continuum scale was constructed to make us all feel like shit and buy a lot of products to fix that. But beautiful is as beautiful does.

18. Passing social deadlines for things. Who cares if you’re 35 and as single as you were 15 years ago? Life doesn’t start when someone or something comes along and then society says it can. You don’t have to make excuses as to why you aren’t married or with child or working a traditional 9-5. Our lives weren’t meant to be scripted the same way. When you adopt someone else’s narrative, it’s because you aren’t hearing your own clearly enough.

Now let me tell you, I feel like I am constantly justifying things. The thing I hate most is 'are you okay?' when I'm totally fine. I always feel like I have to have some excuse for why I might have appeared off, even though I thought I was acting pretty normal. Its always 'oh yeah, I'm just tired' or 'yeah I'm just thinking about this thing' but rarely do I say 'yeah, I'm totally fine, was I acting not okay?'


Is anyone a regular reader of Brianna Wiest? Any good recommendations on what to read of hers?

are you a feminist?

To start things off, I've got a quick quiz for you to take. (Don't worry, its really fast)

I was going to be clever and write my own quiz, but this one is just too perfect.

 Now that we've done that, congratulations! But what do you do now? Since you're a feminist does that mean you have to start going out to rallies and hating men? Nope just keep doing what your doing, but maybe now you can do it with your eyes open just a little wider. Obviously there are things in the world that aren't equal, and maybe shouldn't be. For example, just because some people need to have open heart surgery, doesn't mean everyone should have it. But what you can start noticing is when things aren't equitable. If someone needs open heart surgery, they should be able to get it. If someone needs birth control, they should be able to get it. So yes, you can go out and protest for reproductive rights and healthcare for all, and that is great if you do! But don't feel like you have to do that to be a good feminist. Things that seem small can still make a difference, and the more people who do it, the bigger difference it will make. Hear a song that is putting down women? You could choose not to listen to it, you could use it to start a conversation about why its not cool to put down women. You don't have to go out and find the feminist war, there are smaller battles you can fight in your everyday life.

an intro.

I've often been turned off by activism. Not because I don't appreciate change and the things that need to happen in the world, but because I have a hard time participating when I can't see the immediate change and how it effects me. Because of this, until recently I did not consider myself a feminist. How could I be a feminist when I didn't protest, sign petitions or participate in events?

So what changed my mind? I discovered 'the personal is political', the second wave feminist idea that little everyday things you can do in your life can make a difference if done consciously and though to how it effects others.

I'm still figuring out what this means to me, and how these choices make a difference, but I invite you (all of you, any of you) to join me in making these small choices that can add up to big change.