This is what a feminist looks like! - Friday May 30, 2008

I'm a feminist. Proud and strong. It has been a revolving theme for me lately. I just finished an amazing book by Jessica Valenti entitled Full Frontal Feminism. I highly recommend it!

I finished it at the beginning of school today...after tripping UP the stairs. Who does that?! A male teacher was assured that I needed to go to the nurse...I was in no way in need of medical attention.

Today...wasn't bad. I just think it is time for a break...like I said before. I need a break.

I had an open class today to do with a second grade teacher...luckily I was only a brief puppet and got to be an observer for most of the lesson. She has a good class...one of my favorites and she is a good teacher! Incredibly kind and soft-spoken.

I went to guitar lessons at 2:30PM. I really enjoy guitar lessons. I will miss them next year if I move to Seoul. I'll be able to find lessons, but I'm a big fan of my Wonju teacher.

The meeting tonight was a disaster. I was so frustrated by the end of it that I was ready for second round with a vengeance. My group was utterly opposed to talking. The topic was quite good, but the conversation was intolerable.

I am wearing the new earrings that I bought from the Bean Club tonight. They always have earrings for display (handmade, I believe) and I always look at them...well Katie and I finally bought some tonight. We have incredibly different styles, but they fit our personalities.

The topic tonight: Personalities. It's a hard topic for me...so I suppose it is acceptable that we didn't get incredibly in depth with our conversation...yet it had the potential to be a great conversation. Sadness!

Something else bothered me about tonight. It was more subtle than the very obvious horrible conversation. The leader of the meeting for this month had the group leader move to another couch (opposite to me versus next to me), then when Lauren came he wanted her to move to another couch away from me...to split up the native English speakers (one at each table), then after Madeleine came he moved me to the middle table instead of letting me stay where I wanted to. I wanted to stay at the table with Lauren and Chan (the leader of WEC), but I was moved. The problem with this is that my purpose in going to these meetings is to not only interact with Koreans but to have good conversations as well (sometimes I miss having decent conversations..in depth conversations). I knew that I wanted to stay at the group I was initially with because I knew that I would have a good conversation there (and I would feel more comfortable talking about the topic of personality with that group) and by being moved, I was moved into a group where the conversation was quite the opposite of good and I was incredibly uncomfortable. Next time, I'm going to stay with the group that I want to stay with.

Second round was fun...like I said...I was ready for it. I sat next to Madeleine, Katie, and Lauren. Sometimes you need that foreign interaction...anyone who has lived abroad would most likely understand. I denied it for a long time, but it is truly nice to just be fully verbally understood sometimes. Especially after a week like mine. (*I'd like to add that sometimes I just need that Korean interaction as well...time AWAY from foreigners, so it goes both ways.) Madeleine and I talked about many things including relationships and feminism.

I'd like to point something out. In our current society, we (young women) are taught that we are not supposed to like sex or even have it for that matter. We are not supposed to make out. We are supposed to remain in the perfect virginal state of being that we were brought into the world with until we are married. The world doesn't really work like that. We like sex. We like making out. And it's going to happen whether society makes us feel like shit for it or not. When men have sex with multiple partners, they are players or they are doing what nature made them to do ("spread their seed.") BUT when women have sex with multiple partners, they are sluts, they are broken, they are worth less! Bullshit! Is this really what we want to be teaching young men and women? That the most important thing about a woman is her virginity?! There is something inherently fucked up about that.

I am a feminist. I shave my legs. (When I feel like it.) I don't hate men.

I want equal rights for men and women.

I want women and men to receive equal pay.

I don't want men (or women for that matter) to think that women exist solely for the purpose of pleasing men.

I don't want the rape of a woman to EVER be her fault.

I don't want women to EVER have to be ashamed to tell their families and friends that they have been raped for fear of family expulsion (because women are nothing without their virginity, remember?)

I want women to have sex AND enjoy it.

I don't want the government to have a say in what a woman does with her body. The government wouldn't dare dictate what is acceptable for a man to do with his body.

I want women and men to have full access to intelligent sex education. Condoms DO NOT cause cancer!

I don't want pharmacists to be allowed to make the personal decision of whether or not a woman should be allowed to receive birth control.

I want young women to be respected to make intelligent decisions about themselves, their bodies, and the people around them. Give us some credit. I promise...we won't fuck things up too badly.