On feminism… To be or not to be?

I thought I’d share a little photography blog today because I haven’t done one of those in a while.

It was my birthday yesterday, I turned 31 (for which I consumed a bucket of cocktails) classy I know, and I took these photographs with the thought of my new approaching age in mind.

I suppose I’d consider myself a feminist, although I wouldn’t consider myself the kind that protests and wears short-sleeved angry t-shirts with something like f*** men written on it, and the majority of my friends are male, so maybe I’m not.

Actually, there’s a lot of the feminist movement that irritates me.

I think for instance a lot of feminist literature such as ‘the second sex’ or ‘the female eunuch’ which are considered bibles in the feminist movement, are outdated and no longer relevant. They have already changed the society in which we live in.

We are empowered and yet feminists like to point out that we’re not. So why push that idea onto young females? Why are we still told that we’re not equal?

I certainly see myself as equal to a man. I am equal to everybody. That is called self-respect. I don’t think I’m better or worse, just simply equal.

I also embrace my differences, what makes me different to a man doesn’t make me any less or any more, we are simply just different, and that’s a good thing.

We should utilise our differences as strengths. Perhaps by acknowledging our differences we could build a society that is stronger…

“There are three types of lies — lies, damn lies, and statistics.”

Benjamin Disraeli

Traditions…

With the rise of feminism, I’m going to argue that there has been a strong decline in the family unit.

Gone are the days of strong archetypal men, who were heads of the family and instead we have women that work full-time and children that are put into the educational system, as early as women like.

Which is good, in a way, of course, you should always aim to educate the young, but what will happen to these children as they become adults? Is it right to send a baby under 6 months to a Nursery? I’m undecided.

Our traditions, values and core beliefs are being handed over to the state to educate our children as they see fit, because we are to busy breaking stereotypes to be able to look after children.

And what of war? Will women fight too?

Yes, I like that we are free now, and I know what I’m saying isn’t a popular stand point, but here me out. We have equality. It’s done, so what are we still fighting for?

We should all have the choice to work if we want to, or have our own business, of course.

We should have the right to vote, earn money and equal pay if.

We also get to decide if we want children or not, gone are the days of being housebound with six children, (like my poor grandmother bless her soul) unless you want that, of course…

But what if we do have children?

I find the opposite is true, there is now kind of a stigma against women who don’t go out and work after they have children.

We used to have a delicate balance of feminine caring energy and a masculine disciplinarian one. Now we all seem to be the same. All energies are combined into one.

In truth we have no idea if the dismantled family unit is of any benefit to us, we’re just trying a new approach to our traditional systems.

We are moving into a new era of the unknown. This is not a bad thing exactly, change is a necessity in the growth of our systems but, it is worth noting that we truly don’t know if this change in dynamics is a good thing, it is simply new…

I always find this is something feminists miss when they are staunchly protesting for their rights.

What’s better for us as women right now, may not necessarily, be better for the next generations…

You could argue that this is something we should have learned from in the past. The most relevant example I guess, could be climate change. We’ve used up resources for profit and destroyed our world in the process for quick gain.

Also, quite often in life, the sexism I have faced actually came from women. I feel like as a woman, we are conditioned into thinking we should be this or that. We follow the current trend.

Our society will look down on us and make us outcasts for not following the blueprint.

For this reason, when you don’t fit into the pattern, which at the moment seems to be a new wave of extreme feminism, women don’t like you. You represent something that is different, in a world where we are conditioned to all be the same.

I’m not married, I haven’t even been engaged. The idea of marriage in my twenties terrified the life out of me.

It still does, but something that I found when I turned 30 was that there was like this ticking time clock that started…

Anyway, within these photo’s I wanted to explore my age as a female and the conditioning I was feeling. That unbearable pressure to conform.

Photography

Roses symbolise many things, among them love, connection and the idea of being ready to commit. Except for the commitment, I am accepting is to myself. I am ready to love myself.

The crown of thorns is of course symbolic of the Catholic faith, which if you’ve read about my background you might know was a big part of my childhood.

The symbology is not intended to be offensive, but what I wanted to get across was the humiliation of not conforming. Feminism has almost become a form of mockery against men and women that do not abide by the same principles.

The thorns are protective. I am protecting my viewpoints, the way I think and feel my feminine energy but to be protective is also a masculine kind of energy.

I think sometimes that women become so concerned with protecting themselves that we forget about the beautiful fragility of vulnerability, like the flower petals on the rose.

We should protect both energies and each other.

Soph.

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