Five Things Feminism Has Done For Me

Julie, of Julie R. Enszer fame, has tagged me for this meme. I've never been handed a meme before. Thanks Julie! If it's your first meme it seems obligatory to reveal this. This is my first. That's a piece of history, don't you think? Ok - Julie didn't actually tag me on this very day; it's taken me a couple of days to get round to this post. But seeing as it's One Day in History day, and I'm about to take part in the biggest blog in history a little later on, I may as well attempt to give 17 October 2006 as much historical significance as I can.

So - Five Things Feminism Has Done For Me:

1. Given me a "home", in that it gave me a place to access and read about lesbians and to realise I could be who I knew I was, even though lesbian reading material didn't seem readily accessible when and where I was growing up. Feminism gave me the "Sexual Politics" shelf in the local public library, full of feminist tomes from the 1960s and 1970s, and some if not all of them had the L-word inside. Feminists had done enough by the mid-1980s that even John Menzies in Hereford sold Spare Rib magazine.


2. Enabled me to connect with wonderful women and wonderful minds across the globe. In thought and word and deed, my life is richer and stronger.


3. Encouraged me to be a lover and critiquer of life. Thanks to feminism I am able to question the world and the words I hear, and to recognise when I am being fed bullshit. Feminism has also helped me to recognise when bullshit is being spoken in the name of feminism.


4. Taught me that my life experiences and my energy can make a difference, that the personal is always political and my voice is worth hearing. I write now, as a feminist, because I had feminist teachers and friends who helped me to believe in myself.


5. Given me the strength to present myself in the way that feels comfortable for me - for example, the way I dress, the way I wear my hair - irrespective of convention and gendered expectations. Not so as to be deliberately challenging, but if anyone wants to challenge me, at least I know I can face the challenge and come out the other side with my integrity intact.

Without feminism, I wouldn't be Out on a dike.

I would like to invite my Woman-Stirred friend, Merry Gangemi of Quiddities, Lou McGill over at Being and Nothingness, who has always had far more being in her than nothingness, and Eloise who sees into and beyond The Tyranny of Toast and Tea, to continue this meme.