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Tuesday, 19 February 2013

Unsolicited Advice and Opinionated Diatribe: Have Daughter, Become Outspoken Feminist Edition

Don't let the title of this chapter fool you.  I've always been loud about women's issues.  But having a daughter, and watching the world suddenly go to shit has made me louder.

As for politics, I thought I was in the know, but, for eight years before getting knocked up, I actually got a gig for a government relations company that was a real eye opener.  During my stint, I got to see British Columbia elect it's second female Premier.  I didn't think this was a big deal, until I started paying attention to her interviews, her twitter feed, her Facebook page, etc. as part of my job duties.  As a smug Canadian who's had decades of complacency with the right to vote easily, socialized medicine, same-sex marriage, abortion rights and strong female political leaders, I thought sexism would be low on my radar.  I thought wrong.

Now, Zuul's here and shit just got real.  From sexism to slut shaming, victim blaming to all sorts of stupid coming from all angles, I got my flame thrower on and nobody's safe.  Be warned.

Enter my new Tumblr crush, Madam Premier, who screen captions sexist commentary directed at female politicians, mostly Canadian and from all political leanings, and comments about it on her blog.  This chick (see what I did there?) is my new hero.



From Madam Premier's blog:

A collection of vulgar nastiness and extremely explicit comments about the female Premier of BC, whom this forum commenter thinks the gender of is a “novelty”. "A collection of vulgar nastiness and extremely explicit comments about the female Premier of BC, whom this forum commenter thinks the gender of is a “novelty”."


Don't get me started on the cougar/MILF thing.  I missed the interview from a couple of months ago, but I don't know who I was more upset by, the moron that asked her if she considered herself to be a MILF or a cougar, or that she responded with anything other than side eye and scowl or by answering a la Hillary Clinton,  "Would you ask a man that question?"  I feel like playing along she failed all women in power.

But, that's not the point of this blog. The point is, for our daughters' sakes, we need more people like blogger Madam Premier, who fearlessly calls sexism out. Hopefully, by Zuul's generation, we'll finally do right by each other. Shamefully, we're still fighting this battle in mine.

***

Update: End of blog rewritten because I hopelessly fail at technology. But it has nothing to do with being pretty, chubby or having a vagina.




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