Hello chaps,
In a slight break from normal service, today's blog is going to be something of a rant/attempt to persuade internet bigots to open their minds. I hope you will enjoy it, I'd love to hear your feedback, as always!
March 8th is International Women's Day, and has been celebrated in other countries for much longer than in England. Or at least, I suspect this, but we must consider the fact that I have myself only been aware of it for a few years, since studying the Russian Revolution for AS level 4 years ago. This can go two ways: I am horrendously ignorant, or we just didn't have it in the UK. You decide about that one.
Indeed, Women's Day much celebrated in Russia, it is an officially recognised national holiday, where men traditionally give flowers and presents to the main women in their lives, such as their mothers and sisters. I suppose it can be regarded as an extension of how we celebrate Mother's Day in the UK. The day in Russia exists to pay tribute to the hard work that women contribute to society and is in no way meant to be either patronising or feminist.
Feminism does not really exist in Russia in the Western sense of the word. Women were enfranchised in 1917 in line with the Russian Revolution, which was in part sparked by the (peaceful) Women's Day march of that year, so there was no equivalent to the suffragettes.
Men and women have very different roles in society in Russia compared with in the West - women are allowed to vote and hold office (the previous mayor of St Petersburg was Valentina Matviyenko, the most prominent female politician in the Russian Federation), yet it is still the custom for them to be considered the weaker sex, and for men to act in a chivalrous, masculine fashion. In a practical context, this largely refers to them opening doors for women.
A traditional Russian holiday, then, which appears to have been more widely adopted by the West in recent years. My theory on this is that we have the internet and social media to thank in part for this, which has its pros and cons. The main con I will point out here is the lack of cultural understanding in the West about the provenance of this holiday. I was rather exasperated to see comments by young men saying "When is International Men's Day?" in a joking-but-not-joking kind of way. Firstly, there is an International Men's day, it's on 23rd February in Russia, and exists in the same context as Women's Day - a day of celebrating the hard work of men in society. In Russia this is typically reserved for military men, as it was traditionally called Red Army Day.(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defender_of_the_Fatherland_Day ). I am told that the International Men's Day is 19th November, so take your pick which date to celebrate.
In the West, I feel that Women's day is coming into prominence as a feminist concept, which I wholeheartedly support. I have always been surrounded by strong women, for which I am hugely grateful, and hope to one day exert the same influence on young women myself, whether I have kids or not (bit soon for that, please stop hyperventilating - besides I rather like the idea of being someone's mad aunt, who has lots of cats and sends them postcards from my various travels to obscure countries).
I am a huge appreciator of writers such as Caitlin Moran, who, in her book How to Be a Woman, essentially lays out my own feminist belief, which is the following: you don't have to be a bra-burning banshee to support the cause of women being accepted in the workplace on equal terms as men, for the same pay.
The fact remains that this does not yet take place, even in today's society, some 100 years after the suffragette movement. Let us all remember the 100th anniversary of the death of Emily Davison on 5th June 2013 - the lady who was killed by the kng's horse at Epsom on the same date in 1913. It is a complete mistake to think that feminism is outdated and should have died in the 60s, along with the mini-skirt. It therefore completely riles me when people make such comments - for them to get annoyed that women get one day of recognition is frankly an insult to the day-to-day inequality that women face all over the world, at home and in the workplace.
My adam's apple is smaller than a man's. That doesn't mean my brain is too.
This leads me onto my next point, which is related to this, and that is the rather despicable 'Lad' culture that has been developed in recent years also by social media. Of course, we accept that it existed before, but the force of the internet has increased awareness and popularity of something that started off as isolated joking and banter by groups of males at the end of high school education and in their University years - we can take the Bullingdon club as one of the oldest examples of this. I want to make one final point about this, without drawing on too many examples - you can find them for yourselves at the utterly despicable "unilad" website. (Google it, I don't want to directly give them traffic). Basically, it is this - it is *never* acceptable to make derogatory comments about women, based solely on their gender. The assumption that women can be automatically exploited by a small minority of silly little boys is quite frightening and must be extinguished with everything that social media (and wider society for that matter) has to offer.
Tell me this, silly boys: Would you make the same comments to your mother or your grandmother?
Didn't think so.
In a slight break from normal service, today's blog is going to be something of a rant/attempt to persuade internet bigots to open their minds. I hope you will enjoy it, I'd love to hear your feedback, as always!
March 8th is International Women's Day, and has been celebrated in other countries for much longer than in England. Or at least, I suspect this, but we must consider the fact that I have myself only been aware of it for a few years, since studying the Russian Revolution for AS level 4 years ago. This can go two ways: I am horrendously ignorant, or we just didn't have it in the UK. You decide about that one.
Indeed, Women's Day much celebrated in Russia, it is an officially recognised national holiday, where men traditionally give flowers and presents to the main women in their lives, such as their mothers and sisters. I suppose it can be regarded as an extension of how we celebrate Mother's Day in the UK. The day in Russia exists to pay tribute to the hard work that women contribute to society and is in no way meant to be either patronising or feminist.
Feminism does not really exist in Russia in the Western sense of the word. Women were enfranchised in 1917 in line with the Russian Revolution, which was in part sparked by the (peaceful) Women's Day march of that year, so there was no equivalent to the suffragettes.
Men and women have very different roles in society in Russia compared with in the West - women are allowed to vote and hold office (the previous mayor of St Petersburg was Valentina Matviyenko, the most prominent female politician in the Russian Federation), yet it is still the custom for them to be considered the weaker sex, and for men to act in a chivalrous, masculine fashion. In a practical context, this largely refers to them opening doors for women.
A traditional Russian holiday, then, which appears to have been more widely adopted by the West in recent years. My theory on this is that we have the internet and social media to thank in part for this, which has its pros and cons. The main con I will point out here is the lack of cultural understanding in the West about the provenance of this holiday. I was rather exasperated to see comments by young men saying "When is International Men's Day?" in a joking-but-not-joking kind of way. Firstly, there is an International Men's day, it's on 23rd February in Russia, and exists in the same context as Women's Day - a day of celebrating the hard work of men in society. In Russia this is typically reserved for military men, as it was traditionally called Red Army Day.(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defender_of_the_Fatherland_Day ). I am told that the International Men's Day is 19th November, so take your pick which date to celebrate.
In the West, I feel that Women's day is coming into prominence as a feminist concept, which I wholeheartedly support. I have always been surrounded by strong women, for which I am hugely grateful, and hope to one day exert the same influence on young women myself, whether I have kids or not (bit soon for that, please stop hyperventilating - besides I rather like the idea of being someone's mad aunt, who has lots of cats and sends them postcards from my various travels to obscure countries).
I am a huge appreciator of writers such as Caitlin Moran, who, in her book How to Be a Woman, essentially lays out my own feminist belief, which is the following: you don't have to be a bra-burning banshee to support the cause of women being accepted in the workplace on equal terms as men, for the same pay.
The fact remains that this does not yet take place, even in today's society, some 100 years after the suffragette movement. Let us all remember the 100th anniversary of the death of Emily Davison on 5th June 2013 - the lady who was killed by the kng's horse at Epsom on the same date in 1913. It is a complete mistake to think that feminism is outdated and should have died in the 60s, along with the mini-skirt. It therefore completely riles me when people make such comments - for them to get annoyed that women get one day of recognition is frankly an insult to the day-to-day inequality that women face all over the world, at home and in the workplace.
My adam's apple is smaller than a man's. That doesn't mean my brain is too.
This leads me onto my next point, which is related to this, and that is the rather despicable 'Lad' culture that has been developed in recent years also by social media. Of course, we accept that it existed before, but the force of the internet has increased awareness and popularity of something that started off as isolated joking and banter by groups of males at the end of high school education and in their University years - we can take the Bullingdon club as one of the oldest examples of this. I want to make one final point about this, without drawing on too many examples - you can find them for yourselves at the utterly despicable "unilad" website. (Google it, I don't want to directly give them traffic). Basically, it is this - it is *never* acceptable to make derogatory comments about women, based solely on their gender. The assumption that women can be automatically exploited by a small minority of silly little boys is quite frightening and must be extinguished with everything that social media (and wider society for that matter) has to offer.
Tell me this, silly boys: Would you make the same comments to your mother or your grandmother?
Didn't think so.
Great minds! (/blogs) http://aromyofonesown.blogspot.com.es/2013/03/international-why-we-need-feminism-day.html
ReplyDeleteRomy, your blog is a triumph. I've just read your Liz Jones post and laughed myself silly.
ReplyDelete