'Sarah. You're pretty. You will go far in life.'
I was obviously as confused as a french chicken (they go 'bu-qwark'?).
'I'm sorry Mum?' I said, with the tone of a confused french chicken (bu-qwark).
'I wish I was pretty.'
'You ARE pretty Mum. Remember, you made me?' (harharrrrr) My gag went unnoticed, this often happens.
'You know, it's still a man's world.' she said with a sigh and that defeatist tone.
'Well, in many ways I suppose it is Mum, but we can change it, we ARE changing it.'
'It'll always be a man's world.' she said.
At this point I tried to explain to her that this was what feminism was about and tried to explain what an important part of my life this is. But because I completely take after her in pretty much every way, I could tell her eyes had glazed over and she was no longer listening. At least I pretend to listen, she indicted clearly she'd lost interest as she got really excited that Justin Bieber came on the TV and jumped up to record it whilst dancing about the kitchen. HONESTLY!
Anyway, I thought this was an interesting conversation she randomly brought up but then dismissed just as quickly, like this is just the way things are, it's a fact and there's nothing we can do about it.
My Mum is just the kind of person who would not call herself a feminist but is the perfect example of what a feminist looks like. As everyone knows I'm from a mixed background, so my Mum had to rebel against everyone, the whole family, in order to marry my English Father. It's obviously not as bad now, but back then it was the ultimate rebellion. I'm currently working with the Museum of London on a project around this subject and it's got me and my Mum talking a lot about this. She said to me yesterday that obviously she loved my father but one of the main reasons she rebelled was because she did not want an arranged marriage. She said how in those days women did not have a voice - she did not want to be a 'puppet' as she says. I'd like to think things have changed, but things have not progressed as well as they could have done and I'm not just talking about this instance alone - women's voices all over the world are still being controlled in different ways.
More and more I think about how women have come a long way and how amazing that is. But at the same time you can give women equal pay and the right to vote but ATTITUDES towards women need to change and fast. And that is a lot harder to do. We have certain laws that are meant to prevent sexism but music videos, magazines, advertising, TV etc show that women's sexual attractiveness, not what they have to say, is the most important and valuable thing about them. The world is a 'fleshy catastrophe!' But we can all do our bit to change that, I really believe we can. Just look at Iceland, they have just recently banned all strip clubs - and for feminist, not religious reasons. Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir who first introduced the ban said 'It is not acceptable that women or people in general are a product to be sold.' Great. Now we just need the rest of the world to follow....
