Who Knew I was Such a Feminist Anyway!
So I wasn’t really planning on going so heavy with my first real blog post, but all this feminism stuff is floating out there in the ether so I thought I would grab onto it.
A few days ago Emma Watson gave a speech to the UN to launch the HeforShe campaign.
And the lovely Joseph Gordon Levitt's circulated a video about what it means to be a feminist.
And all of this got me thinking. I never thought of myself as a feminist – AT ALL – until very, very recently. I definitely used to be one of those “I thank the women before me for the rights and freedoms I have today but this man hating stuff doesn’t really serve me” types. I don't burn bras, I'm not all "I AM SHEERAH HEAR, ME ROAR" - well, maybe a little.Then I moved to Vancouver and took a Graceful Warriors workshop. Well actually, technically before that I did the Vagina monologues, and was in a play that explored the word feminism (clearly my budding feminist phase.) Seriously, how did I not realize this until now.
I went on shamanic voyages, balled my eyes out doing kundalini yoga, learned how to move and love my body, started using words like "sisterhood, and even asked my Vagina what her name was. Serious stuff. Now I can see you rolling your eyes and going “ what’s with all this ‘one with the universe crap’”. I call it the feminine woowoo. It's what I call all that touchy feely spiritually stuff. It’s gooey and soft and I’m not always comfortable with it yet, but it’s wonderful and has so many interesting perspectives. Over the last two years I have challenged myself to dive into this space and its taught more than I can ever appreciate. It is my goal to interpret and share these learning’s and I invite you to step into the woowoo with me, toss those self-judgment glasses aside and see what you can find.
During this whole process I bumped into a whole new kind of feminism. A spiritual, and earthy, and soft kind of feminism. It was less man haty and more about the idea that within us all there is a masculine and feminine and that both sexes need to embrace each aspect of themselves. As Emma Watson puts it “Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong.” It’s about the freedom to be yourself whoever you are. Which sounds so cliché I know, but we all have such a hard time doing it. I certainly do. To me these questions relate back to the buckets. Am I a better leader when I lead from a place of freedom to be totally myself, do I have more fun in life when I am totally myself, and how much more pleasure can I access in the bedroom when I am totally myself?
When I look back I've always been a feminist. A #bossypants #leanin #independant #fiesty #fierce kind of lady.
So what do you think? I know it can be a tired question – but what is feminism for you? How do you embrace the feminine in yourself, how about the masculine? How do these things impact you in your different buckets?