When I started this blog, I really had no idea I would end up writing so much about gender issues. This is not something that has directly impacted my life or something for which I feel great depth. In the past few years it has become more important to me and, of course, I care about equality of the sexes but I would not consider myself an active feminist. My life's hope is, in fact, what I consider to be the antithesis of most feminist theory. I want to be a stay at home mother and a homemaker. I want women to have the choice to be both or either, to rule the work place and make the same money as men, to be a homemaker, or to be a kick-ass working mom who does it all, but I, personally, want to garden and cook all day. I feel like
Mona Lisa Smile best described this angle of feminism in the character of Joan (Julia Stiles), who happily gives up a chance to study law to be a wife:
Joan Brandwyn: Do you think I'll wake up one morning and regret not being a lawyer?
Katherine Watson: Yes, I'm afraid that you will.
Joan Brandwyn: Not as much as I'd regret not having a family, not being there to raise them. I know exactly what I'm doing and it doesn't make me any less smart. This must seem terrible to you.
Katherine Watson: I didn't say that.
Joan Brandwyn: Sure you did. You always do. You stand in class and tell us to look beyond the image, but you don't. To you a housewife is someone who sold her soul for a center hall colonial. She has no depth, no intellect, no interests. You're the one who said I could do anything I wanted. This is what I want.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I won't always be harping on the rights of women or transgenders or minorities. That's not the intent of this blog. I'm sure it will come up; lately, it seems to have come up quite a bit.
