Companies always like to invent new holidays for us to spend a lot of money on. But this is one celebration that I am definitely embracing.
It is a day to pat yourself on the back and to remember and appreciate not only the women in our lives, but all the women out there who are contributing to the world we live in.
It is also a day to spread awareness on gender inequality for women who are constantly being treated as second class citizens. You're probably imagining a far away country, where women are forced into marriage and are mistreated daily. But gender inequality happens all around the world, including somewhere closer to home.
In one way or another, yourself, your mother, your sisters and your friends are being oppressed. Oppression might seem a strong word, but when women are being psychologically influenced into thinking that they are inadequate because they don't fit the media's standards and that they are good for nothing but to serve men's pleasure, as we are taught by the media, then this is oppression.
It is a day to pat yourself on the back and to remember and appreciate not only the women in our lives, but all the women out there who are contributing to the world we live in.
It is also a day to spread awareness on gender inequality for women who are constantly being treated as second class citizens. You're probably imagining a far away country, where women are forced into marriage and are mistreated daily. But gender inequality happens all around the world, including somewhere closer to home.
In one way or another, yourself, your mother, your sisters and your friends are being oppressed. Oppression might seem a strong word, but when women are being psychologically influenced into thinking that they are inadequate because they don't fit the media's standards and that they are good for nothing but to serve men's pleasure, as we are taught by the media, then this is oppression.
I came across this, which I really wanted to share.
"On Monday 1 March, the NUS Women’s campaign organised an emergency protest outside the final of Miss University GB in Cardiff to continue the campaign against objectification of women".
This is an issue that I feel strongly about. Should women only be judged on the way they look? Is there a certain way women need to look? How about their intelligence, their compassion, as well as many other traits of our inner beauty? Do these traits even matter?
Mother's Day is coming up. Are we going to celebrate it in honour of our mothers' outer beauty? No! That would be an insult. So why should we allow these pointless contests and the media to tell us that our outer beauty is all that matters. That we are empty sex objects.
We are surrounded by single women who have the strength to look after their children, work to provide for them, and many also study so that their children can have a better future. There are women in history who were heroines in science and medicine, and those who fought for womens' rights.
But, unfortunately, we are also surrounded by the media's portrayal of women. Women who happily don't eat so that men can lust over their skinny bodies. Women who are famous for sex tapes and are portrayed in a positive light.
Only one of these images is reality and the other is what the media wants us to believe. Should we give in and pass on these teachings to our children? Or should we do what these students are doing and fight for our freedom? Freedom from this form of oppression. For the sake of our mothers, our daughters and future generations, if not for our own, we need to stand up to the media and reject their beauty standards.
We are strong women and can crush the boney portrayals of us. We are intelligent and can outsmart the air-heads the media wants us to be. We are real and that is how we want to stay.
Now who's with me?
xoxo
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