Since Leigh already began the
feminist posts, I decided to just continue on with the same subject. Let’s be
honest, there’s a lot to cover. A lot. At this rate, we may never veer away
from feminism.
Maybe I should start off with
defining what feminism is. There are still people today who have the
misconception that feminism includes getting rid of males as a whole and
ALLPOWER to women. And yes, people still
believe that. In eighth grade, I had an adult comment to me: “Feminism? Are you sure that you know the true
meaning behind it?” And then went on a little ‘explanation’ that feminism meant
over powering males of society and having it women’s way. And guess what? At
that time, I believed him. (And to this day it still pisses me off that I fell
into that trap.)
That is not the definition of
feminism. Feminism means to fight for the rights and equality of females, and
those who identify with the female gender. No, it does not mean we want to
round up all men and chop off their balls. Of course, extreme feminists might
want that, but the average feminist today wants equality of the sexes– which is as pretty damn important as balls.
(Well, that is debatable since you only need balls to procreate…)
Now, let me go on. I’m gonna tell
you guys a little story that I experience at least almost every day at work:
I work at a farm stand that sells
flowers and produce. Currently, there are a whopping six of us that work at
this farm stand. On a weekend, there are four of us – the owner, me, my sister,
and another girl. The owner is an elderly woman who really just works the
register and isn’t there on the weekdays; I’m 17; my sister is 15, and the
other girl is in her mid-20s. On any day, we have to help customers by getting
planters or bags of mulch and bringing these items to their car. That or we’re restocking
and rearranging produce.
Wet bags of mulch (or dirt) isn’t
light. Boxes of peppers and bushels of corn (which carry 52 ears of corn) are
heavier than you think. Guess who carries this stuff all of the time? Us girls.
Now, when any of the guy workers
show up (which they do, multiple times a day because they bring us stuff from the
farm), they do not let us carry these things. Let me repeat: do not let us carry these things. Reason
being?
“It’s too heavy.”
“You’ll hurt yourself.”
“You shouldn’t be carrying that.”
Bullshitbullshitbullshit.
“You’ll hurt yourself.”
“You shouldn’t be carrying that.”
Bullshitbullshitbullshit.
I’m not complaining that these
things are heavy; working there, you get used to it. When I first started
working there (a good three years ago), I had trouble lifting stuff. Now I can
do it no problem because I built up muscle. I became stronger by moving things
myself, when the guys weren’t around.
Even if a guy happened to work
with me, I still wouldn’t let him do it. As Leigh said in the previous post,
yes, technically girls are physically weaker than guys are. It’s just a fact,
and there’s nothing we can really do about it at the moment. But just because
something is ‘heavy’ does not mean that I can’t carry it.
The sad part about all of this is
that the guys are really sincere. They don’t say these things because they
think I can’t carry stuff, they just don’t want me to. They feel better about
carrying it themselves. Which honestly, I get, but wouldn’t you want someone
else to help to cut your work load in half?
Seriously. What do they think I
do when they’re not there? Not lift it? And if it is too heavy, two of us pair
up to do the job. We get it done, without the guys help. And let me tell you,
we’re damn good at getting the job done.
I’ve even pointed it out to them:
“I can carry this; I do it when you aren’t here!” And their best response is: “Well,
I’m here now.” Honestly, just stop right there.
I love these guys, but I go through
this every day. Because I don’t listen to them when they say “I shouldn’t”
because I can.
This isn’t as heavy of a topic as
Leigh’s post, but it’s just something I’ve wanted to write about. People need
to realize that it isn’t only the big things that people are aware of; it’s the
little things that also need to change.
Because if a female believes that
she can, I promise you that she will.
Yours Truly,
Alison “Lost in Believing”