By: Blonde Two
I have recently been very much enjoying some ‘feminist’ type chats with my new outdoor swimming friends. I put ‘feminist’ in quotes here because it isn’t a word I usually like and it doesn’t really fit what we have been saying; I am very much a ‘vive la difference’ type of girl. Boys and girls are different, have different talents and, in my experience, make good teams in combination.
However, it is clear that there are also differences in opportunities (and these exist both ways) that make it harder for men/women to work in certain occupations/enjoy certain privileges.
Which all got me thinking about Christmas presents. I was a maternal girl who liked lego and trains. I have my mum to thank for this; she was a most excellent mother who ensured that we had equal exposure to ‘girl toys’ and ‘boy toys’, mainly I think because she also liked both. When Six-Foot-Blonde was a curly haired toddler, his other Nanny bought him a doll (I was expecting his sister ‘Not-At-All-Blonde’ at the time). Six-Foot loved this doll and cared for it with great love and affection (he also, a bit later in life, enjoyed wearing his sister’s tutu). A few years later I took him out just before Christmas and bought him an axe because he and his brother were fighting over the single offering we possessed.
It is easy these days to buy Christmas presents for our children. They mostly consist of stuff to use outside and our Christmas floors are often covered in torches, hats, merino socks, survival blankets and yes, we are still buying axes.
So the moral of my Blonde tale is this; buy your daughters dolls but buy them axes as well. Just imagine the women they will grow up to be!
Presumably that’s what Mrs. Borden did?
Blimey I hadn’t thought of that. Cancel the axe, time for some embroidery!
Feminism (which I support in a half-terrified sort of way) is about the unbalanced scales in society. Pay. The legal as well as the physical unfairness of rape. The unchecked viciousness of trolls towards Gina Miller who initiated the recent court action against the government. That sort of thing. If you’ve never suffered from discrimination then I’m delighted. But others are not so lucky. Reflect on murder victims: two prominent categories are those with different ethnic origins and women.
Think too about what certain types of lad would have made of Six-Foot-Blonde’s affection for the doll.
It’s true boys are different. They’re biologically stronger and regularly misuse this accidental gift by beating up their wives and girl-friends. Boys are also insensitive; remember the former PM and his “There, there, dear.” in the HofC.
Whisper it not in Gath but I bought my younger daughter, Occasional Speeder, detailed model Ferraris for her birthdays. Was I over-testosteroned? Actually she’d fallen in love with Gilles Villeneuve, an F1 racer with the scuderia.
A most excellent gift choice if I may say so. She is probably waiting hopefully for the real thing so that she can become ‘Often Speeder’ instead.