Feminists

Damn feminists, always going out and being loud and obvious and stuff. No, but I do think that lately there seem to be a lot of new feminist out there blasting their voice (me included). In a way I hope this is not a fad and that it sticks around to make people remember feminism not as the bra-less revolution of the past, but the funny, brash, and obvious version of today (the best thing would be for people to think of it as both things). I recently read a review for another feminist comedy book, and while I'm excited people are writing about it (no, I don't remember what the book was called or who it was by) I feel like we need to branch out and not be stuck in a rut we are getting ourselves into. I still want to be a feminist that decides to bike down a busy road (maybe not during rush hour, because I'm not crazy) just because I know I can, and one who is not afraid to ask for a raise, or for a job, when I know that I deserve it (by the way, I got a JOB!!), or one who is not afraid to volunteer at a construction oriented volunteer site. I enjoy the comedy, and I love and appreciate that they can write it so well, but I am worried that the more people who write these books, the less of an impact the few books out there will have, because they will all be shoved into a corner of their own genre.

So feminists, stay visible, but be unique enough to stand out by yourself, as a woman, and as an individual. And, can we please not talk about vaginas so much?

Jobs

Yesterday, I was placed in an interesting position. I was called in the morning (while at work) and offered a job at a different agency. My bosses at my current job scrambled to get approval to offer me a more permanent position here, and I sat, stressed and distracted about my future while trying to finish work for the projects I have been assigned now. In all of this time, I discussed the possibilities with my friends and family to get input to make my decision. I was told not to trust my current employer if they "promised" me a job, and I was told to take the job that offers more money, and I was told to think about it as potentially only a temporary position, but I was also told "women don't make as much money in the workplace because they aren't pushy, just go into your bosses office and demand that they offer you something".

I agree that women often step back and let the world give them what the world wants to give them, but at what point does pushy become annoying. I feel like I was in the right, I informed my boss of my position and when I have to let the other agency know, and they worked hard to get approval for an offer. I think there really is a good balance between waiting it out to see what you get offered and going in to demand something, but what defines that line, and when does crossing it, or not crossing it really end up giving you the short end of the stick?

Where women should be

This article is focused on women with children, but a lot of the statistics are about women in general, whether it be life expectancy or women in government positions, Go women!

Fashion

I kinda love fashion (as in wearable fashion). I would love to have a never ending closet of clothes, or one that just changes every two weeks, but that's not me, I actually only own enough clothes for a little over a week before I HAVE to do laundry or I literally will not have a clean shirt to wear to work (or clean underwear for that matter, but no one notices that, right?)

This website is super awesome, but also a little bit too hipster for me.

As winter approaches it makes me realize that I don't have enough fall/winter clothes and only really have summer clothes still (I've only been in Chicago for two years, give me a break!)

However, listening to everyone around me, I actually think fashion (in a wearable sense) is less of a girly thing that it is originally thought to be. Guys are always saying that fall is their favorite season "because the clothes is so much better, I get to wear jackets and sweaters". I guess... but I also guess it's true what they say, guys don't really  notice what girls are wearing (or not wearing!) season to season, so maybe I'll just wear sweatpants to work (ew) or start dressing in costumes as my friend and I recently discussed, today would be so much more exciting if I were in costume.

Compliments

Yesterday I had one of those days where people complimented me a lot. It made me wonder if women get more compliments than men, or if perhaps more men hand out compliments than women.

I know it's not a totally feminist entry, but I do remember a female coworker telling me I have a gorgeous smile the other day. That compliment (ie: one that I didn't feel would be followed with an "are you single?") meant more to me than some of the compliments I get from other random people around town. I think, to continue the good feelings, I am going to try to compliment people more, and maybe focus on not ONLY complimenting women, because they must get more frequent compliments. Maybe women are just easier to approach than men?

Femininity

I was talking to my boyfriend the other day and made a comment about how I'm not the most feminine worman in the world; his response was "but aren't you a feminist!?" I realize he was joking, but it did get me thinking about how feminism isn't associated with feminine attributes. Maybe our definition of what is feminine is wrong, we don't need makeup and pretty clothes to be feminine we just have to be comfortable in ourselves as women. All women are feminine, we are born as women. I guess I should have said I'm not the most "girly" or the most "concerned with my looks" or something. The truth is I *am* concerned with my looks, but not if it will require me to NOT do something I want to do, or will require me to wake up an extra half an hour early just to put makeup on.

I think it's time to take back the word feminine, I am feminine, I'm just not the most ..... I don't like the word girly here either.

Girls

I was going to write about how I watched the Sex and the City episode that Miranda is assumed to be a lesbian and gets an "in" with her boss at her firm because of it. Of course, the actual episode is about how single women are the enemies of attached women or that they need to be "figured out". Of course, sometimes that's the case, it just makes people uncomfortable to see something so different from what they see as normal.

But I'm not actually going to write about that (yet) I definitely want to eventually though because it is an interesting idea, that single women are enemies of attached women, or that they are inherently different.

Instead I'm going to write about this article I found in Good Magazine about the program Girls Who Code which helped lower income girls in the New York area learn some coding before college to get them prepared for the tech world. I love this idea because I think I would have loved to do computer science, I just didn't really know it was out there and hadn't learned any code before college, so I didn't want to be the stupid one in classes. So I just want to say go Girls Who Code! You're doing awesome things, not only for lower income people, but for women. The more women in computer science, the more women who will be able to make the computer technology and society less scary for more women to use!