Happy Women's Day...

[fajrdrako]

Do men have a day for themselves?

I have the feeling I should have something really clever to say about womanhood or feminism or something. I like women. I am infinitely happy that I was born female. So - I toast all women, everywhere.

My favourite women:

1. St. Bathildis


2. Louise Brooks


3. Cleopatra


4. Dorothy Dunnett


5. Eleanor of Aquitaine


6. Elizabeth I of England


7. Emma Goldman


8. E. Nesbit


9. Dorothy Parker


10. Mary Wollestonecraft Shelley


11. Lady Hester Stanhope


12. Mae West

Comments

[cupati.livejournal.com]

I tend to think of you as male because all of your icons are of JB. So I think you look like him... Just me being stupid again.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, if I should by some mistake have been born male, I can imagine no better fate than to resemble John Barrowman. Can I claim to resemble him in spirit? Maybe you are seeing the real me, invisible to everyone else!

[kikibug13.livejournal.com]

Hey, happy women's day! :)

(I even got a flower today. From my boss, true - he felt obliged or something - but still nice.)

Considering my own historical obsessions... I'd have Joan of Arc on my list of favourite women too. (I know there are more!) Oh duh... Lois McMaster Bujold!

Um. And ouch at cupati's post above. *shrugs* I guess I have the habit of keeping in mind who you are from the LMB list (it took me some confusion back during the HH chapter-by-chapter discussion, but I finally figured out there was another poster with your first name. I must have been short on sleep back then too).

[cupati.livejournal.com]

I can't list on two hands the number of people I have messed up the genders of online.

[kikibug13.livejournal.com]

LOL I do that too - I don't keep count. There is also one whom I know to be male, and I still catch myself thinking of him as "she". *shakes head* It happens. :)

[cupati.livejournal.com]

I have one of those, too. And someone viceversa.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I suppose there are some I don't know. I tend, probably foolishly, to assume everyone on LJ is female unless I have solid knowledge to the contrary. I have some men on my flist - brashley, duncanmac, minotaurs, laitosto, dewline and others - all of whom I had met in person before I added them to my flist. jedichad is the only exception I can think of, and I met him on a mailing list before meeting him on LJ.

Mind you, there may be people I simply don't know about. It can happen! But to the best of my knowledge, most of my flist by far is female and I tend to assume that just about anyone I meet in media fandom (rather than book and comic book fandom) will be female.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

A flower from your boss - that's so sweet! Wonderful!

I have mixed feelings about Joan of Arc, but find her fascinating. I almost put Madeleine de Vercheres and/or Laura Secord. I'm sure I'll be thinking of other women I might have listed for the next few days.

I made it a point not to list any living women - that, to prevent myself from listing just my ten current favourite actresses or my ten favourite female writers. I even considered listing my ten favourite fictional women. I still might.

Yes, you have a slight advantage in having known me first from a source other than LJ. Is there another Elizabeth on the LMB list? Well, of course, there are Elizabeths everywhere - it's a great name! I chuckled at the notion of the other poster named Elizabeth probably saying things totally opposed to whatever I was saying.

[kikibug13.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed there is another Elizabeth - archangelbeth, McCoy. It didn't help that (the otherwise nicely organised Gmail) lists only the first name when there are several messages in the conversation, and the colours shown were prone to change... so it did indeed take me a couple of days to separate answers to the other Elizabeth from the main discussion we were having (well, at least I sort of remember it that way).

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth McCoy - yes, of course, that's who you were thinking of! I didn't know she had an LJ. Or I'd forgotten. Cool person. And she's been posting lately more than I have.

[littledrop.livejournal.com]

Why do you like being a woman? Because I have issues with my womanhood, definitely, and I'm always curious when women say they like being female. *g*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well. It's probably hard for me to put it into words. I love men but the idea of being a man fills me with horror. There's something in my sense of identity and my self of reality that makes being female both instrinsic and important to me. We're really not talking about intellectual or conscious considerations.

I love talking to women, discussing things with women, and sharing thoughts with women that's not like the pleasure of discussing things with men. A wavelength issue? I find that there's always just a tiny gap in communication with men in a way that doesn't exist with women. Now, obviously there are women and men too with whom I have no wavelength at all, but speaking generally: even with the men I have most liked and loved, there's a level of difference in thought and attitude that has to be bridged.

Or maybe it's an illusion.

I tend to think I'm fairly androgynous in style, but my sense of self is extremely female.

[reina-isabella.livejournal.com]

Do men have a day for themselves?

Three hundred and sixty five of them ...

No, I'm really not that cynical (most of the time); although doing some volunteer & outreach work some women's health orgs lately, I can't help but think (and I know it's been said before and better) my word, wouldn't things be different if men had the babies?

I get very angry and feel very powerless sometimes; but I'd never trade it in for a meat and two veg, as they say. Though I know plenty of people who have, and are entirely content.

I often wonder if I'll see the day when gender constructions become irrelevant ...

[cupati.livejournal.com]

I feel that if men had the babies, the roles would be completly reversed, and there'd be no difference from how it is now.

[reina-isabella.livejournal.com]

Human nature being what it is, you're probably right.

Now if it wasn't dependent on gender at all, but happened at random ... hmmm.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

So if there was a way having babies was completely unrelated to gender, we might have and equal world?

Thinking about that too much makes my head hurt....

It might give us more and better options, though.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Three hundred and sixty five of them ...

Well, you know, those days are ours, too. We just have to take them. On our own terms. Carpe diem.

I'm really not that cynical (most of the time);

The line between 'cynical' and 'optimistic' is only in the outlook. Either position (or both) is realistic. Personally I think that needing and having an official day for women is a sign of how far we haven't come; but the world doesn't change all at once, and having people think about equality issues is always a good thing. Can't expect men to give up their privilege without reason or incentive.

wouldn't things be different if men had the babies?

Even Capatain Jack doesn't want to get pregnant again!

I get very angry and feel very powerless sometimes

Don't we all - see the previous conversation here about abuse of political refugees. It's a difficult world.

I often wonder if I'll see the day when gender constructions become irrelevant ...

Well: it would be nice to see less polarity, but some of the difference are good. I mean... I know lots of very femme women and lots of very macho men and I wouldn't want them to change because that's their personalities, and more power to them. Would they be the odd ones out in an androgynous world? Or - I don't know. I'm all for diversity, as long as we can avoid conflict and make sure everyone is accommodated.

Easier said than done.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

The only day I'd definitively ascribe to Men is Father's Day. And that's set aside for a very particular subset of my gender.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Made for a good episode of Doctor Who, though.

Seems to me that if there's a day to honour women, there should be a day to honour men. Or a day to honour people, regardless of gender.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

There's a Women's Day...?

Hmm.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Sure. A day all our own, for whatever that's worth. It doesn't seem that people get into celebrating it exactly - cards, chocolates, cakes with candles, dancing in the street - it's kind of icy to try dancing in the street in Ottawa in early March.