When I was younger, being happy was easy. Now, it's definitely harder but also definitely not impossible. There are so many things that threaten our happiness; people, pressure and uncertainty are to name a few.*
*I have no idea whether I just used that semi-colon properly, or if there is even a hyphen between 'semi' and 'colon'. Gosh, this just sounds dirty now.
Well, as I've just proved, formality is a struggle for me so I'm not going to pretend I'm the sort of person who doesn't have to Google punctuation tips. Here is what I am good at, a list. A list of things that have made me happy recently.
1. Stroking my dog. I'm not a huge animal person but spending time with my dog brings me a weird sense of peace, the only downside being that she stinks 24/7 so I have to wash my hands three or four times after touching her. Ah, blissful human-dog love.
2. Making no effort to get dressed today at all. The furthest I went was to put my hair in a bun but even that felt a little bit excessive.
3. Finding a ready-meal in the fridge left for me by my mum. That sounds so boring but we are not a ready-meal family so this is a pretty huge gesture of unconditional love. In reality, she probably just couldn't be bothered to cook anything but I like the unconditional love thing.
4. A spot on my face finally disappearing. I was starting to worry it was going to be one of those moles that just looks like a huge spot. Luckily, I will not be renaming myself Nanny McPhee anytime soon.*
*Not that that would be awful, because she was one of my childhood idols.
5. Making this weird 'granola dust' stuff. Yes, it coated the roof of my mouth with a hard layer of cement but I felt all health food-y and vegan.
6. Buying some bright pink shoes. Whatever your favourite colour is, wear something that is unashamedly that colour. There will be some psychological reason as to why this is an instant mood boost, but all I know is that it is really fun.*
*I'm also going to unashamedly self promote myself right now. If you want to witness the true beauty of my pink trainers, check out my Instagram: @electriclil
7. Having loads of non-matching cushions in our lounge/sitting room/front room.
8. Rookie! I can't believe I've never mentioned it before but since I was about 13, I've been obsessed with this online magazine.
9. Pinterest. I didn't mean to mention so many external websites but scrolling through pictures of beautiful bedrooms and food is one of my favourite things to do when I'm stressed, or am lacking motivation to do anything.
10. These songs: This is literally a complete cliche but turn the volume up as high as possible, and dance to them.
Video Killed The Radio Star - The Buggles
Dancing In The Moonlight - Toploader
Electric Feel - MGMT
Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheels
In conclusion, even if you're not the sort of person who uses semi-colons properly, cooks posh meals yourself without your mum's help, or gets dressed everyday, you deserve to be happy and you deserve to be able to make yourself happy.
Friday, 23 October 2015
Saturday, 10 October 2015
Hey it's okay...
In Glamour (great cheap monthly fashion-y beauty-y advice-y magazine), they have a column called 'Hey it's okay...' which is essentially a list of things that everyone does but that everyone thinks no-one else does. Kind of. I'm going to do my own version so you'll get the picture.*
*Whenever people say this I generally leave having not got the picture at all. Even perhaps questioning the existence of the picture in the first place, and whether it's actually just another weird confusing stem of the multiverse theory that's beyond our cosmological horizon.
Hey it's okay...
1. If you put two versions of a song in your Spotify playlist. One the Ke$ha cover (the only one you listen to) and one the 'Original Remastered 1746' version (the one you skip), just so you can pacify the music-taste judger in the back of your mind.
2. If you pretty much never wash your jeans because:
a) they're the only pair you've got so you really can't afford to lose them for a day or two.
b) they take absolutely freaking ages to dry.
c) you're worried the button you sewed on with yellow craft wool might fall off.
d) baby wipes do the trick well enough
3. To put sweet chilli sauce* on everything, even mashed potatoes.
*Yes, the bright orange, MSG goo.
4. If you take ibuprofen without having eaten anything so, when you remember an hour later, you frantically eat the half a squashed biscuit that's been in your bag for a month or so and pray you won't die.
5. To pull the tag that attaches the label to your clothes off with your hands, rather than finding some scissors, even though you know your mum would disapprove.
6. If you think most branded clothes are a waste of money* so buy a complete copy from Primark.
*And an example of humans placing worth in worthless things.
7. If you lick your phone to clean it. Yes, you know it's disgustingly unhygienic and just plain wrong but you're about to beat your best time on Solitaire so need to clean it without breaking the rhythmic flow of card shuffling.
8. To not know what the person speaking to you is on about so Google stuff as they say it.
9. To know all the words to every single song in your favourite album, and to sing them to yourself in order when you're walking somewhere without headphones. Even the little improvised 'woah's and 'yeah's.
10. If you can't quite justify buying a 5p bag in Sainsbury's but you're not carefree enough to hold the two jumbo packs of sanitary towels in your hands so you walk home with them under your fleece, looking like you've either shoplifted a small dog or a large bag of flour.
*Whenever people say this I generally leave having not got the picture at all. Even perhaps questioning the existence of the picture in the first place, and whether it's actually just another weird confusing stem of the multiverse theory that's beyond our cosmological horizon.
Hey it's okay...
1. If you put two versions of a song in your Spotify playlist. One the Ke$ha cover (the only one you listen to) and one the 'Original Remastered 1746' version (the one you skip), just so you can pacify the music-taste judger in the back of your mind.
2. If you pretty much never wash your jeans because:
a) they're the only pair you've got so you really can't afford to lose them for a day or two.
b) they take absolutely freaking ages to dry.
c) you're worried the button you sewed on with yellow craft wool might fall off.
d) baby wipes do the trick well enough
3. To put sweet chilli sauce* on everything, even mashed potatoes.
*Yes, the bright orange, MSG goo.
4. If you take ibuprofen without having eaten anything so, when you remember an hour later, you frantically eat the half a squashed biscuit that's been in your bag for a month or so and pray you won't die.
5. To pull the tag that attaches the label to your clothes off with your hands, rather than finding some scissors, even though you know your mum would disapprove.
6. If you think most branded clothes are a waste of money* so buy a complete copy from Primark.
*And an example of humans placing worth in worthless things.
7. If you lick your phone to clean it. Yes, you know it's disgustingly unhygienic and just plain wrong but you're about to beat your best time on Solitaire so need to clean it without breaking the rhythmic flow of card shuffling.
8. To not know what the person speaking to you is on about so Google stuff as they say it.
9. To know all the words to every single song in your favourite album, and to sing them to yourself in order when you're walking somewhere without headphones. Even the little improvised 'woah's and 'yeah's.
10. If you can't quite justify buying a 5p bag in Sainsbury's but you're not carefree enough to hold the two jumbo packs of sanitary towels in your hands so you walk home with them under your fleece, looking like you've either shoplifted a small dog or a large bag of flour.
Thursday, 3 September 2015
I want to be a scientist and an artist.
Second BMA blog post!
T.W. This introduction is going to sound weird for a 'future doctors' page but just bear with me.
Recently I've been thinking really hard (literally for 5 minutes this morning in the shower) about whether I actually want to do Medicine.
I've never shined in one thing. I don't have one talent or subject area that everyone knows me for. I love singing and writing songs, but also reading really long articles in scientific journals about new antibiotics with unnecessarily hard-to-pronounce names.*
*Like, seriously, why?
And this has always been a regret of mine. That I didn't concentrate on one thing. That I haven't got one big thing I can put in my twitter bio.
The reason this made me rethink Medicine is because, like with any degree, you are signing your life away to study one thing for a fairly long chunk of your life (in proportion to the amount of life I've lived so far) but the chunk you sign away with Medicine is twice the size of a normal degree's chunk.
Okay, I've utterly confused myself by saying 'chunk' too much.
Basically, Medicine is a long degree.
So, I've been asking myself, is it worth it? To do one thing for the next six years of my life? The conclusion I've come to is not an answer to that question. The conclusion I've come to is simply that the question is void because Medicine isn't one thing.
Medicine is science. Medicine is health and social care. Medicine is philosophy and ethics. Medicine is sociology. Medicine is psychology. Medicine is anything you want it to be. It's a science and and art.
So, I'm not committing myself to six years of one thing. I am committing myself to six years of the most diverse, challenging and ever-changing course I could possibly do.
Perhaps I should go into advertising because I totally just sold that.
T.W. This introduction is going to sound weird for a 'future doctors' page but just bear with me.
Recently I've been thinking really hard (literally for 5 minutes this morning in the shower) about whether I actually want to do Medicine.
I've never shined in one thing. I don't have one talent or subject area that everyone knows me for. I love singing and writing songs, but also reading really long articles in scientific journals about new antibiotics with unnecessarily hard-to-pronounce names.*
*Like, seriously, why?
And this has always been a regret of mine. That I didn't concentrate on one thing. That I haven't got one big thing I can put in my twitter bio.
The reason this made me rethink Medicine is because, like with any degree, you are signing your life away to study one thing for a fairly long chunk of your life (in proportion to the amount of life I've lived so far) but the chunk you sign away with Medicine is twice the size of a normal degree's chunk.
Okay, I've utterly confused myself by saying 'chunk' too much.
Basically, Medicine is a long degree.
So, I've been asking myself, is it worth it? To do one thing for the next six years of my life? The conclusion I've come to is not an answer to that question. The conclusion I've come to is simply that the question is void because Medicine isn't one thing.
Medicine is science. Medicine is health and social care. Medicine is philosophy and ethics. Medicine is sociology. Medicine is psychology. Medicine is anything you want it to be. It's a science and and art.
So, I'm not committing myself to six years of one thing. I am committing myself to six years of the most diverse, challenging and ever-changing course I could possibly do.
Perhaps I should go into advertising because I totally just sold that.
Friday, 24 July 2015
But what does the red button actually do?
Okay, I have an experiment for you. I didn't invent it but it's something that I've seen before and found really interesting. Grab a piece of paper and pen (or just memorise the words).
1. What is the first thing you think of when you hear 'mental health'?
2. What is the first thing you think of when you hear 'physical health'?
Now look at what you've written. Or ponder over the words you've memorised and make the people around you think you're being really clever.
It is a recurring theme that the first thing people think of when they hear 'mental health' is usually examples of poor mental health (eg. depression, suicide, crazy) whereas generally the first thing people think of when they hear 'physical health' is ways in which you can maintain it (eg. exercise, fruit, not smoking).
I think this experiment perfectly illustrates the difference in how mental and physical health are perceived. Mental health is thought of instantly as a negative term. Physical health is seen as something we have to look after. I've never seen a post on Pinterest about '5 Minute Exercises You Can Do In The Office To Improve Your Mental Health'. There are never columns in magazines dedicated to all the ways you can get your kids interested in mental well-being.
Yes, I've seen a lot of 'positive thinking' articles and we've all seen those annoying accounts on Instagram dedicated to '100 days of happiness'.*
*Annoying only because they generally give up 15-20 days in, leaving their Instagram account abandoned and definitely not happy.
But those articles never relate positive thinking to mental health. Mental health is what crazy people have. Normal people don't need that.
Well, I'm sure it doesn't come as a surprise that we all have a brain. We all have mentality. We all have mental health. Some of us will be lucky enough to never have to worry about the state of their mental health. But most of us will.
The physical health equivalent is a bit like that friend that everyone has who eats everything (and I mean everything) and does no exercise (and I mean NO exercise) but still manages to have an amazingly slim figure, great skin and will probably live to 200. However, most of us will have to think about what we eat and do regular exercise to maintain a healthy weight and lifespan. This is exactly the same as with mental health.
If we don't exercise our brains, and give it the fuel it needs, it will eventually give up.*
*This is excluding genetic mental health disorders.
So here are my tips for exercising and feeding your brain:
Exercise
1. Learn! Never let yourself get to a point where you're not learning something everyday. This doesn't have to be advanced trigonometry, or German grammar rules, just something! It could be learning something about someone you know, learning to cook something you've never known how to make or even learning what every single button on your TV remote actually does.
2. Those 'brain training' apps you can get for your phone. Yes, most of them are either ridiculously easy or impossibly hard but it keeps your brain busy.
3. Create something. This could be a drawing, a song, a dance, a website, a book or even a blog (because I make it sound so fun). It doesn't have to be typically creative things either. It could be a maths puzzle, an acronym to remember chemical elements or an amazing personal statement (I tried to make that sound as fun as possible).
Food
1. Read. Just reading one article in a magazine will feed new words into your subconscious and give you something to think about.
2. Change. Go to a place you've never been before, listen to an artist you'd never usually listen to, or even change the colour of your duvet cover. Little changes force your brain to adjust and take in more information, but also prepare your brain for having to adapt if something big happens. Honestly, the only reason I managed to settle into Bristol after moving was because I used to change my duvet cover and pillowcases once a week.*
*Sarcasm but the rest of it was sincere.
3. Socialising. This sounds cliche but forming new relationships is an essential part of maintaining your mental health. Countless studies have shown that social interaction can prevent chronic mental (and physical) health disorders.
Learn, change, create.
I'm starting to sound like one of those weird life coach people you always see on American TV programmes, sorry. I'm done now.
Be the change you want to see! Okay, I'm actually done now.
1. What is the first thing you think of when you hear 'mental health'?
2. What is the first thing you think of when you hear 'physical health'?
Now look at what you've written. Or ponder over the words you've memorised and make the people around you think you're being really clever.
It is a recurring theme that the first thing people think of when they hear 'mental health' is usually examples of poor mental health (eg. depression, suicide, crazy) whereas generally the first thing people think of when they hear 'physical health' is ways in which you can maintain it (eg. exercise, fruit, not smoking).
I think this experiment perfectly illustrates the difference in how mental and physical health are perceived. Mental health is thought of instantly as a negative term. Physical health is seen as something we have to look after. I've never seen a post on Pinterest about '5 Minute Exercises You Can Do In The Office To Improve Your Mental Health'. There are never columns in magazines dedicated to all the ways you can get your kids interested in mental well-being.
Yes, I've seen a lot of 'positive thinking' articles and we've all seen those annoying accounts on Instagram dedicated to '100 days of happiness'.*
*Annoying only because they generally give up 15-20 days in, leaving their Instagram account abandoned and definitely not happy.
But those articles never relate positive thinking to mental health. Mental health is what crazy people have. Normal people don't need that.
Well, I'm sure it doesn't come as a surprise that we all have a brain. We all have mentality. We all have mental health. Some of us will be lucky enough to never have to worry about the state of their mental health. But most of us will.
The physical health equivalent is a bit like that friend that everyone has who eats everything (and I mean everything) and does no exercise (and I mean NO exercise) but still manages to have an amazingly slim figure, great skin and will probably live to 200. However, most of us will have to think about what we eat and do regular exercise to maintain a healthy weight and lifespan. This is exactly the same as with mental health.
If we don't exercise our brains, and give it the fuel it needs, it will eventually give up.*
*This is excluding genetic mental health disorders.
So here are my tips for exercising and feeding your brain:
Exercise
1. Learn! Never let yourself get to a point where you're not learning something everyday. This doesn't have to be advanced trigonometry, or German grammar rules, just something! It could be learning something about someone you know, learning to cook something you've never known how to make or even learning what every single button on your TV remote actually does.
2. Those 'brain training' apps you can get for your phone. Yes, most of them are either ridiculously easy or impossibly hard but it keeps your brain busy.
3. Create something. This could be a drawing, a song, a dance, a website, a book or even a blog (because I make it sound so fun). It doesn't have to be typically creative things either. It could be a maths puzzle, an acronym to remember chemical elements or an amazing personal statement (I tried to make that sound as fun as possible).
Food
1. Read. Just reading one article in a magazine will feed new words into your subconscious and give you something to think about.
2. Change. Go to a place you've never been before, listen to an artist you'd never usually listen to, or even change the colour of your duvet cover. Little changes force your brain to adjust and take in more information, but also prepare your brain for having to adapt if something big happens. Honestly, the only reason I managed to settle into Bristol after moving was because I used to change my duvet cover and pillowcases once a week.*
*Sarcasm but the rest of it was sincere.
3. Socialising. This sounds cliche but forming new relationships is an essential part of maintaining your mental health. Countless studies have shown that social interaction can prevent chronic mental (and physical) health disorders.
Learn, change, create.
I'm starting to sound like one of those weird life coach people you always see on American TV programmes, sorry. I'm done now.
Be the change you want to see! Okay, I'm actually done now.
Wednesday, 22 July 2015
So you work well in a team? Get in line.
I
actually have something really exciting to announce! I have started
blogging for the BMA communities website, about applying to medical
school!*
*British Medical Association
Here is the link to where my posts will be published and below is the thing I just posted.
phobia
ˈfəʊbɪə/
noun
noun: phobia; plural noun: phobias
an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.
I am scared of a lot of things. Injections (yes this is extremely unhelpful when wanting to be a doctor, we'll come to that later), applying to medical school (once again unhelpful but seemingly understandable), spiders (this is definitely not a phobia as it is completely rational), sundried tomatoes (a crime against any tomato anywhere) and technology. No, wait, correction. Technology is scared of me.
This may seem like an odd thing to talk about on a 'road to medical school' blog forum but I'm going to turn it into a metaphor.*
*Yes, a metaphor! Brace. Yourself. Also, a side note to anyone who hasn't read anything on my main blog and happens to love drawn out and confusing metaphors, check it out.
I ran
into a few technological (that definitely doesn't sound like a word)
problems when setting up my account for this. Firstly, my email wasn't
being recognised and secondly, I couldn't upload an avatar.*
*Does anyone else find it really hard to separate that word from the memories of watching Avatar for like 4 hours and being completely and utterly confused? No? Just me then.
So, my solution to these problems was to send loads of emails. Ever since I turned 16, I've been really into emailing. I know I should be more enthusiastic about Instagram or Twitter but as a 2
1st century child, email is way more indie and retro. Anyway, it was as I was writing these panicky emails that I realised there was some blogging gold in this dilemma.
The
reason I included the (proper Oxford Dictionaries) definition to phobia
was because I genuinely believe computers, phones and any sort of
internet thing have some sort of irrational vendetta
against me. Every single phone I've ever had (except my Nokia but not
even I can break a Nokia) has eventually given up and died. This
includes turning permanently mute, not letting me find WiFi, and even,
in the worst circumstance, my phone deciding that the bottom of half of
the screen was unnecessary anyway.
Can I
just clarify that I have had phone cases on all my phones. Like proper,
thick, rubber cases that actually give the phone an ability to bounce to
heights of 20cm, maybe more. I take all the precautions. Phone cases,
firewalls, screen protectors, not installing dodgy virus-ridden apps et
cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Whatever I do, these phones are determined
to break.
Now,
we're finally getting to the metaphor. I like to imagine my battles with
technology like the battle to get into medical school.
I call
it a battle because it is. You wear the armour (grades, voluntary work,
work experience), you wield your weapons (grade 8 flute, violin and
piano, magical healing abilities) and you have opponents (every single
other person who is applying to medical school). It is a battle.*
*Sorry for the unexpected metaphor.
No
matter how much protection you wrap around yourself, let it be amazing
A2 grades, 52 weeks of work experience or 17 years of voluntary work; or
how many anti-failing software programmes you install, let them be
compassion, empathy or The Ability To Work In A Team, there will always
be obstacles trying to stop you getting there. They could be people
telling you 'you're not the sort of person I can imagine being a doctor'
or perhaps UCAS forms that make you realise that there is not one
single thing you have done that makes you stand out from anyone else.
I'm sorry, but your avatar won't load.
I don't know much about applying to medical school. I have no idea whether
I'll get in. But whether I do or not, I am determined to learn
something from this experience, even if it is just loads of amazing new
metaphors.
Monday, 20 July 2015
Overthinking Tumblr
Recently I've kind of felt like a 'bad feminist'.
I put that in apostrophe-things because I know (like in my heart #cringe) that the only way to succeed at being a 'bad feminist' is if you don't actually believe in gender equality. I also know that there is no panel of judges, or governing body, to approve of your worthiness to label yourself as a feminist. Even so, I can't help constantly saying to myself 'I shouldn't think that' or 'A real feminist wouldn't think that'. I'll elaborate because I feel like you've now got this picture of me liking 'Menimist' posts on Facebook and tweeting about how I believe women were created to pleasure a man.
This is going to sound really trivial but the first time I thought this was on tumblr. I follow loads of great blogs (if I'm honest they're all very very similar but hey they repost nice pictures) and a lot of them repost feminist-y things. I love all these posts and agree with them 100% but a lot of the time I don't repost them to avoid my blog becoming too feminist.
Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me!
I know that is awful and I'm kind of considering deleting this.*
*I'm just being so brave.
I justified this to myself by saying (to myself, in my head) that I wanted just one form of social media where 'FIERCE BUT NOT AGGRESSIVE FEMINIST' wasn't the first label that people placed on me.
This is relevant to Facebook, Twitter and essentially every single social media.*
*Yes, I'm pretty sure I'm a member of most of them which is of great embarrassment to myself and my family.
This even happens in real life. OMG yes, I said it. Real Life. For example, someone I'm talking to might mention an article they read about how feminists are actually a Top Secret Global Organisation Working Closely With The Government To Brainwash The Brains Of The Nation's Children (or TSGOWCWTGTBTBOTNC for short). And instead of taking that opportunity to remind them that 'feminist' just refers to a person with a belief (that happens to be equality between sexes, lol) and actually feminists are just normal people who, no, don't believe all men should be locked in a dungeon as their primary function is to provide semen to make more humans, hopefully women, I will just make a sarcastic remark and move on as if it didn't happen.
This is all to minimise the number of people who decide it doesn't matter what my name is, what subjects I study, or even whether I'm actually a nice person or not, and instead just refer to me as 'that annoying feminist girl'.
However, I'm pretty sure if I had to have any label, category or neon pink flashing sign above my head it would say feminist. And I am proud of that. I want one of the first things people to know about me to be that I'm a feminist who is not only willing to take that label and own it, but also willing to educate and be educated about the millions of injustices and inequalities around our world.
So, from now on I am making a promise to myself to repost every feminist post I see on my tumblr dashboard, to 'like' every feminist status I see on Facebook, and to take every chance I can to call out inequality and promote equality.*
*Do you now understand my blog title? I got all that from not posting something on tumblr.
I put that in apostrophe-things because I know (like in my heart #cringe) that the only way to succeed at being a 'bad feminist' is if you don't actually believe in gender equality. I also know that there is no panel of judges, or governing body, to approve of your worthiness to label yourself as a feminist. Even so, I can't help constantly saying to myself 'I shouldn't think that' or 'A real feminist wouldn't think that'. I'll elaborate because I feel like you've now got this picture of me liking 'Menimist' posts on Facebook and tweeting about how I believe women were created to pleasure a man.
This is going to sound really trivial but the first time I thought this was on tumblr. I follow loads of great blogs (if I'm honest they're all very very similar but hey they repost nice pictures) and a lot of them repost feminist-y things. I love all these posts and agree with them 100% but a lot of the time I don't repost them to avoid my blog becoming too feminist.
Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me!
I know that is awful and I'm kind of considering deleting this.*
*I'm just being so brave.
I justified this to myself by saying (to myself, in my head) that I wanted just one form of social media where 'FIERCE BUT NOT AGGRESSIVE FEMINIST' wasn't the first label that people placed on me.
This is relevant to Facebook, Twitter and essentially every single social media.*
*Yes, I'm pretty sure I'm a member of most of them which is of great embarrassment to myself and my family.
This even happens in real life. OMG yes, I said it. Real Life. For example, someone I'm talking to might mention an article they read about how feminists are actually a Top Secret Global Organisation Working Closely With The Government To Brainwash The Brains Of The Nation's Children (or TSGOWCWTGTBTBOTNC for short). And instead of taking that opportunity to remind them that 'feminist' just refers to a person with a belief (that happens to be equality between sexes, lol) and actually feminists are just normal people who, no, don't believe all men should be locked in a dungeon as their primary function is to provide semen to make more humans, hopefully women, I will just make a sarcastic remark and move on as if it didn't happen.
This is all to minimise the number of people who decide it doesn't matter what my name is, what subjects I study, or even whether I'm actually a nice person or not, and instead just refer to me as 'that annoying feminist girl'.
However, I'm pretty sure if I had to have any label, category or neon pink flashing sign above my head it would say feminist. And I am proud of that. I want one of the first things people to know about me to be that I'm a feminist who is not only willing to take that label and own it, but also willing to educate and be educated about the millions of injustices and inequalities around our world.
So, from now on I am making a promise to myself to repost every feminist post I see on my tumblr dashboard, to 'like' every feminist status I see on Facebook, and to take every chance I can to call out inequality and promote equality.*
*Do you now understand my blog title? I got all that from not posting something on tumblr.
Wednesday, 27 May 2015
I like ----- for the flavour.
Guys, I found a thing!
Yeah, I know, OMG, a real thing.
Basically, you know how I'm always going on about how just because different people experience inequality differently around the world, it doesn't make that inequality any better?*
*No.
Yeah, I know I don't always phrase it like that but that's essentially what I was getting at. Anyway, I found a thing that describes that thing!
It's called....dun dun DUNNNNN.....
Intersectional feminism!!!!
Okay, yeah I know it doesn't sound quite as exciting as I made it out to be, but it is, trust me.*
*Or don't, considering the only stuff most of you know about me is from this blog, which I edit and edit and edit and edit.
This term isn't in the dictionary (yet) so I had to trawl for ages online (3 minutes tops) to find this definition.
intersectionality: the view that women experience oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity. cultural patterns of oppression are not only interrelated, but are bound together and influenced by the intersectional systems of society. examples of this include race, gender, class, ability, and ethnicity.
*Click the link 'cause it's a really good article and explains this WAY better than I can.*
I guess the first thing we need to clarify is privilege.*
*Scary sounding parent-word.
If you are male, you have privilege.
If you are white, you have privilege.
If you are cis-gender, you have privilege.
If you are heterosexual, you have privilege.
There are a million more but I think you get it, right?
This doesn't mean that it's better, or that all the people who don't fit into those categories spend their entire lives wishing they were different (hey, I like being female!) but just that you happen to not be in that particular social group of people who have been historically oppressed.
Okay, so I have strayed pretty far from the original topic of this post which was -intersect intersexual intra interact section feminine feminism- intersectional feminism!
I am a woman, which is a historically oppressed group of people. However, I am also white, cis-gender and heterosexual.*
*Not that any of that stuff should matter but I needed to relay it all, to make this clearer.
Because of this, I will never be the victim of racism, transphobia or homophobia. And also because of this, I will never truly understand what it is like to be a victim of racism, transphobia or homophobia.
However, what I can understand is that different people have different issues, and different scary sounding '-isms' they have to deal with. What I can understand is that while I will never be a victim of racism (unless I pull a reverse Michael Jackson), a victim of homophobia or a victim of transphobia, I am allowed, and invited, to fight against those injustices.
Yes, some of the injustices I experience personally may be different to the injustices a Woman Of Colour experiences, but we will both be fighting for feminism.
The best analogy I can think of is that there are loads of flavours, and colours, of feminism (like fizzy drinks) that we all need to embrace. For example, cream soda.*
*THE DRINK OF GODDESSES.
I like cream soda for the flavour. Someone else might like it for the flavour and the fizziness. Someone else might like it not for the flavour or the fizziness, but just for the can. If the main manufacturer of cream soda decided to just stop making it for some reason (this is starting to sound like an Economics lesson), those two other people and I would all be angry. Let's say we decide to start a campaign to get this drink back on sale (with pink glittery placards and all). We would all be fighting the same cause, but from slightly different perspectives, and maybe some with slightly more to fight for.*
*I mean, a girl can get pretty attached to the aesthetic of a can.
I feel like I just demonstrated how not to explain intersectional feminism.
If you guys are now just really confused, you have two options.
a) Read the article I linked above!!!
b) Read this all over again, slowly.
c) Close my blog, listen to a yoga class playlist on Spotify and drink some cream soda.
Yeah, I know, OMG, a real thing.
Basically, you know how I'm always going on about how just because different people experience inequality differently around the world, it doesn't make that inequality any better?*
*No.
Yeah, I know I don't always phrase it like that but that's essentially what I was getting at. Anyway, I found a thing that describes that thing!
It's called....dun dun DUNNNNN.....
Intersectional feminism!!!!
Okay, yeah I know it doesn't sound quite as exciting as I made it out to be, but it is, trust me.*
*Or don't, considering the only stuff most of you know about me is from this blog, which I edit and edit and edit and edit.
This term isn't in the dictionary (yet) so I had to trawl for ages online (3 minutes tops) to find this definition.
intersectionality: the view that women experience oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity. cultural patterns of oppression are not only interrelated, but are bound together and influenced by the intersectional systems of society. examples of this include race, gender, class, ability, and ethnicity.
*Click the link 'cause it's a really good article and explains this WAY better than I can.*
I guess the first thing we need to clarify is privilege.*
*Scary sounding parent-word.
If you are male, you have privilege.
If you are white, you have privilege.
If you are cis-gender, you have privilege.
If you are heterosexual, you have privilege.
There are a million more but I think you get it, right?
This doesn't mean that it's better, or that all the people who don't fit into those categories spend their entire lives wishing they were different (hey, I like being female!) but just that you happen to not be in that particular social group of people who have been historically oppressed.
Okay, so I have strayed pretty far from the original topic of this post which was -intersect intersexual intra interact section feminine feminism- intersectional feminism!
I am a woman, which is a historically oppressed group of people. However, I am also white, cis-gender and heterosexual.*
*Not that any of that stuff should matter but I needed to relay it all, to make this clearer.
Because of this, I will never be the victim of racism, transphobia or homophobia. And also because of this, I will never truly understand what it is like to be a victim of racism, transphobia or homophobia.
However, what I can understand is that different people have different issues, and different scary sounding '-isms' they have to deal with. What I can understand is that while I will never be a victim of racism (unless I pull a reverse Michael Jackson), a victim of homophobia or a victim of transphobia, I am allowed, and invited, to fight against those injustices.
Yes, some of the injustices I experience personally may be different to the injustices a Woman Of Colour experiences, but we will both be fighting for feminism.
The best analogy I can think of is that there are loads of flavours, and colours, of feminism (like fizzy drinks) that we all need to embrace. For example, cream soda.*
*THE DRINK OF GODDESSES.
I like cream soda for the flavour. Someone else might like it for the flavour and the fizziness. Someone else might like it not for the flavour or the fizziness, but just for the can. If the main manufacturer of cream soda decided to just stop making it for some reason (this is starting to sound like an Economics lesson), those two other people and I would all be angry. Let's say we decide to start a campaign to get this drink back on sale (with pink glittery placards and all). We would all be fighting the same cause, but from slightly different perspectives, and maybe some with slightly more to fight for.*
*I mean, a girl can get pretty attached to the aesthetic of a can.
I feel like I just demonstrated how not to explain intersectional feminism.
If you guys are now just really confused, you have two options.
a) Read the article I linked above!!!
b) Read this all over again, slowly.
c) Close my blog, listen to a yoga class playlist on Spotify and drink some cream soda.
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