Johnsenclan

It’s my mom and dad’s fault (I guess my wife and daughter share the blame though). I grew up in a conservative area, in a patriarchal religion. There really wasn’t a good reason women’s issues should matter to me. I honestly thought men were better than women as a kid. My dad was big and strong and was the one who told me when I had to go to bed. He led our family in prayer, could wrestle me to the ground, and even made dinner sometimes (ah, the first clue).Then I remember clear as day when I realized I was wrong. I can even remember the clothes my mom and dad were wearing (I have no idea why this stuck with me so long). I was setting glasses on the table, and went out of my way to give my dad a taller glass than my mom, then made sure his was filled with more water than her glass had. We probably had plenty of the tall glasses, but as the man and father, he was most important and deserved a bigger glass.

My dad noticed I’d given my mom a smaller glass and asked why. I told him simply that she was a girl, probably a little mystified that he’d need to ask. He didn’t tell me I was an idiot like he probably should have, but explained to me why my mom deserved a tall glass as much as he did. I was shocked, obviously as you can see this has stayed with me for 20+ years. I kind of started to understood what my dad was saying. My mom wasn’t any less important than he was. It didn’t matter that men were in charge at church, or all my school principals were always men, or that every person in a leadership role that I could think of was a man. That wasn’t necessarily how it had too be.

I have to say, it blew my young mind a little.

So the size of glasses is a stupid small thing, but it represents the positive things I learned about feminism from my parents. So I’m a feminist. Or trying to be. Feminist-in-training maybe with a goal to help my daughter know that it’s ok to be a feminist?

Whatever it is, I’m trying. I want to live in a place where my daughter and niece can’t comprehend why a woman would be afraid of a man. A place where it would be shocking that she would earn less than a guy that is less qualified than her. A place where they could decide to stay home with their children or work outside their home without anyone telling them they’re wrong. A place where the size of their boobs, stomach or butt would be the least important thing they thought about themselves. I don’t live in that place, but I hope they can, and I feel like feminism is one way to accomplish that.

• Feminist Mormon Housewives - Mormon related feminists.
• Feministing- Hardcore feminism. A platform for younger feminists.
• Mind on Fire- Feminist dude
  
• Moderately Insane-Feminist, athiest, father of three. Interesting posts about being a feminist father to daughters.
• Sin City Siren-Las Vegas Feminist

Great list of many more than five from Alas, most showing that feminism is not your expectation.

Tags: feminism, five, Jeremy, politics