Beauty contests for children

Today I happened to stumble upon this documantary about children beauty contestants, and I could not stop watching it for the life of me. I could not stop watching even though it made me sick to my stomach. I'll admit, I am not a fan of adult beauty contests, because it completely focuses on people's looks. But sure, for adults I think it's their own choice to participate.

When it comes to children of about 4 to 8 years of age, however, it is NOT okay. There is no explanation in the world for focusing all your and your child's attention on their looks, no matter if they look like quasimodo or esmeralda. They are to spend hours just on makeup, and in front of the mirror, worrying that they will not be the most beautiful girl of them all. Hours that they should have spent playing hide- and seek with their freinds (that is, if they were allowed to leave the mirror for a minute to make some friends).

Their mothers say that they dream about becoming a star, or a model, when they have grown up. Well, then let them try when they are GROWN-UPS! Let them make up their own dreams instead of following yours.

And do I even need to get started on how all these beauty contests are for girls and women? How it is always their job to focus half their awake time on how they look? I hope not, that should not go un-noticed by anyone with a brain.

Recommended

Highly recommended article: http://www.politicususa.com/en/concerned-women-for-america-real-feminism-is-serving-your-husband

Fight or submit!

I just read a post on an incredibly stupid chauvinistic blog. It was about feminists causing a gender-war. Here's how the blogger argued: Feminists are causing a war between the genders by fighting the males, rather than submitting to their will. The same kind of argument that sexist used in the early 20:th century, before women even got the right to vote. I would have hoped we were past that stage, but I guess I can't set my hopes very high in this issue. Some things never seem to change.

This person argued that feminists created violent men, and if all women were to only submit to male power there will be no more husbands hitting their wives. Okay, that sure is news to me. So there were no violent men before feminism? Hmm... It can not have been that hardly anyone reported violence in the home, because it was socially acceptable for a husband to hit his wife before feminism arose? I would also like to point out countries were feminism has not yet had any real uprising. Most of you would know that in some countries it is totally acceptable for a man to hit his wife if she does not obey his every wish. Oh, right, I forgot. You thought that women should just submit, instead of fighting. "Go to the kitchen and cook me some dinner, or I will hit you until you can hardly breathe any more!" That is one humane society!

I will never ever stop fighting for my rights, and the rights of all my sisters!

Feminism is the radical notion that women are people

Fashion and gender

Viewing the most popular blogs in all of Sweden, one is quite apalled! The top two blogs are by a couple of teenage girls talking about what kinds of garments they are wearing , how their day at the gym was or perhaps who they have met today. If they feel like they have to tell the world what they are wearing, then sure, go ahead! But what is really astonishing is how popular these blogs have become. Is there really nothing more interesting to the Swedish people than reading about some self-centered girl's day? Obviosly not. It is all about fashion and dieting methods. And what kind of people read these blogs? Well, I would guess that the readers comprise of 99,9 % teenage girls. They read about these popular, good-looking and rich girls, and so they become role-models for girls all over Sweden (and I'm sure this does not only apply to Sweden).

The question is, are they really good role-models? Of course not! It's all about being superficial and self-centered and I sincerely hope that in the future less girls will adopt these typical gender-roles. But in this capitalist-world, my hopes are not sky-high. As long as there is profit to be made from objectifying women, and focusing all attention on the looks of a person, people will keep striving in that direction.

What I really can't grasp is people buying into the whole idea of fashion. How can fashion and looks become more interesting than values and an equal society?

I am a tree

As a feminist I often get complaints about all kinds of things. Most frequently for hating men, but also for striving towards a less equal society. So what do those complaining base this on? Well, in a party called "Feministiskt initiativ" here in Sweden a woman once said that "men are animals" and that "any man would rape any woman at any time". Yet another woman calling herself feminist said that "every man is to blame for each rape committed". The media, of course, thrives on ridiculous statements such as these. It is way more fun to read about extremist statements than a serious debate or more compromising and thought-through statements. Not as educating, though.

Basing their "arguments" on statements of this kind anti-feminist try to ridicule the feminist movement, saying that it is a trend, and comparing it to marxism. I would find this very funny, where it not the general opinion on feminists. This "trend" is what we have to thank for the voting right for women. We also have it to thank for it being a serious crime for a man to hit his woman, and so forth. What it strives for in Sweden today is equal wages for women and men, something that seems to be absolutely appalling to anti-feminists. This is what real feminists strive for and anyone saying that they strive for matriarchy are not really feminist. Feminism being defined as: A political movement for womens full social, political and economic equality towards men.

If I claimed to be a tree, would I become one in your eyes? Or would you just view me as a complete lunatic? By definition, I am obviously not a tree, and by definition feminist are not man-haters.

About this blog

This is my first blog in English, but I do intend to write about basically the same things as I write about in the blog written in my mother language, Swedish: www.tjejkastet.blogspot.com. There I write mostly about equality between different poeple in general, and between the sexes in particular. I noticed on my Swedish blog that I got some american readers and so I thought that it might be a good idea to share my opinions to others than just Swedes. Hope you will enjoy it!