We all need to be proud to call ourselves feminists

There has been so much written on the subject of sexism, misogyny and feminism of late. Three cheers to Tracey Spicer for her excellent piece on The Hoopla recently.

It concerns me however that in a lot of the comments, tweets and discussions, a number of women start their comment with 'I'm not a feminist, but' or 'I'm not am avid feminist, but' while agreeing with the writer or commentator about the deplorable state of affairs for women.

I became a feminist at the age of eight, when I was expelled from Brownies for refusing to earn my badges for sewing, craft, and various other 'feminine' pursuits. Actually it was probably writing 'Brown Owl is a bum' in chalk on the footpath after getting into trouble for that attitude that got me expelled but I took a stand. You see the Brownie hut was next door to the Scout Hut and they got to build fires and canoes. I didn't understand why I couldn't do that. I can still build the BEST fire but don't ask me to sew on a button.

From a young age I was aware of discrimination - at high school being made to do Mothercare lessons (FFS) which again I eventually refused to do. I went to university and studied law. In one of my first lectures the make lecturer told us how much a degree would be worth over the course of our careers, but added it wasn't as important for the female students because we could always just marry a lawyer. My complaint to the Dean went nowhere.

The thing is this - no woman should be embarrassed about being a feminist, or worry about being labelled a feminist. Being a feminist is terrific, and is not am exclusive club.

EVERY woman who believes that equal work deserves equal pay is a feminist.

EVERY woman who believes workplaces should not be places of fear just because of your gender is a feminist.

EVERY woman who believes promotion should be on merit and nothing else is a feminist.

EVERY woman who believes that girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan deserve the right to go to school is a feminist.

EVERY woman who believes that women have the right to choose whether or not to have a baby is a feminist

EVERY woman who believes no one should suffer through a violent relationship out of fear and want to help that woman is a feminist.

You don't need to be feisty about it, grow armpit hair, hold placards or write articles. You can call it as you see it without the need to apologise for your views. You can do it quietly or loudly. You just need to do it.

You don't need to be an ALP supporter to applaud the Prime Minister for her recent speech. It's a speech I have made (not in those exact words of course) and wanted to make many times.

There are lots of disagreements amongst feminists about what it takes to be one and they are always interesting discussions. These are my simple rules. I think we're all feminists and I'm proud to be one.




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Back to reality with a thud

So after a fabulous holiday spent in France with friends, I came back to earth (home) with a great big fucking thud.

* got on the scales and discovered an additional 3 kilos
* chained myself to the laundry for about three days
* call to RACQ to replace battery on third car teenaged daughter drives which had died some five days before
* Call to computer repair man to collect home PC which had shat itself a week before and refused to even turn on
* a mountain of mail to open sort file and pay
* start organising for 12 year old's school trip to Canberra
* mum my credit has expired on my phone
* mum my credit has expired on my go card
* mum how do you do x, y z etc
* mum where's my a, b, c etc
* mum can you help me do my assignment that was due 2 weeks ago etc

I realised one day when I was up to my elbows in Mr Muscle cleaning the oven, that only a week before I had been sitting down to a fabulous long lunch with about a vat of French wine about to be consumed


Sigh...

AMFYOYO


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How to celebrate 50 years of living

I love parties. I love organising parties for other people. But in the case of my own 50th, I didn't want to organise a party for myself. I spoke to a friend, also turning 50, and she felt the same.

I have long been a Francophile- I mentioned that I wanted nothing more than to celebrate my 50th in France. Count me in, she said.

So after many months of searching I found this:














It is called Chateau de Siorac and you can see the whole delightful chateau at www.chateaudesiorac.com. It is close to Perigueux, the capital of the Dodogne area of France, famous for its river, castles, and more importantly, food. It is the truffle and foie gras capital of the world. And you can buy real champagne off the shelf at the supermarket!! For a song.

The chateau is owned by a couple who had been living (and working too hard) in NYC. They are not American and I'm not sure why that's important but it is. They bought and renovated the chateau, originally built in the 16th century, and live in a cottage on the grounds, giving up their very impressive careers for a life in the French countryside. I can see the attraction. It is beautiful and has been faithfully restored and has an interesting history. It has 6 bedrooms and bathrooms, a baronial dining room, several living areas and HUGE kitchen, also with room to seat 12. And it has not one but two towers. Believe it or not, leaving aside the airfares to get there, it was cheaper than two weeks at Noosa.

So The Lawyer and I had two heavenly weeks there- the first week with four other couples, and the second with my siblings, their spouses and some mutual friends.

We saw lots of ancient towns, bridges, rivers and castles.


























And we did a lot of this:





















Of course in order to leave, i had to prepare a four page spreadsheet of what was happening with the children, cook meals for them and Dear Old Dad, but it was worth it. We laughed. Oh how we laughed every single day. We ate beautiful food, drank beautiful wines, saw beautiful sights and carried on like silly persons.

It was the best birthday ever



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