So I'm a feminist. Now what?

I’ve never been much concerned with women’s rights.

Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I never engaged with the fact that the war for women’s rights was still an ongoing battle. As far as I was concerned, for a long time, ‘Feminism’ was a movement that began in the 1800′s and ended some time in the late 20th century. I – or least so I though – had personally never found my own rights in jeopardy because of my gender, ergo women and men were all equal now and that case could be tightly closed and put into the archives.

I  used to be an idiot.

Not that I claim that I am no longer an idiot – lets not say anything rash – but at the very least I can now say I am no longer so ignorant. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

A few months ago, I had an idea to write an article about social attitudes and prejudice towards menstruation. I was hugely inspired by a blog I had been following for some time, written by a fairly outspoken woman Jamie Vulva. She got me thinking, ‘why is it that one of the most natural things our bodies can do – as natural as breathing, or growing – paired with so much shame?’. That, however, is a question to be answered at another time (watch this space).

Long story short, this one idea developed into a whole new school of thought for me. I started to consider the treatment of women within society, the ‘unnatural’ things women are expected to do on a regular basis, and what exactly does it mean to be a woman in the 21st century? So then I thought it might be nice to set up a blog where I could write about all these new, exciting thoughts and ideas that I was just discovering.

Then, as one finds with these kinds of things, the idea started to balloon. After looking into feminist blogs online, I started to realise that there was already lots of content out there, but coming into it completely fresh faced was pretty intimidating. I didn’t know the first thing about feminist theory, let alone current feminist politics, literature, issues etc. And the more I read, the more I found. I was drifting further and further into an ocean of strong female voices, and I had no idea what they were saying.

When I eventually resurfaced, the seed of ‘Feminism what’ was rooting. Not only a website that could be home to my blog, but also a site that could provide a space for feminist artists to publish their work, a site that could break down and critique feminist theory to make it more accessible, a site that could give a voice to women who have something to say. I wanted to make feminism approachable - not just something people (like the person I used to be) relate with grumpy, man hating, lesbians.

The website is still in it’s early stages, and so am I. My own personal discovery of feminism is still at a very selfish level, I’ve barely even begun to comprehend the struggle for women’s rights in other parts of the world. But I will, and hopefully other people will be there alongside, discovering with me.

That’s really what ‘Me, myself, and feminism’ is. It’s an idiot trying to fight her own ignorance in an effort to mature and learn…

and entertain.

Kisses and fist bumps

Jo x