My favourite colour is pink. I love when my husband opens doors for me or brings me flowers. Buy me an appliance and I’m in heaven. I enjoy cooking Sunday dinner (actually, I enjoy cooking meals). I handle most of the grocery shopping, household errands and chores. I love to take bubble baths, gossip with my girlfriends and Cosmo’s are my favourite drink. I choose to go old school and be that “strict” mom instead of the “get down to their level” parent.
I’m not sorry for these things. I am not setting feminism back 100 years. I like what I like, I do what I believe in and that’s it.
When I wrote a list of my top 4 “Must Have Smart-Phone Apps For Women”, I was coming off cloud 9 after discovering a grocery list app that practically transformed my life. Ok, so it didn’t quite , but with 2 active school-aged kids and a husband who works long hours, anything that makes my day easier is worth screaming from the rooftops. I decided to expand the post and discuss apps that I thought my women friends might not know about and would enjoy. It was simply a list of the 4 apps I use most often and why I like them. Next, I’ll probably share my favourite games to play while waiting for the kids school bus to arrive.
Apparently I upset at least one reader because my choice of apps. Her comment was as follows:
“So all women do is bleed, shop and whine about stuff? Really? Shameful.”
After my attempt at explaining the point behind my post (which was literally just to share my favourite apps and start a discussion about what apps others find useful), she had more to say:
“But to say that the top 4 apps for women are all cliche apps that help ladies out with their super difficult lives is just a little ridiculous. There were so many other options for you but you choose to go the stereotypical route.”
Ok, this is where I get fired up. Part of being a woman, and a proud woman, is being able to be who you want to be. Some women opt for the career path, fulfilling themselves in work and social activities and fitness. Others opt for motherhood, mini-vans and mai-tai’s with the girls every other week. Then there is everything in between. There’s nothing wrong with making the choice that is best for you. All valid and each representative of what women are: amazing, vulnerable and beautiful. To say that being a “stereotypical” woman isn’t modern enough, or feminist enough, is actually anti-feminist.
Be who you are and don’t apologize for it. I will not apologize because MY tastes are “cliche”. I will not apologize because these smart-phone apps actually do help me in my day to day life. I will not apologize for being a stereotypical “woman”. I’m not being sexist or anti-feminist – I can still put on a dress, pop out babies and write down my feelings, while being a strong, modern day woman.
However, I won’t deny, I bleed, I shop, I whine. I’m not sorry for that.
Jenn Perry
On her Blog: http://thats-what-she-said.ca/
Twitter: @ThatJennPerry
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThatJennPerry