I'm just a girl...

I'm a little angry again, reader. I've spent quite a lot of time this week studying for my "major problems in the US society" course (yeah, well, it sounds a little more thrilling than it actually is) and I am kind of annoyed. I have read three texts by feminists from diverse nations, and I just wanted to say how much I disagree with them.

No! Women of the Western world, don't rise! At the beginning, I was actually very interested in getting to know more about feminist theories, because we hear about it so much, and yet know so little about them. Well I don't know much about them anyway. And then, I read about a woman whose encounter with these theories had been some kind of an epiphany: "Oh, that's why I've been so angry for so long! Because I was oppressed and hated by the alpha males of the world!" She said it had helped her become a better person, she had lost weight, and changed her body posture, and realised herself as a human being.

So I was excited about learning something about the meaning of life and how to achieve happiness (and lose weight, though I was kind of doubtful about that part). And then I read the texts and thought, what the hell??? I feel more insulted by what these authors say than by my so called "oppression" by the "patriarchal society". I mean, come on, we're not living in the 19th Century anymore!

First of all, things have changed, it's time to wake up: I might not get the same pay for doing the same job as a man, but that's going to change, and I can go and work, be a lawyer, a judge or have a political career if I want to, no one will stop me. It might be a little more difficult for me than it would be for a man, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and that will change as well.

Second, I am happy about some of the differences that exist between the way women and men are treated, and I feel privileged to be a woman: I can stay at home and take care of my children if I choose to, people won't call me weak or lazy. I can show my feelings, people won't call me a sissy. Well not at once. I can put make up on, and nice dresses and stuff, which I consider really fun, I don't have to wear the same old boring smoking. I can also choose to be a tomboy, it's not going to ba a big problem, people actually find it pretty cool sometimes. I can expect men to ask me out, and don't have to take so many risks as they do. I can blame my bad mood on my... let's not talk about this one actually...

I love being a girl, and I don't want anybody coming up to me and telling me I should be sorry, telling me I should be ashamed of being happy with my situation, that I should change it, because I am under pressure and submissive. I'm not! I just think there's nothing wrong with the way our society is going!

Then again, I guess maybe that's my opinion because I have never had to face difficult situations, I have never been penalised for being a woman, or been hurt, or had to face domestic violence. But domestic violence, or violence against women is not seen as normal today! People who do things like that have to face the law, and are considered criminals! I'm not saying it doesn't exist, and I'm not saying we can stop fighting domestic violence, but that's not a fight for feminism! It's a fight for human rights!

Besides, I think generalisation is OK, to some extent, but not in this area. I mean, three billion people on each side of the fence, can we really assume that they are all the same?? Poor women, boiling with hate against their oppressors on the one side, and spiteful, violent and stupid men on the other, obsessed by their "phallocentric narcissism" [sic!]?? Come on, reader, isn't that kind of crazed?

Anyway. I got irritated, as you might have noticed, because I read three of these texts in a row, and I just can't identify with them. Do you think the theories are wrong, or do you think there's something wrong with my being such a happy bunny that I can't understand them, because I don't have the proper background?