We Should All Learn What "Feminism" Means

I am going to attempt to explain some personal views that relate to the story A&P by John Updike, but I am probably going to get lost in my thoughts and contradict myself a ton so hang in there, I will make sense eventually.

My favourite kind of literature is British classics, especially Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. I am indeed a feminist in the traditional sense of believing in the economic, political, and social equality of men and women, however, I am not a "feminist" according to today's connotation of the word making a feminist a women who yells and screams about how women are treated poorly. I do not believe that women can be equal to men in many areas, just as men are not equal to women in many areas. We are two different genders, therefore we will not be equal. When it comes to human rights, sure we are equal in that we are all human, but women and men have different strengths that need to highlighted by those genders instead of trying to force the two genders to be the same. I believe in the strength of man, and the power of the female advantage. Girls can do anything that icky boys do, we just do it differently. A man can lift a heavy box on his own and carry it up to his apartment just as well as a girl can bat her eyelashes and get a man to do that for her.

I am not against feminism, okay maybe I am against the radical feminists who instead of going on about the strength of women they decide to act as though women are superior to men, that is not okay in my book. I do not believe that either sex is superior to the other, I just do not feel like women need to get all in uproar about men treating them certain ways.

Take A&P for example, when Sammy was thinking those things about Queenie as she struts her half  clothes body around the store. She deliberately went into that store in a bikini, which she knows is not proper shopping etiquette, calling attention to herself - so we should not be appalled when Sammy takes notice of her. If Sammy pressed the issue further and made Queenie uncomfortable by coming onto her unwelcome or trying to cop a feel - then by all means throw some stones at Sammy. All he did was appreciate the body that she was putting on display in the middle of a supermarket. No one is to blame, it is not a "creepy" situation, but one that happens every single day and one that tons of people will look at and act as though Sammy has committed some kind of hanous crime.

The story was very enjoyable all together, I had read it in highschool and completely forgot what it was until I looked at it in class after I read the wrong short story (instead of reading A&P, I read Kafka.. oops) for homework. Even way back in junior year of high school, I stood firmly by Sammy and his thoughts. He did nothing wrong, he is not a creep, he is just a typical person, not even a typical boy, just a person who can think whatever he wishes about whoever he wishes.

That is all, going to take a nap before I blog more about literature and such,

Cat