Very exciting news from the UK! The ministers have voted yes for three-person babies, meaning that those women with mitochondrial defects, which would cause their children to be sick, can have them substituted with healthy mitochondria from another woman. This is an exciting news because it will lead to more open mindedness within pre-natal genetic issues.
I am excited that this will help remove genetic deficiencies within a population, however, it will also help me conquer my dream to have a child with my wife. Yes, I am hopping that during my life-time I will be able to have a child with two eggs and no sperm. Science has done this with mice, the technology is there, yet, I believe society is not yet ready for this. Especially when this will hit the ego of non-feminist straight men.
I have come to realise this more and more. I tend to say that we live in a society where people judge you for what you do. This video sums it all up. We live in a world where we are all afraid to fail. We have everything we need to succeed, we learn that at a young age, yet, if we don’t we feel like we have failed. People will judge you, not that you have by different circumstances not managed to reach the top, but that you failed to reach the top. You are a loser.
As I have had an accident and am unable to finish my master degree in this time of my life, I contemplate on this issue a lot. As a young girl you learn about strong independent women who fought for equal rights. As I sit at home reading books, watching series, meditating and going to the gym, I feel useless and rather a failure as a woman, as an activist and a feminist. I have failed.
But have I really? This is a product of my imagination. I have had a head trauma, with enduring pain and cognitive difficulties. I have accepted that at the moment I cannot be focussed on careers or political justice. And f_ck it, cause it is ok! The thing is, that when we talk about equal rights, or feminism, people expect you to be a certain way. As a feminist you may choose to be a stay at home mom. It doesn’t make you less of a woman, or even, it doesn’t make less of a strong independent woman for not choosing a career. And as I am at home, not working and not studying, living off my savings, I am not less of a successful hard core woman than the prime minister of Germany.
We live in a world that we are free to be who we are. That’s what we think. We are not. People judge and expect tons of things from you. Especially as a woman. A man has even less liberties, because they are expected to “behave like a man”, and a woman is expected to “be a man”. Genders aside, we are all human beings, and we are all expected to be strong, witty, intelligent and full of ambition. That’s what they train us in schools. I find that the bravest people are those who do what they want and deal with the expectations straight on, such as stay at home moms or wives. Stronger still are the stay at home dads. Or women who choose to have children instead of focussing on careers, or in some locations, women who choose not to have children or marry.
Ecosystems survive because of resilience. Biodiversity is the key to survival of any entity, let it be the biodiversity of species, or the diversity of you genetic pool in your region. Diversity is key, thus, we should celebrate all our differences and different choices. We should celebrate all the types of people out there, all the different cultures and traditions, the languages and everything. By celebrating differences, other than celebrating similarities, we will experience less prejudice. It is all about compassion, seeing the people for who they are, instead of seeing for who they should be. THAT is what feminism is about. Equal rights for all the differences.
Christmas. A time of year when consumerism is over the top. A pagan tradition stolen by the Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus who was born in March. This is why I prefer to call this holiday Xmas or, as it was originally called, Yule.
However, it doesn’t matter. In the end it is an excuse to be around family and friends, possibly the only time of the year that people do an effort to be with each other, show compassion and kindness, and give gifts or donations. It is a time when the whole community is talking the same language, as traditions bring people together. The food, the decorations, the presents. I suppose it is that one time of the year that society behaves as a community. People get into the “Christmas spirit”. But what is it? What is it about Christmas that makes us so… lovely?
It is possibly the only time of the year that you want to give something to another person. A gift, present, a little box of something. The best feeling in the world when someone opens a gift and smiles. That smile and thankfulness is what makes us have this “Christmas spirit”. The sudden inspiration to look for a gift, or create something. The inspiration to cook and make our home a little extra cozy. Making the home warm with candles and lights on a Yule tree which is extremely welcoming during a dark winter in the Nordics.
It is without a doubt a bizarre holiday in which you dress a plant with a bunch of objects. Or have little bearded creatures around the house. But in the end, it is all about giving and receiving.
For Equal Rights by Sophie M. Gray 