There's nothing we women can't be

I play into a lot of female stereotypes. I've played the little sister role. I've handed over my fair share of pickle jars. I sit under a warm blanket while Jeff shovels the snow. I don't kill insects or assemble new electronic equipment. I've been a lifelong girlfriend.

Then again, I don't wear make-up. I don't like to clean. I don't really like to dress up, I'm more comfortable in PJs. (I watch sports.) I do like to cook -- sort of -- but I don't like the idea of cooking every night while someone waits on the couch for it. 

The other day Jeff called me an "emerging feminist." I'm not sure what that means, or why that sounds like a dirty word, even to me. I'm sure he wouldn't list it at the top of my best qualities, although I think he doesn't realize exactly how much of that "feminist" attitude is what he actually likes about me. 

I've said it before, I've experienced next to no sexism in my career, so that's not what I'm driving at here. But as I get older, I just feel this overwhelming anger at the one step forward, two steps back of females of my generation.

I'm so glad that Obama was elected, but I don't know if I'll ever see a female president in my lifetime. I feel like Hilary was our best foot forward and she was fairly easily beaten, though she was the candidate with more experience. Her consolation prize, Secretary of State, is nothing to sneeze at, but I can't help but scoff at the cursory roles women are sometimes given. There's a real derth of female role models, and I wonder if it's because they don't exist, or it's that they're more heavily criticized than their male counterparts. Perhaps I'm rambling.

But why can't I say something like that without getting eyerolls? Am I really wrong? Am I overreacting? 

I get mostly annoyed at how women are portrayed in the media, as in they are almost always second fiddle. Watchmen brought up the issue again last week because why could Dr. Manhatten be blue, and Roscharch be scuzzy and Night Owl be pudgy, but Silk Spectre HAD to be hot. That one definitely got an eye roll from Jeff. "Emily, who READS comic books?" I know, I know, boys. But is it wrong to crave a female super hero for our daughters to look up to?

I want to be a feminist, if that means that I want to remind people that things still aren't where they need to be.  I want so badly for future generations of women to not worry about how they compare to women on TV, not to cut other women down to make themselves feel better or shy away from subjects and avoid projects that it only seems that men excel at -- all traps I've fallen into over the years.

It's so important to me that I'm almost afraid to have a daughter, because I'm afraid I'll become obsessed with gender-neutrality, that I'll be disappointed if she plays with Barbies or wants to wear pink -- and well, that isn't the point right? The point is to make your own choices, and hope that you are given the same choices as everyone else. 

Anyways, this wasn't the world's greatest post. But I saw this little video below and felt a little more hopeful, even if it's just muppets.