From the Tumblr blog: unpopular opinions. I'd like to say this was an unpopular opinion, but it isn't.
The idea of baking and feminism going together can be an odd one. Haven't feminists fought for years to get out of the kitchen and into the work place? To be something other than a cooking, cleaning and child rearing phenonomem?
Thursday I baked cakes in order to raise money for women in Africa. Thursday, in-case you didn't know, was International Women' Day. General reaction I got to this was you BAKED CAKES? As if we couldn't call ourselves real feminists. It just couldn't connect in some people's brains. It was ironic, apparently.
Well, yes, women don't "belong" in a kitchen and feminists have been fighting this stereotype for years. But some choose to place themselves there. Feminism is about choice and it might surprise a lot of people to know not all feminists have hairy armpits and break men's balls all day. Some like to bake, wear pretty dresses and even take up dancing as a hobby. Like myself.
"I bake because I want to, not because I feel a biological urge to" - myself.
I am vehemently pro-choice. I am proud to support the LGBTQ community. I am living proof that a child who had a stay at home dad and working mum can turn out to be a perfectly stable adult. Prior to my birth my dad was a nurse, and I will bite back at anyone who says "male-nurse". I stand my ground when my own mum doesn't respect the fact that I fail to see the appeal of motherhood. I do however respect the decision of a woman to be a stay-at-home mum. Because that is what some women truly want. I refuse to use the word "slut" because no woman should be judged for her sexual habits or the way she dresses. I think it's wrong that in some parts of this world a girl still has to place a white sheet beneath her on her wedding night to prove she remained "pure" for her future husband. I have been using the prefix "Ms" since I was seventeen. Never, ever, will I be a "Mrs". I might be married one day but I will never use a prefix that states that I belong to a man.
I am a feminist because I do not believe equality has been achieved. What I choose to do in a kitchen should not be taken as a political statement. But as a hobby. A politically neutral hobby.
Morag x