Apologies for the radio silence. Don’t worry, I haven’t gone anywhere but unfortunately I’m unable to post a new full-length blog due to my laptop giving up the ghost. I’m sending it to the computer medics soon so will be back ASAP.
Follow me on Twitter (@amyjosays) for updates.
See you soon,
Amy Jo
I can’t resist inspirational quotes. Neither can I ignore any excuse to celebrate. Naturally, International Happiness Day makes me smile – it offers a chance to appreciate life and waste time browsing galleries of cheesy mottos (even if this year’s features were slightly overshadowed by the eclipse). I have spent so many hours surfing Google Images that it’s a rarity I find one that I haven’t read before, although today’s new favourite is “Take Risks. If you win, you will be happy. If you lose, you will be wise”. I don’t mind seeing the same sayings but there are some that have often made me feel uneasy – those that tell you to experience sadness before you understand happiness. Although I think many are clumsily worded, I’ve started to recognise that they only mean well.
If you’ve noticed a sudden glut of opinion pieces about women over the last couple of weeks, it’s not a coincidence –it’s Women’s History Month (or at least it is elsewhere – the UK has not marked it since 2012 but that’s another point of discussion…). If you spent any of International Women’s Day online, you would have no doubt noticed an especially strong female presence. The one change I noticed the most though is not the increase of inspirational women but rather the rise of anti-feminist commenters – and it naively shocked me.
“This is what I’ve learned in my life: Headbanging is crucial. Growing up is hard to do. There’s nothing wrong with wearing a dress.” – Hayley Williams
When I first heard that quote around five years ago, there was something about it that jarred with me. “Headbanging” and “wearing a dress” just didn’t make sense together. How could a woman working in the man’s world of rock music encourage such a feminine fashion? Why would she choose to bare her legs when women had the right to wear trousers and, crucially, how could her ideas not match with mine? I was confused and disappointed by William’s words. Six years her junior, I was yet to understand that being feminine and being feminist were not exclusive.
London Fashion Week is over but unlike most bloggers, it barely registered on my radar. All that I’ve noticed is there’s a trend for mustard yellow. As much as I love to see that shade smeared on the side of a roast dinner, I can’t bring myself to wear it – not again, anyway. “Banana Girl” flares, much adored by my fifteen year old self, were the subject of much abuse and mockery (including a bizarre French fry throwing incident at Thorpe Park). Although I loathe being conformist, I’ve grown to realise that sometimes making a point with fashion is simply not worth the hassle. Although you won’t see me modelling mustard any time again soon, the rest of London Fashion Week’s colour palette probably will dictate my Autumn/Winter wardrobe even if I don’t take any notice of it now. However, there is one clothing item I can never resist making a statement with – the slogan t-shirt. I don’t care if the “experts” say wearing words is “in” or not because whether rocking golden bell-bottoms or black skinnies, I’ve always had a thing for clothing with a message.
I hate sexism. I also hate exercise. I don’t loathe sport quite as much as misogyny or misandry but the feeling of anger is still there. Tell me that a woman’s place is in the kitchen and I’ll be filled with rage but tell me a woman’s place is on the sports field and you’ll find me raiding the fridge for comfort food. Of course, I’m sure Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign is inspiring many women to do activities they’ve always feared were too “masculine” to enjoy but I can’t help but shake my head at their adverts. It’s not because I disagree with their message but simply because This Girl Can’t.
Hello there. I know what you’re thinking.
You’re rolling your eyes at the existence of yet another blog. You think there’s nothing more pointless than somebody documenting their thoughts online. You’re even feeling uncomfortable about the inclusion of The F Word in the bio (Newsflash: if you believe all genders are equal, you’re a feminist too!).
Or maybe I’m wrong because if you disliked my writing that much, you wouldn’t have even bothered clicking on the link that brought you here.