So, we got knee-deep into feminist philosophies last night. The dichotomies between generations in this area is interesting.

We have some women who are in their 40s and 50s in the class. They remember the struggles from being the stay-at-home moms when that’s all there was to going into the workplace. One woman told us about having to sign a waiver that said if she got pregnant, she would quit her job. It was a requirement if she wanted the job.

I’m in the middle, being in my 30s. While I am a feminist, I think of myself as something *more*. I consider myself a humanist…that every person should be considered on their own merits…not by how much money s/he makes, what race, how old, or what sex s/he is…but how that person reacts and interacts which each person s/he comes in contact with. I don’t care if you’re from Antarctica or the North Pole. If you’re a “good” person, you are ok with me.

Now, when we got to the 20 year old women (there are only 2 men in the class and they rarely speak), it was, again, divergent. Some of these women are married with children and have a very different outlook than those who are not. They tend to be less radical, more thoughtful about how change will affect their children. The single 20 year-olds also diverged. On one hand, we had one young woman who was regaling us with stories about her roommate who took a job at a local restaurant where she was told it was ok to be groped, where she had to “grin & bear it.” She didn’t seem to understand that this kind of atmosphere promoted the notion that the patrons could think it’s ok to do that to anyone and that this is encouraging blatant sexual harassment. She also proceeded to argue that we weren’t giving stay-at-home moms enough credit. I think she missed the point that we were talking about respecting people for those kinds of decisions, as well as “no kids” decisions. It’s the right of the person to choose and not be condemned for that decision.

One of the other 20-somethings is pretty radical. It amused me when she would say “we feminists believe” or “we feminists feel.” Her ideologies are close to mine but not the same. So, when she covered it with that blanket statement, I chuckled a few times. I can say that “my feminism” is probably not “her feminism.” There are some distinct differences that come from having at least 10 years on her and having lived through different situations that would influence me to think along a different path.

What I love, though, is the dialogue. I feel empowered when I leave that class. I have a million thoughts roaming around in my head and I have this feeling of wanting to go to some coffee shop and debate issues with some of these women until the wee hours when we would finally just collapse from exhaustion…encouraged by open thought.