Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today
I was thinking about some of the best comebacks in the world which, perhaps
unsurprisingly, have come from women. Comebacks such as when Muhammed Ali was
travelling on an aeroplane, he was asked to fasten his seatbelt.
His
response: "Superman didn’t need no seatbelt."
The
airhostess’s reply: "Superman didn’t need no airplane either."
Or
when Noel Coward commented on Edna Ferber’s choice of clothing by saying "You
look almost like a man", Edna Ferber replied "So do you."
Not
even women are safe from female retorts. For example, when Miriam Hopkins
encountered a wannabe starlet and was told "Did you know I’ve insured my voice
for a thousand dollars." Hopkins
Ilke
Chase experienced a similar situation when an actress approached her and said "I enjoyed reading your book. Who wrote it for you?" An unphased Ilke retorted "Darling, I’m so glad you liked it. Who read it for you?"
And
there is, of course, the infamous encounter when Clare Booth Luce moved aside
from a doorway to allow Dorothy Parker to go through first and remarked "Age
before beauty." To which Dorothy Parker immortally replied "Pearls before swine."
When
it comes to comebacks, Dorothy Parker is probably the queen of them all.
For
example, on being told Coolidge had died, she remarked "How could they tell?"
After
being interrupted on her honeymoon by a query as to why her book review was
late she said "I’m too fucking busy, and vice versa."
Talk
about Burn!
The
wit displayed in these few simple sentences demonstrates how women can be (and
are) incredibly funny, intelligent, talented, and capable of contributing so
much but for some reason throughout history they have been oppressed, ignored,
betrayed and lied to just so men can come out ‘on top’
I
personally think it speaks volumes when the word ‘feminism’ doesn’t mean the
rise of women to the subjugation of men but instead equality of the sexes (if
you don’t believe me – after all, I am a woman – may I humbly suggest you look
it up).
Feminism
is an incredibly simple idea but a vitally important one for two crucial
reasons.
1)
Look at this list of women who have achieved amazing things but been sidelined
by their male co-workers
- Rosalind
Franklin: scientist whose work on DNA with Raymond Gosling led to Watson and
Crick’s breakthrough
- Alice
Guy: first female studio director and owner whose husband convinced her to
combine their studios under his name
- Elizabeth
Magie: created Monopoly 30 years before Charles Darrow – who sold it to Parker
Brothers for millions
- Lise
Meitner: physicist who discovered nuclear fission with Otto Hahn who won the
Nobel prize but refused to give Jewish refugee Meitner credit
- Chien-Shiung
Wu: a physicist who discovered the law of parity. Her 2 male colleagues men received
the Nobel Prize for their work
- Margaret
Keane: artist who created the ‘Big-Eyed Waifs’. Her husband convinced her
(through threats) to put his name on them.
- Jocelyn
Bell Burnell: the first person to observe radio pulsars. Her 2 male colleagues
received a Nobel Prize for their work, unlike Burnell.
- Anna
Arnold Hedgemann: organised the 1963 Washington
- Margaret
Hamilton: wrote the code that put the first men on the moon. But have you ever
heard of her?
Imagine
what they could have achieved if they’d been supported instead of downtrodden
2) Up
until the 1970s(!), women did not have the following (what might be viewed as
basic) right
- Women
couldn’t protect themselves from workplace harassment
- Women
couldn’t refuse their husbands sex – marital rape was not a crime
- Women
couldn’t get a divorce for domestic violence – proof of a husband’s infidelity was
needed for a divorce
- Women
couldn’t get the morning after or birth control pill
- Women
couldn’t receive direct consultation about their own physical or mental health
- Women
couldn’t own a bank or open a bank account
- Women
couldn’t be judges or serve on a jury
- Women
couldn’t be astronauts
- Women
couldn’t purchase athletic shoes or be part of the Olympic Games
- Women
couldn’t get into ivy league university
- Women
were obstructed from studying law
And
while a lot has been achieved, there is still a LONG way to go.
Feminism
is not even a female-only concept. For example:
This
is what a feminist looks like:
And
there have been many, many, examples of those who grasp just how important it
is:
William Golding: I think
women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men, they are far superior and
always have been.
Hugh Jackman: I’m for gender
equality because it should never have been any other way
John Legend: All men should be feminists. If men care about women's rights the
world will be a better place.
Mahatma
Gandhi: Of all the evils for which man has made himself responsible, none is so
degrading, so shocking or so brutal as his abuse of the better half of
humanity, the female sex
Prince
Harry: We know that when women are empowered, they immeasurably improve the
lives of those around them – their families, their communities and their
countries
Joseph
Gordon-Levitt: What feminism means to me is that you don’t let your gender
define who you are – you can be who you want to be, whether you’re a man, a
woman, a boy, a girl, whatever
John Stuart Mill: The legal subordination of one sex
to the other -- is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to
human improvement
But
if you need further reasons why women are not to be underestimated or indeed
messed with, consider this:
-
Women are able to bleed for 1 whole week every month and not die
-
Women are able to create life inside their own bodies
-
Women are experts at doing multiple tasks all at once
-
Women use both sides of the brain (men predominantly use only the left side of
their brains)
-
And finally, women are experts at getting blood out of clothing
Just
remember – women are not the subjugators. The majority of women are not out to
‘control’ or oppress men. They do not want to get their own back. They want
equality and an equality that will benefit everyone.
So maybe
the answer to the question what does a feminist look like should be ‘Look in a
mirror’
