International Women's Day
So yesterday was International Women's Day and it is a really important day to be aware of, whether you're a woman or not.
It is ridiculous that in 2016 we are still celebrating day's like these in promotion of equality and equal rights. It is ridiculous that we are having debates over whether feminism is positive or whether there needs to be an International Men's Day - surely whatever the name of the day, we should be promoting equal rights for EVERYONE regardless of gender, age, race, background, sexuality.... It is ridiculous that there are women and men and children over the world without a voice, without an opportunity, without rights.
We all know this. This message is not a new one - it is an age old battle and worrying, one that continues through history. Whilst International Women's Day is important for backing equal rights and opportunities for EVERYBODY, it is also important to celebrate it as a day for celebrating being a woman.
Let's be honest, there are days where celebrating being a woman might be pretty far from your mind. When you're on your period and you're tucked up in a duvet with a family size bar of chocolate to yourself feeling like shit - yeah, you don't really feel like celebrating.
However, there are a lot of reasons why we should be celebrating and I think International Women's Day is a good day to remind girls we should be celebrating TOGETHER.
Girls are bitches. We all know this. Don't beat around the bush, even if you are THE nicest girl on the planet you have thought at least once, something bitchy about another girl's fashion sense, makeup, hair, weight, intelligence, lifestyle...need I go on? It's in our makeup (no pun intended), we can't help it, we immediately judge.
International Women's Day should not be a day to call out to all girls not to be bitchy and to stand together, it's a day to remind girls that the first bitchy thought that enters your head DOES NOT need to be vocalised. The internet of all places makes it all too easy to bring your fellow woman down, to bitch, to comment on their weight in their OOTD photo, to tweet about their opinions are shit and their hair is shit, to brand celebrities sluts, to get too involved and to say things you wouldn't dare say to someone's face.
It would be foolish to send an appeal to all women not to think bitchy things. It would be empowering to send an appeal to all women to praise each other a bit more. To keep their bitchy initial thoughts in their head and give someone the benefit of the doubt. To shout about a girl who you think is awesome. To comment on someone's OOTD photo saying how fab they look. To tweet the bloggers who have inspired you. To give a YOU GO GURL to the celebrities fighting for change. To back your friends up and make new friends. To support one another and not spend all your time focusing on negative shit.
International Women's Day to me is a day to get all Mean Girls and give a YOU GO GLEN COCO to all the fab women in your life because after all, we get enough dodgy comments from men not to bring eachother down too.
As the Spice Girls said - Girl Power.
(All quotes from Pinterest)