Friday, March 28, 2008

Egalitarianism...to the EXTREME!

Ok, let me start saying that I am a very liberal, strong, independent young mother that is teaching my children to question authority when necessary and to make a statement and stand up for what they believe in.

I am going to start out with a reference to Wiki as I do often in my blogs.

 

**Egalitarianism is a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals from birth. Generally it applies to being held equal under the law, the church, and society at large. In actual practice, one may be considered an egalitarian in most areas listed above, even if not subscribing to equality in every possible area of individual difference. For example, one might support equal rights in race matters but not in gender issues, or vice versa.**

 

I believe that all people, regardless of race, religion or gender, should be treated equally without question. Despite the fact that there are still many instances in which people are singled out, for good and bad. I know that we society are trying to allow all people every opportunity to grow equally. Whether that is having a female football player or a male cheerleader,  having a female CEO and a stay at home dad. I think it is great that we as a society have become open-minded enough for this to happen, but society has taken this to the extreme in some instances. I was recently in a situation that has proven this. I was at the pharmacy picking up a prescription of antibiotics for Dawson and the lady at the counter asked if the medicine was for a boy or girl. So I said..."umm...a boy. Why?" And her response was that so that she knew which color syringe to give him. HUH?!?!? Are you kidding me? We, as a society, have become so "politically correct" that we have to give our children medicine in pink or blue syringes!  YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME! So not only do we have the option for boy/girl toys at McD's but we also have the option of a boy/girl medicine dispenser as well.

I really HATE gender stereotyping, and I think that it hinders a person's growth. I have tried to not stereotype my children and allow them to grow and blossom into their own personalities. Take this for example:

sosweetpurse

cradlecarrysling

He carried the purse around for well over a year, he always put his keys and a toy car in there. Sure we got weird looks, but this was Dawson at that age. He was exploring the world completely without interference from the harsh stipulations of today's society, which is how it should be. I think people are more prone to comment when it is a male doing something generally thought of to be traditionally a fit for a woman, which I think is partly because we live in a profoundly homophobic society.

I don't recall people staring nearly as much when my girls were playing with trucks, climbing trees or playing with bugs. IN FACT it was the complete opposite reaction. With the girls people welcomed the fact that they were "strong and independent"....where as having a boy that was "soft and gentle", he was seen as "weak." And in today's society "weak" men are seen as inferior. Gotta love the double standard there.

Anyway....I guess I have rambled on enough and went a little off track there. But what I am basically trying to say is that today's society is so worried about offending people and creating lame ass reasons to make people believe that we are all equal when in reality we are not. Society still has, and probably always will have, stipulations in what is "normal" in regards to equality.

1 comment:

  1. I love the picture of Dawson wearing the baby sling. Awesome!
    ~ Christen (from Pittsburgh Moms)

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