Raging Feminist

When I first met MapGuy I described myself as a "raging feminist" on more than one occasion. After a few such references he asked me, "Why do you call yourself a 'raging feminist'? You don't seem so 'raging' to me?" (He also asked a few other questions about how I could consider myself an active member of the LDS Church and at the same time proclaim to espouse feminist ideology, but that's another discussion for another day.) I assured him that I am using the word 'raging' to mean 'big-huge' not 'angry and bitter'. He disagreed that it was a valid usage. Fair enough.

Time went on. Summer turned to Autumn. People grew up. People got married. People died.

I picked up a new feminist book (The Macho Paradox).

Sunday night Nanny, MapGuy, another guy, and I were sitting around my place chatting. Well, Nanny was falling asleep listening to us, and Entrepreneur and I were doing most of the talking. The subject matter at hand was the objectification of people by society. Not just women, but people. MapGuy was a whole lot more attentive than Nanny, and even asked some good questions and contributed to some degree. At one point Entrepreneur asked me what he could do to help change society — the common "I'm one person" claim —.

"Speak up!" I told him, "Don't just accept things because society does it. Work for a change. Don't read magazines that objectify people, whether in their articles or in their ads. Don't buy products that exploit it."

After a few hours Entrepreneur said something to the effect of he never knew I felt this way, "Well," offered MapGuy, "She is a raging feminist."

"Oh! Now you believe me!" I exclaimed.

"Well, you weren't so 'raging' before."

"Yeah, I was probably grounded from feminist books when you first met me."

This lead into a discussion on why I grounded myself, and how maybe I should stay grounded. I explained that I like to read this type of literature, but I need a break from it, or I'd become an angry man-hater. It's all about knowing yourself and your limits. One thing I do know: as soon as I finish this book I'm back on the wagon for another 6 months.

Tuesday MapGuy and I were talking about Sunday night's conversation. I was teasing him about the 'raging feminist' comment when he told me, "Actually, I really enjoyed the conversation. It gave me a lot to think about. Like, how I need to care more about the objectification of people by the media than I currently do."

You know, you never know the effects of one conversation. I'm glad we chatted.