Whose day?

It seems like everyone is posting about the international Women's Day, so I can't help myself, I have to post as well! But if you want to read something much more interesting, I recommend you go read this 8th of March post.

My favorite Hanne Nabintu Herland is once again in the newspapers, thanks to this occasion. Heading of the article: Today we should turn the TV off and give him a sexual surprise. This time she thinks that Women's Day should be turned into Man Day, and she says that if the journalist called her because she's a woman, then she feels like just hanging up. She wants to be interviewed because she has something interesting to say.

I think we can all agree that the reason the newspaper called her is because she always says things that make a lot of people angry - and a lot of men happy.
(Did you see what I just did there? I separated "men" from "people", something that is usually done when speaking of women! And I even did it unconsciously! Perhaps this is the problem Herland speaks of?)

I never really understand what that woman wants to say when she appears somewhere, so I'll just leave it at that.

International women's Day is kind of like Valentine's Day in this part of the world. It's kind of shameful to celebrate it. It's best for all if you aren't even aware of what day it is. Surely, going "oh? Valentine's Day is today?" is a sign of you being a sensible person and not tricked by the evil forces of capitalism and consumption. Surely, these kinds of days are just about making people spend money (but hello, Christmas?), and on (primarily) women on top of that. Women in Scandinavia get no flowers or anything like that on the eighth of March, and I think many would consider it just a little bit politically incorrect to give them any. Equality and all that; women don't need any flowers because they already have it all. Only in countries where women are not yet as emancipated as in Scandinavia is it okay to give them gifts and to celebrate them.

The only people I've met today who have mentioned this day were... Russian. And I can't help thinking that it's a nice thing. I wouldn't mind at all if International Women's Day was celebrated at least... a bit around here, and if it was not just a reason for the newspapers to write articles about equality or the illusion of equality, which are then attacked by men crying about how feminism has gone too far and about how women should go back to being women.

And speaking about women being women... what does that mean? Does it mean being servile, shy and knowing your place?



Or does it mean trying to look nice, to be feminine? (Because that is kind of looked down on, even by men, as non-intellectual and vain. So are we supposed to do that or not?)

I feel like celebrating today by painting my fingernails pink and doing a facial mask, and by reading a couple more pages of Charlotte Roche's scandalous autobiographical novel about revolting things women definitely shouldn't be writing about, but sadly I don't really have the time for that. I have to be utterly unfeminine and write an essay on the nationstate from an historical perspective, and read some poorly written essays other students have written. Come to think of it though, all of those students are women, so perhaps it isn't unfeminine at all? Did academia turn feminine?