Quote Originally Posted by Crankin View Post
But, on the whole, most white, Christian, heterosexual people don't "get" the racism that a lot live with.
Whoa! The race card and the religion card all rolled into one. Huh, maybe I'll check out synagogues over the weekend so I can "get it." I mean, I've never had anyone bash or mock my faith and life has been a bed of roses. I've never had so called enlightened, liberal folks look down on me and assume I wasn't as intelligent or worthy as they because I'm a country girl and prefer that way of life (at least I know how to grow my own food from veggies to beef to eggs should the world go mad). I especially like the comments from these same people about "rednecks" and how we're everything wrong with the world. Can't even tell you how many times my age has made me less capable, less knowledgeable, whatever. Ageism goes, both ways. Oh, and let me tell you Hillary has 2 mommies went over awesome in my small town. Awe-haw-some! I like to think of myself as "heteroflexible" so there are lesbians out there who hate me (oh the irony). And what about the people our culture refers to as "white trash?" You don't think they encounter prejudice?

I don't label myself a feminist because I think what it has become is a joke and insult to amazing women who actually broke ground for us. It seems now that calling yourself a feminist is an excuse to be a flippant b***h while expecting others to tolerate it. There seems to be an attitude that if one man pays you less, all men are to blame. A lot of two wrongs still not adding up to a right.

So I'd call myself a strong woman, modeled after the strongest woman I know, my mom. Like ShootingStar pointed out, my mom gave up drafting to raise us kids and once we were school age she would do upholstery while we were in school. Unfortunately after my parents divorced she was out of luck because no one drafts on a board anymore. She tried to take CAD classes but my dad made it hard for her. So she was stuck and worked her butt off to take care of us. For years she suffered at my dad's hands to try and do what she thought was best for us kids, keep the family together. That was kind of the prevailing attitude then.

To this day I watch her kick butt and take names. She got her contractors license after a full knee replacement. She's doing what she knows, and loves, and every day it makes me proud of her.

I guess I pick and choose my battles. It's like this gal I'm living with, she complains so much that none of it matters anymore. I stand up for myself, by myself, and hopefully that will mean someone else down the road won't have to.

And lets be a skosh honest with ourselves. If men didn't see us as objects of desire eventually we'd have an epic fail as a species.