Saturday 17 October 2015

Am I....? |Feminism|

There's an explanation for these photos at the end….

Am I a secretary?


Am I a rebel?


Am I innocent?


Am I a pin-up?


Am I a slob?


Am I an engineer?


Am I a slut?


Am I weak?


Am I strong?


I am me. A human. A person. My sex does not define me. My clothes do not define me.


All of these photos are gathered from my Instagram and are things I wear on a fairly regular basis. They are not posed specifically for the post. They are chosen as nods towards the stereotype of each description chosen.

The other week someone said something in an off-hand manner that left me fuming for the rest of the day. Many a rant has been had and many a discussion started with people close to me.

I find when talking about feminism it's very easy to come across as someone who is incredibly uptight and can't laugh at themselves or just plain old perceived “man hating”. So I don't tend to discuss it too often in a more public forum. However this incident won't let me let it go.

I maintain and repair gliders and motor gliders, as well as the odd bit of light aircraft work. It is predominantly thought of as a man's job, one which I am more than capable of doing and have done so for eight years now.

Whilst standing on the edge of a casual discussion at work, which turned to some paperwork that had a small mistake on that had been rectified, the gentleman speaking turned away from the man I work with (doing exactly the same job, exactly the same engineering role, and the majority of the same qualifications), laughed and looked away from him and directly at me and said:

“Well we'll have to blame the secretarial staff won't we?!”

He was swiftly and politely corrected. What's made me stew is that I have spent hours now thinking about it. Okay, it's an outdated view point from an older generation of which this gentleman is part, but that doesn't excuse it.

It was hopefully mostly meant as a joke, but does accepting sexist jokes like this and letting them slip past without repercussion mean we are accepting casual sexism as part of society? Does it make me an arse to confront people who truly meant no harm but just haven't thought?

I spent quite a while at work thinking about how I dress and how I present myself. I used to do work in old jeans and vests and far too many jumpers once it got colder. I felt rubbish about myself, I didn't enjoy what I wore and quite often I was colder than I get now. Now I wear leggings and skirts and vests to work. Mostly pencil skirts. Along with scruffy plimsolls and on this occasion quite a lot of silver paint and yellow etch prime!!! …..maybe I should wear overalls again!! There was still the odd bit of sexism when I dressed to blend in with the men and there still is now I'm obviously dressed “like a girl”. Which is another phrase I don't feel I should be using here as I am as girly as usual if I'm wearing a pink dress or overalls!!

I'm as guilty of the casual sexist thoughts as the rest of us. If I see another woman in the clubhouse at the gliding site who I don't know, my head assumes she's either a trial lesson or someone's wife. I have to consciously remind myself that she could be a pilot or an engineer too, and I'm always happy if they are!

I read somewhere once that your first thought in a situation is social conditioning, and the thoughts you have after are the real you. I don't want the real me to be sexist, or perpetuating sexism through in-action. I try to be conscious of what I'm thinking and why my head has wandered off in that direction. It just takes a bit of stepping back and assessing that isn't always easy to accomplish in the heat of the moment.

Basically I'm here to have another little rant. To remind myself and anyone else who's listening to not judge a book by it's cover; or a person by their clothes. To try and continue being mindful of my thoughts and actions. To try and make a teeny tiny bit of a difference to a world that is still fighting for equality, because for some reason, we've not got the hang of it yet!!

Anyone got any tips for how to respond to people like this in the most non-confrontational way possible? I'd like to spend a little less time stressing about it next time it happens!!

Jo :)

Monday 12 October 2015

Bitsa Blog |Catch Up|

Well. It's been hectic round here!! 



Things I have learnt in the past two weeks:

Colds still suck. 
Check dates on your tickets. 
If I'm not at home, I run out of time to do things. Including washing. 
Ruffles require way more stitching than you'd think. 
Helium is hilarious. 
Alliteration is awesome. 
Veggie curry in a can is surprisingly good. 
Organza is a bitch to sew with. 
But it's really pretty.... 
Don't drink vodka on an empty stomach. A shot will make you crazy. 
Organisation is key. 
I am not organised. 
Best friends trump pretty much everything ❤️ Including blog posts. 
Never trust a Brian. 
Halloween rocks.
Caravans (even when they have gas) are not conducive to cooking or laundry. 
Barry M gel eyeliner is AMAZING and u must do a full vegan make-up review soon. 
Poundland has some brilliant (tat) Halloween bits! 
Ghost friends  

So yeah. Since getting back from Slovenia,  I had one mega organised day at home and then it all went to pot. What with working down in Essex and helping some friends when one of them had a shoulder operation (two year olds require entertainment and many hands make light work, especially when one of those hands is strapped in a sling) I've just been completely swept away. The over ambitious carnival skirt completely took over this weekend so I'm playing catch up this week. Id like to think it'll settle down soon but I'm going to Scotland at the beginning of November and it's probably going to go back to crazy then!! 

Normal service will hopefully resume next weekend! 

Jo :)