How To Raise A Feminist (Part Two)
Let your babies be babies. Don’t impose your ideas of the world while they’re eating Gerbers. Coo and whisper The Future Is Female, sure. But just let your baby be a warm cuddly baby. Babies aren’t jaded yet, they’re not body-shaming other babies, they’re not flinging off their bras and burning them. They’re just babies. Use this very tiring albeit starry-eyed time in your life with your baby to find moments to nap, moments to cherish, moments to teach your baby to say “Mama” before she or he says anything else. Raising a feminist starts at an early age, in that, it’s a way of life. Maybe read aloud to her/him excerpts of Ruby Karp’s “Earth Hates Me” or Roxane Gay’s “Bad Feminist” or anything from Gloria Steinem. Let your baby watch with you your guilty pleasures. As you push your baby in her/his baby swing, or even the playground one, sing “I am woman, hear me roar,” or “All the single ladies.” All of that is acceptable. Still. Baby time is baby time. Give your baby cuddles. Know that you are raising a feminist, you’ll just get to that when she or he is able to walk, talk, engage beyond smiling when she/he has a little fart pooting out.
Hey New York: How are you spending Galentine’s Day? If you’re free tonight, I’m speaking on a panel with some amazing women. Come to the New Women’s Space tonight at 7 for the Nasty Galentine’s Day Event at 188 Woodpoint Road in BK. It’s for a good cause, supporting women.
Laurie Kilmartin’s book, Dead People Suck, is available for purchase! If you want to know more about Laurie, check out our interview here.
Veronica Webb: “I’m all about pro-aging now. Pro-aging is the opposite of anti-aging, because while growing in years, not to mention wisdom, might require more care of of our bodies and our minds, it’s a natural part of life, so I say don’t fight it embrace it.”
Tracey Thorn: “Sometimes I can’t quite remember which wave I am, or which generation I’m part of. I think I’m a baby boomer, which means I could easily join in with cynical dismissals of millennials, but I don’t want to. I’m listening to them, and I think they’re great. Maybe it’s soppy of me, but I’d rather put all the waves together and be an ocean.”
Lots of hub-bub about the Obama portraits, which I think, like their 8 years living in the White House, is divine.
Capturing what life is for a Gen-X woman right now, one Pavement song at a time.
Love, Gorilla style.
And now have a laugh with Rebecca O’Neal.
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