What sort of person would not want equal rights? Who would
not want to have equal rights with the rest of the population? Who wouldn’t
want to vote, drive, get an education, have the right not to have sex, have
reproductive rights, have the right to work, have the right to be paid the same
as other people for doing the same job to name just a few?
Mary Berry thats who. I was genuinely quite depressed to
hear her comments today including such gems as “feminism means shouting at men
and I don’t like shouting” and “feminism is a dirty word”.
It is quite obvious that she doesn’t know what feminism
actually is because feminism has given her all of the things mentioned above,
and the opportunity to work and be wealthy and successful. I haven’t yet met a
feminist who thinks it’s about who opens the bloody door!
It is also incredibly patronising to men. The Mary Berry way
to getting what you want from men is “to persuade them gently to do things,
and, of course, when they come back they say “Oh wasn’t that fun”. My husband,
and most men I know would be completely insulted at this idea. It ignores any meaningful
communication in a relationship, and takes away womens voices. IF Mary Berry
wants her husband to do something why doesn’t she just ask him and have a
proper adult conversation about it instead of simpering to him? And what about
if the man in your life doesnt say “wasn’t that fun?” What about if they deny
you your rights, or they hit you, or they take absolutely no notice of you and
do what they want anyway? Do you carry on gently persuading? Or as long as they
are chivalrous and pull a chair out for you is that ok? I’m happy for her that
she appears not to have experienced sexism, but to denounce feminism and all
the hard - and in the case of suffragettes the torturous and sometimes fatal -
work that other women have done and are still doing to ensure women are treated
equally to men, her word are very hard to listen to.
She is a hugely successful woman because of her talent, but
also because of the opportunities better women than her fought for. She chose
to go back to work 5 weeks after having a baby, well good for her. Its women’s
rights that gave her that choice. She runs her own company and has written 70
cookbooks, again its womens rights that have enabled her to have such a career.
Following on from Joanna Lumley and her ignorant views on
rape this was not the headline I wanted to see this morning. Thank goodness
women like Mary Beard and Claire Baldwin offer some kind of alternative
commentary for us to read.
