Comments on: Can you be a feminist if you can’t think?

By: Linda Brown

Linda Brown — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 11:38:46 +0000

Admin,

Things change..Lots of changes coming from being single to being a mom esp if your a working mom..I guess there are things that cannot be done when your married just like going out with friends all the time ..Lots of sacrifices for the better of your family…Being busy is a part of it..But you just have to learned how to handle it and how to managed time..

Linda Brown

By: Jo Ind

Jo Ind — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 19:48:02 +0000

Thanks Steve. Actually, when I was researching this, I saw that Salma Yaqoob (http://www.salmayaqoob.com/), parliamentary candidate for the Hall Green constituency was featured on the Feminist Philosophers website (http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/salma-yaqoob.) I felt stupidly proud about this. You could have caught me going “Go girl!” at the computer. It was a bit like when I was last in Barbados and couldn’t help but support the English cricket team even though all my family and friends who were cheering on the West Indies. I might have dual citizenship, but there I was being English. And my need to cheer Salma on suggests I haven’t stopped being a feminist.

By: Steve X

Steve X — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:01:31 +0000

But you are thinking, Jo. Just about different stuff.
You say you were a feminist last time you thought about it, four years ago Perhaps this confirms that you are still a feminist, because you no longer feel the need to think about whether you are or not?

By: Jo Ind

Jo Ind — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:36:35 +0000

Thanks for your comment Maggy. It’s interesting that you interpreted my being busy as being stressed. It might mean that, but not necessarily. What I was describing was a life of immediacy rather than reflection. Likewise, I didn’t mean I didn’t have time to pray – I do but I don’t have time to read Simone de Beauvoir. So I wasn’t writing about the difference between being stressed and not-stressed or between meditating and not-mediating but about the difference between a life of dealing with immediate needs rather than of spending time thinking things systematically through. It’s a subtle distinction. Thank you for teasing it out.

By: Maggy Whitehouse

Maggy Whitehouse — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:01:54 +0000

I think the answer is no… At the risk of sounding horribly holier-than-thou I don’t think I could remain sane unless I meditated before dealing with family, friends, work etc. I used to let them run me ragged but that little oases of God-and-me time seems to make such a difference. And it’s the time when the feminist thoughts can come in such as ‘hang on a minute – why am I planning all this? Why can’t I let go and trust.’
Tricky with a child I know – but Arch would always prefer a happy mother than a stressed one I think. My step-children call me ‘chilled-out-Mum’ which is really rather nice.