I live a traditional life. I don’t work outside the home. I do traditional type “women’s” work during my day. I spin, I knit, I cook and do laundry. This is where I find my bliss, this is what I enjoy. This is how I find happiness.

I believe that this is my choice, and I choose to live my life this way. I work hard, I accomplish things. The next person to tell me that I’m “only a housewife,” or that I “don’t work,” is going to have an up close and personal meeting with the pointy end of a knitting needle. Seriously, folks, I’m still waiting for the soaps and BonBons thing to start. My life certainly isn’t that way at all. You’re delusional if you think that my life or any home keeping woman’s life is like that.

Having said all of that, I want to make it clear that I am a feminist. If women want to venture outside the home to earn a living, the God’s Bless them. It’s their right and their choice. They should have every opportunity to do so, and no barriers should be put in their way. They shouldn’t be looked down upon, nor should they have to give up things that men aren’t expected to give up in order to do so. Some women have to work outside the home to provide for their families. All women deserve to be paid equally to men.

Along the same vein, I also think that men should have these choices. If a woman earns as much as her husband or partner, and he wants to stay home, he should have that choice. No one should look down upon him because he finds his bliss in a different way than other men.

That, my friends, is what the feminist movement is really all about. Yeah, it got sidetracked by a bunch of loonies. It lost its way among the emotional thickets that people put up, but it is, in essence, about choices for everyone, not just women. That’s the one thing that the anti-feminist crowd doesn’t understand. If women, and their work, are elevated to its proper place, then everyone is elevated. A tide that rises raises all ships, not just those piloted by women. If women can make the best life choices for themselves, then men are also freer to choose things that may be unconventional.

That, boys and girls, is the true meaning of feminism. It’s a message that has been lost in the choruses of “man hating” and “feminazi” bullshit.

My daughters have made different choices with their lives. You know what?? That’s fantastic. I am in total support of their ideas of following their bliss. I believe that it’s up to them to decide the best course for their lives, just as I support each and every man, woman and child in their decisions for what is best for them. I am not living their life any more than they are living mine.

So, you want to revile feminists? So you want women in the kitchen, unable to decide how many children they have? So, you want old, white men deciding if you can choose whether or not you can be sexually active and what jobs you can or can’t do? That is, of course, your decision. You have no right to make those decisions for me, or anyone else on the fucking planet. As an adult woman, I am offended by the idea that I am not smart enough, adult enough, or just plain too emotional to make these decisions for myself. 

My ancestors, women of strength and character, would mow you down where you stand for that. I am their daughter, and though it’s illegal for me to slay you where you stand, I’m going to call you on that bullshit here and now. There is a line in the sand, and you will not cross it.

I may stay in the kitchen, but it’s my fucking choice to do so. My sisters and daughters can make other choices, and that’s okay by me.