Are You Strong?
You know over here at NAS, we tend to be irreverant, silly, naughty….and we like it that way, but we do all have a serious side (and NO this isn’t about old women pumping gas…sorta). Anyway, I was over at Karen’s the other day, lurking as usual when I stumbled on Skyla Dawn’s new project to benefit Equality Now, an organization that works for women’s rights all over the world (and no I’m not blogging about this to win a prize. I do have a point. It’ll just take me a bit to get there. I’m saying this because I think it’s important to say and as a writer, I’m in a place to say it).
We all know the atrocities committed against women all over the world, and I think oftentimes we find ourselves thinking, “It’s too much. There’s nothing I can do to help”. It’s almost overwhelming to think that a woman could be kidnapped and sold as a sex slave, killed for showing her face or walking down the street with the wrong man, but it happens. Hell even here in the United States women are killed trying to leave abusive relationships.
Guess what? There IS something you can do to help.
I started thinking about what I’d write about if I contributed something. In my fiction, one thing I try to convey is that woman can be sexually confident. That it’s okay to know what you want (and take it). That it’s okay to have fantasies, and masturbate and admire other…people. You get the picture.
So what would I want to tell another woman? That you’re strong and confident and that you can do anything you set your mind to. I believe strongly in the empowerment of women….whether I have to (very gently) tell a friend to put on her big girl panties and act like an adult 
(and stop expecting her parents to solve her problems for her) or cheer on another friend as she fights for her kid. 
I believe we should empower the women around us, including our daughters (if I had any), and I believe we should encourage the men in our lives to do likewise. Teach your daughters and sisters how to buy a car, how to check the oil, and the air in the tires, how to balance a check book, and even how to throw a mean right hook.
What have you done to empower yourself, or someone close to you lately? And if you haven’t, would you?
June 26th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Let’s see. I did make myself learn to change my own tire. And I’ve always been one to encourage friends to not ’settle’ in a relationship just because they feel like they need a man. I always tell them to be happy with themselves alone, before adding the man drama in.
That’s probably not where you’re going with this though. Hmm. I need my Starbucks. I really need my Starbucks.
Oh! And I did take Tae Kwon Do for a few years so I would know how to defend myself. Though growing up with three brothers, I was already doing pretty well.
June 26th, 2007 at 11:51 am
YOu’re a strong woman Shel. And I don’t doubt that you’ll raise a strong woman, too
June 26th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
It’s a good cause, Ames, and yay for supporting it.
Empowering women?
With me, my thing is (with relatives, friends, etc.) being supportive of women in abusive/loveless relationships. The lack of self-esteem we’re often raised with that teaches us that we’re NOT strong, or that we’re somehow inferior, or that we NEED a man. It’s fine to WANT one, but if that relationship isn’t good for you–hey, you can do bad all by yourself.
Or better.
June 26th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Ah, thanks, Amie. I really hope so! I’m certainly trying.
Raine you’re so right. And it can be hard to stay understanding with those women sometimes. You sound like you’re doing great.
June 26th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Shelli I agree…I have friends like that and sometimes I want to slap them.
June 26th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
I don’t know that I’ve really been empowering women…but since my husband is gone so much, often for weeks or months at a time (well, except for the recent desk job, sigh,) I have to do EVERYTHING. From oil changes to moving furniture to mowing the lawn to fixing the furnace. And I make sure my son knows that women can do these things just as competently as men. I’m trying to raise him to respect women, the same way my parents did with my brother.
Does that count? :)
June 26th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Larissa ABSOLUTELY!
That’s the only way they learn….from their mothers (and their dads!). They also need to know how to be self-sufficient. My step-mom is still amazed every time my dad folds a load of laundry for her.
June 26th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Awesome post, Aimie! I feel like every time I write a heroine who has no problem telling the hero exactly what she wants, it’s pretty empowering. I think as women we’re often led to feel guilty if we say what we want. And we often put our needs after other’s. Thats why I love writing what I do-I can create women who never feel bad for demanding what their little hearts desire. Even if it’s to be
real good. 
June 27th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Teach your daughters and sisters how to buy a car, how to check the oil, and the air in the tires, how to balance a check book, and even how to throw a mean right hook.
Uh… no…the DH can teach the daughter how to check the oil and the air, but I don’t wanna know. I was told a very long time ago to stay away from anything mechanical. It’s excellent advice.
However my right hook isn’t just mean…it’s wicked. and all of my kids are going to learn self defense. not just one class, but they are training in taekwondo until they either obtain their black belt or they move out. It’s a rule.
June 27th, 2007 at 10:53 am
oh boy–I have pissed off one friend (who I was sorry she stopped talking to me) and a relative (who is better off in another country–thank you god!) by telling them “You do what you have to do” in regards to their kids when they say they can do this or that. I mean don’t whine to me about how hard it is. Everyone has a hard life–it’s how you deal with it that makes or breaks you!
Maybe that’s not what you meant by empowering–dunno, I think when women realize they can do things (sometimes HAVE to do things) that to me is empowerment–don’t depend on someone else to come wipe your nose and help you along the way
June 28th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
[…] LOL……..I”m also over at Naughty and Spice today…blogging about female empowerment. […]