Let’s shake the way of thinking as Virginia Woolf did !

Hello Charlie’s !

Today, you are going to change people mind, as one of the first feminist, a brilliant woman named Virginia Woolf did, one century before us.

Virginia Woolf is one of my role model, she is exactly what I want to be later. As an independent, smart writer, she made things happen changing way of thinking about women thanks to her words and her modern thoughts.

With her sister, they found Bloomsbury group, where openminded artists and intellectuals discuss about modern social questions as lesbianism, women’s access to education, bisexuality…

You have probably already heard about her famous feminist essay « A Room of One's Own » written in 1929. Behind this enigmatic title hides her long fight about the space of women’s writers in a world dominated by men.

« A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. »

What most astonished me about this fight, it’s still a current issue ! Unfortunately, between 1929 and 2020, women’s space in literature and society hasn’t change so much. 

« Why did men drink wine and women water ? Why was one sex so prosperous and the other so poor ? What effect has poverty on fiction ? What conditions are necessary for the creation of works of art ? »

As she did in her books, I asked myself a question :

Why men feel superior to women ? 

In our society, still today, be a man means be viril, have power and money, be strong and don’t cry. It’s an heavyweight for a boy who wants to become a man. So maybe, if men belittle women it would be more to raise themselves and their sex than to demean women. 

 

Fortunately, world is moving, our generation Z is aware of this issue and already express itself in an no gender way. 

Thus, to change people mind, we have to educate society that human must not be determined by his/her sex but rather by his/her personality, feelings, tastes… To break the prejudices to let men and women become and love who they want freely.

 

 

 

 

Another question I asked myself about the word virility : 

Is the notion of virility have to change ? Or have we to stop to use this word because it should no longer match with men’s ideals ? 

I’m counting on you to help me to answer this question in comments ;)

I apologize myself for my grammar mistakes hoping you enjoyed my first article nevertheless.

I would love to have your opinion about these questions in comments. 

Maybe together, we can make things happen !


Gradiva 

New barbies!!!!!

Hi Charlie!!!
I hope you enjoy your holidays.
I have something that you're going to like.

Last January, the Toy company Mattel has announced that they have redesigned their most famous doll: The Barbie. 

Indeed, the original Barbie will not be created and sold anymore because she has been transformed with new body shapes, skin tones and hair. 

Mattel had to face with changes in beauty ideals. Barbie’s impossible proportions have been criticized a lot, because we're living in a society where the perception of the women  is changing, so Mattel had to remake the iconic blonde. After 57 years of existence, the perfect, tall and skinny blonde  has been replaced and this is great. The new barbies are white, black, tall, small, skinny, curvy. They have crazy looks and they have many different colors of hair. They even have beauty spot! This is a great step for the women's fight!

Also, this is much better for the children because their toys may represent their educations so it's going to be better for them to play with a Barbie who is realistic and who looks like us. Also, it won't affect their self esteem anymore, they won't have this impossible model of beauty and they will feel better, even when they will grow up.

The new Barbies are going to be available this spring, so if you have a present to offer to a child, buy these crazy dolls, and you will help to change the world...;)

PS: Mattel recently said that Barbie may not be the only doll who has been transformed this year — Ken, her companion, could be next....:D

Thanks and bye!!
Eléa C.

Gender

Hello Charlie !

So, I feel like it's time for a new article on LGBT issues ! This time, instead of trying to define a few labels, I'm going to try to talk about gender.

What people think gender is.

So gender is, in most people's minds, the same thing as biological sex. Turns out, it's not ! Gender is varied,gender is a spectrum, gender can change. Gender is not controlled by anyone.

OK, most people are cisgender, which means your gender and your biological sex are both "female" or "male". But, not everyone is !

An attempt to represent the vast concept of gender.

Let's start with the simplest cases : people with a body assigned one of these two options who feel their gender is the other option. Those people are valid, it is important to respect the pronouns and/or names they tell you to use. Please respect them, because it's already hard enough dealing with the feeling to have a "wrong" body.

However, as I mentioned before, these are not the only cases ! Indeed, some people are agender. They don't feel like they belong in any of the gender boxes, and just like before, it is very important to respect them.

Other people can be bigender, which means they feel they have two genders, or trigender, or pangender. Some can identify only vaguely to a gender. Some are genderfluid and their gender fluctuates depending on days.

Picture from http://culturewaves.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Gender.png
The mind-meld gender is.

But after all, we are all human beings, and should all be respected for who we are, no matter our gender, biological sex, or anything else. We are all complete, each in our own way, and why should we limit ourselves to something so restrictive as gender ? What is even gender ?

I don't know, and I am dreaming of a world where it does not exist.

Judith

PS : in case anyone who doesn't remember last years' LGBT article or wasn't here to see it *wink wink to the secondes*, here's the link : http://oibstcharles.blogspot.fr/2015/01/the-queer-community.html