Taking up feminism is old hat
That F Word: Growing up feminist in Aotearoa By Lizzie Marvelly, HarperCollins, $35
I’m a bit cynical when it comes to a woman born in 1989 writing about “feminism”.
They clearly have no clue about what it meant to be a woman fighting for equality in the 1960s and 70s, attending the first women’s conferences in New Zealand, marching for basic rights, fighting to be considered for a maledominated job
(including journalism), fighting just to be heard.
Marvelly is everywhere these days. She’s a singer, but also an ambassador for Variety, columnist in the Weekend Herald, a two-time finalist in the NZ Women of Influence awards, a vlogger and started the #mybodymy terms campaign.
She says there are some things worth getting angry about. Abuse, sexism, trolling, conditioning for girls in schools. And she says men are just as hurt by restrictive bounds of masculinity as women are.
She’s right too — women are still paid less despite so-called equality, are still underrepresented in government, the media, sport, the higher echelons of business.
And she’s right that girls still need someone on their side, to fight for what men take for granted. She’s certainly that, and she writes well, even if most sentences start with “I”.
But feminism? Girl, some of us are decades ahead of you and were fighting before you were even born.