Early signs you were a feminist (light-hearted)

No Damascene conversion either - brought up by a Feminist mother, back in the days of the women's movement. It was hard-wired into my thinking. Which meant I spent a lot of time either bemused that other girls had such strange ideas about what they could or couldn't do, or arguing, this being the 70s. I used to sit in English classes reading Spare Rib...

I remember when we had to write fake diary entries or letters in history at primary school, I always made sure I wrote as a female character and made her life sound as great and exciting as possible, in contrast to the NOTHING that was usually written about women in history books. I really hate(d) the appended "and women stayed at home but could win respect if they were good at housekeeping" paragraphs in textbooks we had, I always felt that it was lies and women - being much the same as they are now, inside - must have had friends and jobs and some of them must have learnt things and travelled etc etc.

Recently found an old exercise book where I was writing about sexism (aged about 8) and referred to it as "a lot of old nonsense". :o

I think The penny dropped when we were asked at school, at some point in the mid eighties, to write about an inspirational person. My best friends chose Madonna and Janet Ellis from Blue Peter (not bad choices ). Being the daughter of ea leftie feminist, I chose Harriet Harman. I got mucho resoect from my female leftie feminist teacher for that...

Mine was when I was about 12 and my mum was out somewhere. She had left us our tea but my Dad then tried to make me wash up afterwards.

I said of course and my brother could dry only to be told by my Dad, no, it's womens work. I had to do it all.

I refused point blank and took the grounding. Only to get a bollocking from my mum for not helping her out. Meanwhile my unemployed father slept in the chair.

Loving and saddened by all these in equal measures!

Mine would be at the age of 6 or 7, reading a Janet and John book for the first time ever (mid 80s) and feeling outraged for poor Janet. My mum had banned them from the house and i had Puddle Lane instead. I could instantly see why!

I'm an engineers daughter, I always had Lego and toy cars and a big chunky orange bike.
Yes I had dolls, but I had a chemistry set and made bows and arrows too!

So no Damascus moment was always a trouser wearing, tree climbing Tom boy.

Absolutely hated Y7 playground, the boys played football and the girls were meant to just gossip.

Also we had wear skirts and couldn't do wood work

Weretricks - in my upper 6th year, my single sex comp joined forces with the boys' school next door. They couldn't cope with girls winning the further maths, physics, chemistry and maths prizes - so they gave the maths prize to the best performing boy. He'd come 5th overall. Love your response to the builders.

Nursery end of term. My best friend (a boy) got a book on dinosaurs and I got some rubbish girl book. They were just ladybird books but I stropped until my friend swapped. I wanted dinosaurs not the silly pink covered one.

I was very young, playing doctors and nurses with my nan. She told me I couldn't be a doctor when I grew up, I'd have to be a nurse because I'd be a woman. I told her I'd grow up to be a man then, because I was going to be a doctor. Not quite a feminist response, but the time I was first aware that my sex was supposed to constrain my choices, and also the time when I was absolutely sure in my head that wouldn't happen.

Very early on, (before becoming athiest!) my vision of God was a woman, beacause she was like a big mother looking after everyone. I was very annoyed to discover that 'He' was always referred to as a man.
As a young teenager, when I asked my PE teacher in secondary school to set up a school girls football team and he laughed in my face. I and many other girls in my year were already playing for a local team and quite successfully. I got a petition together and set one up with another much more forward thinking teacher, but was constantly scorned by the head of PE. He continued to offer only netball to girls for years to come. I refused to play netball for the school out of principle.
The same PE teacher asked for "four boys to put away the trampolines" to which I volunteered and he refused to let me help. Being a very active, sporty girl and being turned down in favour of some very weedy IT type boys who ran out of breath going up the stairs I was pretty frustrated. By this point I think he did it to annoy me!

Beating all the boys in Chase in Year 3.

I was the only girl to do woodwork with the boys in Year 7, when the girls were doing cooking. Luckily my Dad was fully behind this decision.

As a young adult being told that as a woman I should submit to a man (religious). I realised I was smarter, and thought more about things than the men my age in church and vowed that this was never going to be my future.

Had an irrational fear of dolls as a young child and thought that dinosaurs were much nicer.

Being made to play netball (no one heard of that outside of primary school) not football (on telly)

Boys doing woodwork w we didbloody sewing.

Crappy skirts for girls, boys got trousers
-much warmer and more practical.

Stupid screaming females in films.

Playing robin hood regularly with the boys at school we qll had taken a character - except me as the only girl. I was Thixo, not maid Marian. THo I did play sherrif of Nottingham more often than not.

Thinking my Gran, (who bought me up) was utterly ridiculous for having refused to teach my Dad to cook before he left home because he was a man and a woman should cook for him, and my utter hatred of Penelope Pitstop for simpering when she could have just sorted it out herself instead of yelling "help me" pathetically.

I was also very lucky to have my Grandfather who refused his medals because the women he worked with couldn't claim them as they weren't considered on active service, (he was a radar instructor in WW2, and apparently some of the wrens he worked with lost their lives due to unstable batteries on the radar sets.) He was also offered the post of head of art at Millfield in the 60's but turned it down after the interview when the head master disagreed with his decision. He made it very clear that women were just as important as men no matter what anyone told me.

Loving this thread. Aged 3 telling my mother I shan't stay home like her, I shall work and my husband can stay home and look after the kids instead as I didn't fancy what she was doing. Strange as currently I don't work, spend all my time playing house while DS(8) is at school and DP at work. (ah the recession makes fools of us all)

And aged 10, scandalising my idiot of a next door neighbour by asking her where her son got his Thundercats bedspread as I wanted one, she wouldn't tell me as they were for boys.

When I'd joined the local Women's Group in the early 80's before I'd even finished school.

I've never found a group like it since,sadly.

Watching The Saint in the 70s when suave Simon Templar had enough of a young woman getting uppity and suddenly picked her up, put her over his knee and spanked her

I was horrified. Still am, actually.

Probably the defining moment was aged about 9, when we visited an army base and I found out the women aren't allowed to drive the tanks. I was outraged and got cross with my DM saying 'well do you want to drie a tank? What's the problem then?' because that was not the point

Lio - I caught up with the boy who went to the Castle Museum later when we were both in the upper 6th. I'd say his early attempts to push at gender boundaries had been forgotten and he was showing fairly typically socialised teenage boy behaviour. We were having a conversation in the pub about our A levels and how we were finding them - most of the girls played down their abilities and said they were finding them hard (they went on to mostly get grades A to C- this was back in 1984). He had the "male swagger" thing going and said he was finding them easy - went on to get E/U for his (the scare quotes are because I think this is a socialised pose - I think it's "performing masculinity" in the way that high heels and long painted nails are "performing femininity": I don't think I got to know him well enough at age 18 to know what he was like underneath this).