International Women's Day...I love being a woman because...

[LastMangoInPeckham]

I can call other, amazing women, my sisters

I'm very sorry Japab if this thread has upset you xx

No, LastMangoInPeckham it's a great thread. On any given day I can usually tell you that there are some great and wonderful things about being a woman, and it's important to say this stuff.

I had a moment, in light of the overwhelming challenges women are facing right now, and my head went under the waves temporarily. I've given myself a talking to. I'm back again. Here we go...

I LOVE my body.
I really do. I'm proud of it, grateful for it, rather in awe of it, and bewildered by the magnificent ability of it. I honestly, truly, love it.

My female body is AWESOME.

I love being a woman because of our resilience, now more than ever it feels like the very name 'woman' is being pulled from under our feet. I love that there are women out fighting stigma, stereotypes and abuse to make the lives of other women better.

@bue Gotta love her post, because women need 'allies', all women need saving don't you know? we need men on our side, to pander to them, we can't take our rights - we have to politely ask!

As others said, love the fact I gave birth to my two children.

Girls are bitchy and bullying alot if the time

I find this kind of thing infuriating to read. I'm sorry to hear it if you've had bad experience but that's not what I've experienced at all. I've always attended girls' schools and have never had such experiences. They've been supportive, nurturing, my peers are inspiring, caring, we look out for one another, support one another, help each other, and the friendships I've made have been wonderful.

I feel girls and women are accused of being "bitchy" or "bullying" for the same behaviours which wouldn't be commented on in men. Some girls talk about people behind their backs, some boys do. When the girls who do it do so though it's "typical girls" and so this myth about girls persists.

...I have a more attractive silhouette then a man, and companies actively want to employ lady engineers, which makes life easier.

I'm with japabsharted in that I feel a bit down about being a woman with stuff that's going on at the moment.

I also disagree in the strongest possible terms that women are bitchy and bullying. I don't recognise this at all.

BUT on the postive side of being a woman, boobs are fucking BRILLIANT. They are gorgeous, and everyone love them: men, women, children, babies, everyone fucking LOVES boobs. Go breasts!

I wish I could feel the same regarding breasts. Unfortunately much as I value all my body, I would very much rather men didn't love them at the moment as this kind of attention I find quite unpleasant. Though I don't mean to dismiss anyone who feels differently.

I've been bullied all my life by women. I'm an autistic woman, so very much a third class citizen and generally disliked by my own sex as well as by men. I don't think that being a woman has very much to recommend it and I'm shocked and appalled on a daily basis just by how much men and the establishment hate us. The language and vitriol I encounter on the internet towards feminists beggars belief and, if they stretched their tiny brains just a little bit, perhaps they might actually see why women have such difficulties with men. Do they honestly think that having such an attitude will make us like and respect them at all? Don't they even have mothers and sisters? It's also an endless sadness that so many women around the world are still suffering so much in all kinds of ways.

So, between men oppressing me and women bullying me, I don't have much to celebrate or be happy about as a woman, but I'm happy that I have my dcs and that I'm helping them grow up to be decent people.

I know what you mean, Amy but just trying to keep it light hearted

I also try very hard to be positive about my body and how great it is - it's the material reality that I get to inhabit, and that other people might objectify it doesn't detract one iota from the fact that it's basically brilliant!

Sorry PoochSmooch I shouldn't have posted something negative, it was just the "men loving them" thing as it really gets to me (unsolicited comments and leers I find enraging). I agree about loving our bodies and rightfully seeing them as brilliant!

I can't think of anything specific to being a woman that I love really. Not because I have had a particularly hard time being one (I haven't), but more that I can't really embrace the whole 'celebrate your body' thing. I love my dc, but I hope I'd love them just as much if I were their father and hadn't given birth to them. Childbirth was ghastly, periods are a pain, large boobs are inconvenient. I don't subscribe to the 'women are bitchy' thing, but neither do I see much evidence of a sisterhood or think that women are generally any more warm-hearted or nice than men. I am a feminist (largely thanks to MN) and raise my dd as one, but for me, part of doing that is recognising how few intrinsic differences there are between men and women, rather than celebrating the things that make us women different iyswim. I think that's why I find some (not all) of the things I read about Women's Day a bit grating. I'd rather be equally treated as a person than celebrated for being a woman.

This week, I am not loving being a woman. I might next week, I'll get back to you.

What I do love is women's friendship, women's care, working with women toward a common goal.

I am extremely lucky in that I have many women friends with whom I share life's inevitable ups and downs. And it's that friendship and sisterhood that I am celebrating today.

I loved being pregnant and I loved giving birth, the rest of my life is full of sex neutral things.

I hate the way that I am in an abusive relationship with society, well it feels like that today. I have a daughter who is already having shit thrown at her because of her sex, lots of misogyny and sexist language, porn videos flashed about etc. Or she keeps being questioned if she's a real girl 'cos she likes stuff that other people think you need a penis to like, odd, they obviously haven't tried building lego with a penis.

I LOVE that I'm the same sex as my child, I have her back as much as I can. I knew what it was like when she started her periods. She can see me questioning sexism and even though I can't make it go away she sees me trying every god damn day.

So yeh, female biology is cool and I can understand my daughter better because we are both the same sex.

that's it today.

Birth is it for me really. I have birthed 4 babies and feel it was such a privilege to have been able to do so, as each time was incredible. Nursed 3 out of 4 but my body failed me for my last baby, something I cannot forgive it for sadly.

I don't know about loving being a woman but I love being a feminist.

Because I know I'm on the right side.

ispy, I bet youryoungest baby is happy, healthy and growing up in a loving home.

Less, it's like being a member of the rebel alliance isn't it!

Thank you for this thread OP.

I'm also celebrating sisterhood but finding being a woman very difficult lately.

Today I helped a woman take the first steps towards claiming asylum. She was a lesbian who had been correctively raped in her own country. Her story was so harrowing. She can probably never safely go back home.

I don't love being a woman today but I do feel honoured to have had that task on IWD.

Women's day is also a good opportunity to say a massive big thank you to all the brilliant, articulate women who post on here, who have taught me so much

If we could all just unequivocally go 'yay, I love being a woman!' then feminism's work would be done. There has never been an IWD that has not been tinged with sadness, anger and difficulty for so many women. It's important, though, to occasionally stop and celebrate the gains we have made over the years and thank and appreciate each other. Because if we burn out we're no good to anybody.

I'm now going to crack open a beer, listen to and do a jigsaw.

Happy IWD everybody!

Dame 😭 He is! Thank you!

I love being a woman because socially, we generally have more flexibility about certain things. It comes at a price, but I've had several completely different careers, been involved in community work, and spent my time with my children very flexibly. Men tend to have less flexibility and the expectations on them can be fairly onerous.
I'm not in anyway disagreeing with the need for women to fight for equality, in fact this is part of the gender imbalance which needs addressing for the benefit of both men and women.

"Men tend to have less flexibility and the expectations on them can be fairly onerous."

Feminism has always argued that the patriarchy harms men too but many men like to lay the blame for their restricted roles at the door of feminism.

Go figure.

DamedeDoubtance I absolutely LOVE that! We are members of the real rebel alliance and you know it

Actually, breastfeeding is pretty amazing. For once my body actually does something in an incredibly convenient way. Periods, pregnancy, birth are amazing but messy and flawed processes. Breastfeeding on the other hand.... Genius.

I can't answer that as I don't love it. All my life I've felt like I've been doing it wrong and been told so too. Apart from having children the rest has been shit.

Maybe I'm in a bad mood as my oldest asked me why I'm not a real woman like insert another mums name who wears dresses and does feminine things. I'm just sick of all the shit.

There's nothing I love about being a woman. I mean, I think growing babies is pretty miraculous, but I'd have happily handed that over to their other parent and watched the miracle from a distance

If I could choose, I'd be male instead, though that's clearly impossible.

I don't actively dislike being female, just the crap that comes with it in our society.