Hello and welcome to a very special edition of Hue Mann's thoughts! I felt quite inspired to write a blog post after such a long period of silence, so I decided what better day to start writing again than on International Women's Day?! And so, I dedicate this post to all the women, young ladies, and little girls of the world. Girls, this one's for you!
Let's start off this post with a little bit of a historical recap.
The earliest Women's Day observance was held on February 28, 1909, in New York and organized by the Socialist Party of America. On March 8, 1917, in the capital of the Russian Empire, Petrograd, a demonstration of women textile workers began, covering the whole city. This was the beginning of the Russian Revolution. Seven days later, the Emperor of Russia Nicholas II abdicated and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. March 8 was declared a national holiday in Soviet Russia in 1917. The day was predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations.
Now that you know how this glorious day came to be, here's how women have been living up to this international celebration of half the human race!
Women are among society's minorities, unfortunately. We are constantly being objectified, treated as lower-level beings, and deprived of rights we were born with: The right to live, to love, to learn, to laugh. Thankfully, over time (and a lot of it, may I add) women have slowly been achieving huge milestones! Like in sports: U.S. women in the Olympics of last year took home 61 gold medals, Ibtihaj Muhammad is a 30-year-old saber fencer from New Jersey who was the first American athlete in hijab to compete at the Olympic Games this summer, after 35 years and five attempts at swimming from Cuba to Florida, 64-year-old Diana Nyad has finally made her name as the first person to cross the treacherous Straits, and so many more! There's also women who made incredible scientific breakthroughs: Elizabeth Blackburn won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak, Nancy Karem, a student at MSA University, has stunned the medical community in the world after developing a new way that involves nano technology to target only cancer cells and leave normal cells harmless, and in 1983, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi identified that the cause of AIDS was the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). There's lots more of these amazing women in all fields and all corners of the earth, all throughout history. So read up about them!
I also want to give you a short reminder about what feminism really is. Yes, the word comes from the word feminine, but its true meaning is to support equal rights between men and women in all aspects. Just because women are "supposed" to be sensitive and in touch with their emotions, doesn't mean men can't be. And just because men "should" be resilient, strong, and independent, doesn't mean women shouldn't be. That's how feminism works! It says we can all fly high, reach for the stars, chase after our dreams...we can both live, laugh, love, and learn! So this year, men should celebrate the women in their lives for being who they are: strong and beautiful. I also think we should celebrate the men in the world who acknowledge what a woman is and appreciate and value them for it.
And last but not least, I have to give my lovely readers the run-down of how I came to know what a woman is and isn't. This will be expressed in a few points that are bound to get the message across.
1) A woman is strong
2) A woman isn't fragile
3) A woman is beautiful
4) A woman isn't defined by her looks
5) A woman is intelligent
6) A woman doesn't dumb herself down
7) A woman is kind
8) A woman isn't to be taken for granted
9) A woman is many roles in society
10) A woman isn't just a housewife
So, ladies and the gentlemen who love and support them, I hope you all had yourselves a wonderful day celebrating all that is great, beautiful, and all-round awesome. Let's keep kicky society's backwards thinking in the ass, girls! And don't forget this lovely lady to remind you of something important:
Okay, that's all for now, folks! Hope you enjoyed this special blog post! Oh, and by the way. We hit another milestone, Readers! 400+ VIEWS!!! You have no idea how thankful I am, especially since I'm not the most consistent blogger out there, haha.
Thank you so much for sticking with me, and I will try my very best to get back in touch with the typewriter in my brain.
And one last, but important thing. A big shout-out of utmost love and appreciation goes to all the amazing women in my life, especially my own wonderful, beautiful, strong, and incredible mother. Words cannot describe how much I'm thankful for all you taught me. You are one of the main reasons I am who I am.
I love you all, female and male, my lovely Readers! Thanks for reading, and until next time:
Hue Mann, over and out!! ;)