I should start this by saying I don't really consider myself a feminist. I think the initial movement was great and much needed. I think the goal of feminism should be to give women choices, and in this respect, it's a success. We should be able to choose to work, or stay home, or to do both, without judgement from other women. I think that's where the modern feminist movement goes wrong. The judgement that's attached to the choices we make as women can be disheartening. I should also say that I'm not usually offended by things either, but something really got under my skin the other day.
My dad is in the hospital right now with his heart. Luckily everything is fine, or as fine as it gets for him, and he should be home tomorrow. While we were visiting on the first night he was admitted, we had to go down to the gift shop to get him a toothbrush because my mom had forgotten to pack his. In the gift shop were a ton of baby gifts, including two onesies. One said, "Future Doctor" and the other "Future Nurse." Of course the doctor one was blue and the nurse one was pink, and it really annoyed me. Was it really that hard to just make both onesies white? I know generally nurses are female and that the majority of doctors are male, but still. Do we really have to start off, literally at birth, with this kind of thing?
The ironic part: My dad's ER doc was a female. Both nurses that helped him that day were male. Wanting to be a nurse or a doctor is a great thing. It should be "ok" for boys and girls to want to do both though.
And actually, there are more women enrolled in medical schools (by a small margin) these days than men. Certain specialties are almost exclusively female (the ones you'd predict, pediatrics and obstetrics) and surgical specialties are still predominantly male, especially orthopaedics, but really.
ReplyDeleteAnd that would irritate the crap out of me, too. and I'm a freaking nurse!!