Onward, non-Christian Pilgrims!

Here is where I move onward:

Today I walked around singing under my breath* - for me that's not soo unusual. ** I was however, embarrassed by my song selection: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OT8NVHzYuc and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkui_42bKhU&list=FLOutFbwHq_mahcGyT1DzLiw&index=5

I blame last night's Kareoke.

Also, today the man at the makolet who bagged my groceries (you know your makolet caters to spoiled Americans when people bag your groceries) told me he was bagging it special for me to make it lighter, because I am a woman, and he doesn't want it to be hard for me to carry it. From a feminist perspective, this is sexism at work. From a practical perspective however, I was grateful.

I think it is true that women generally have a harder time carrying then men: Part of this is biology, and part is society: Women are expected to be skinny; men, to be strong - this means that women and men's fitness regimens differ. But then I thought of pictures of African slave women with their babies slung over their back, as well as with baskets on their head, and wondered if our society's very definition of carrying is male-centric - "bag on back or by side", when in fact, there are so many other ways of positioning things in order to carry them - ways that may be friendlier towards women's bodies.

Anne Frank pointed out in her diary that despite societal perceptions of the woman's body as weak, during childbirth, she actually endures more pain than a typical male soldier.

So here's to an empowering weekend, free of the patriarchy.

* Once, upon arriving early to meet a friend for dinner, I sat on a bench in midtown Manhattan and hummed for fifteen minutes. The local inhabitants, who regularly ignore the men dressed up like Superman who scour our local Fairway's (grocery store) stared at me like I was a leper, spreading the contagious singing disease.
** Interruption: I was just asked to babysit by someone whos kids I babysat for once. That means she thinks I am a good babysitter. Yay! I feel so validated. I love kids. Does that make me a bad feminist? Also please don't equate loving children with wanting to have them right now - I don't see kids for me within the next 4-5 years, at least. Though as my father reminds me constantly, "You say that now, but your priorities might change if you meet the right man." (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.)