Happy Valentine's Day

I used to hate the idea of Valentine’s Day. The whole over commercialised Clinton created mess used to make me feel ill. I hated the idea that companies had managed to make ‘love’ about chocolates, roses or teddy bears and that there was this pressure to spend money on your other half on things that were tacky and would wilt or be eaten in a matter of days (Or Minutes!).

However, I have started to warm towards Valentine’s Day as it gives us the chance the chance to be silly, throw a party and celebrate the Disney/ Pride and Prejudice and frankly unrealistic cutsey love. Valentine’s Day can be a lot of fun, and one of the only days in the British calendar where extreme tackiness is permitted.

This is why tomorrow, I will be wearing everything pink and red and heart patterned that I can find and a big smile! This is because I am spending Valentine’s Day with the people I love, and am going to have the most fantastic time doing it.

Happy Valentine’s Day! 

Why Thatcher is the perfect feminist icon.

“I owe nothing to Women's Lib.”

These words, spoken by Thatcher whilst she was in the top position in government pretty much summed up her thoughts on feminism. She essentially spat on the radical feminists that had put so much effort into changing things for women since the 60s, which she had every right to, as she could not see how they had helped her get to where she was.

I also feel that I owe nothing to the radical feminists of the 70s and 80s. All they served to do was make ‘feminism’ a dirty word and isolate ‘the cause’ from both men and women. The Woman’s Liberation Movement that was prominent from the 60s to the late 80s made huge legal changes to the UK in favour of gender equality, but that was where their influence ended. Women’s liberation had helped change laws that made it possible for Thatcher to rise up through her profession, but ultimately her intelligence and skill were the reason for her success.

Thatcher should be regarded as an inspiration to feminism as she is the perfect example of what women can achieve if they work hard enough. Feminism in Britain should no longer be about changing laws, but about changing the attitudes of women. The means for success are there, we just need to be more confident in believing that we can achieve it. Thatcher has already proved that it is possible we just need to follow her lead.

Many radical feminists say that she did nothing actively on behalf of women whilst in office: of course she didn’t. The point of equality is that it is equality for everybody, not a particular group and due to this she didn’t seek to change the system in favour of women, but to make the system equal.

She introduced the National Curriculum, which made sure that everyone was taught the same thing, regardless of gender or family income. This has made a bigger impact on female achievement than anything the feminist movement has done since first wave feminism.

In a way she was the worst thing that could have happened to radical feminism. There they were in the 80s, happily screaming away about inequality in the workplace, whilst Thatcher was leading the country, proving that women could make it to the top if they were capable enough. 

Feminist poster girl Harriet Harman (who incidentally got into her job as Deputy Prime Minister as a result of positive discrimination, not merit) left Thatcher out of her paper on Women in Power, which was supposed to list the most significant political women since 1907. This kind of irrational behaviour is the reason why so many women have rejected the idea of feminism. You cannot airbrush the most significant woman in British politics out of history because she did not agree with you.

She was the head of the ‘male’ establishment that radical feminists were trying so hard to bring down. In their view she embraced ‘the enemy’; in my view she beat it at its own game.

Thatcher was an inspiration because she achieved so much despite of her gender. Women should be free to make their own choices about their life and beliefs, not be dictated to by a group of women who think that they know what is best for each and every one of us. 

Men in Scarves.

I don’t like men in scarves. I don’t know why, it just annoys me.  I think it is only acceptable if the scarf in question is 8 feet long and a multi-coloured novelty one.

I just typed ‘men in scarves’ into Google Images and nearly vomited all over my keyboard.

Here are some examples of beautiful men ruined by their choice of knitwear:

If these pictures haven't already convinced you, I then found this:

I cannot be the only one who thinks this. 

Love Wins?

This week I finally got round to reading Rob Bell’s ‘Love Wins’.

I’m not usually a fan of non-fiction and, other than the bible, I find most Christian literature dull. Bell’s book was different. It is both gripping and fascinating. Perhaps because it is the first Christian book I have read that makes potentially dangerous points, asks questions that cut deep and makes statements that verge upon heresy.  It doesn’t work within the ‘Christian structure’, it questions it.

There is no doubt that his book has had a profound effect upon Christians worldwide. Just typing ‘Love Wins’ into Google produces a ridiculous amount of webpages that attempt to discredit Bell’s arguments.  His book attracted the attention of both CNN and Time Magazine, and sparked several high profile books that argue against his ideas. Rob Bell was famous within the Christian community; ‘Love Wins’ has made him infamous.

I don’t necessarily agree with all that he is written. He has, however, opened the debate on what happens at the end of the world in a massively public way.

He suggests that: the ideas passed down through the Christian faith, ideas that many of us were taught as fact, should be reconsidered; that the current concepts of heaven and hell are unbiblical; that in fact, we have no idea who is going to be ‘saved’ or ‘unsaved’ by God at the end of the world.

He suggests that most of us got it wrong; it is not just Christians that get into heaven, far from it.

I was taught that only those who pray a specific prayer get into heaven; those who do not will go to hell. This, I always thought, was backed up by Romans 10:9 which says that 'If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.'

Questioning this was to question a ‘truth’ of the bible. Questioning it would mean questioning God, and, by extension, one of the fundamental principles of Christianity.

Bell’s book says that it is okay to question this; I think that that is the true reason why it stirred up so much debate. Not the points that he was making, but the fact that he dared suggest that this part of the bible was up for discussion. Once you start to think that people who do not live like you do, or believe the things you do, also experience eternal salvation, you may start to ask yourself why you bother being a Christian. The scare mechanism has disappeared: you can no longer retain Christians through fear of the end.

Reading ‘Love Wins’ made me feel ashamed. Until now I had accepted that most of my friends would go to hell. Until fairly recently I believed that Hell was a physical Dante-esque horror show, and this did not upset me. I accepted that my God would exclude; that a God I believed to be loving, gracious and kind was also capable of mass torment upon those that I loved. Does this not go against everything else we are told of God? Who are we to define ourselves as the group that emerged unscathed from his judgement?

Rob Bell placed this issue on the table. He made me question one of the very things that I was so sure that I believed. For this I am very thankful.  

Three's a crowd.

I have three major views on the world. They dominate my thoughts and shape my opinions.

I am a Christian.

I am a feminist.

And I am right wing.

These three ideas are all fairly unpopular in Britain right now, not least of all with each other.

Many feminists accuse the bible and the church (often rightly) of being sexist. Many Christians dislike the apparent ‘feminisation’ of the UK church. And, well, it hasn’t been popular to publicly align yourself to the right in Britain since before Thatcher.

I want to write about why I believe in them, and why I feel they are completely compatible with one another. They are not exclusive viewpoints. I am proud to label myself as all three.

My posts will hopefully save any of my friends from having to listen to me continually mouth off about women, Christianity, or the left.