I went out to a friend's birthday party yesterday evening and realised that I love Scandinavians. I was having a conversation with a girl who had also studied International Relations and wanted to get into development. Naturally I started talking about Gender in Development and how nobody studying IR at the LSE seems to know all that much about Feminist IR or any of the thinkers that I consider to be founders (ie. Tickner, Sylvester, Enloe).
So she was asking me who she should read and how you actually study feminism, and I recommended she read non-academic language feminism like bell hooks as well. And then it struck me all of a sudden that this conversation would not be happening with anyone who was not from a Scandinavian country. That the usual reaction to feminism or gender studies is one of absolute horror or ridicule (my personal favourite is the 'I'm a man, you're a women, degree done!' response, grr).
It was so refreshing to speak to someone who was genuinely interested and thought feminism was a great thing. And secondly, was so grateful for what feminism and Norwegian feminists had done for her. She realised, especially from living abroad, how lucky she was to have the kinds of social welfare that is common to Scandinavian countries. It was so nice not to have to remind a female student that without feminism they wouldn't even be at university in the first place.
And this is by no means an isolated instant, all the Swedish and Danish people I have spoken to are exactly the same. Some Scandinavian men I know even do housework voluntarily!
No comments:
Post a Comment