It's simple as this...

I realise that in my last post I failed to address the key issues I wanted to put out there. I've been thinking about 'feminism' after a friend of mine accused me of being un-feminist. Most people (mainly men) think that feminists are crazy activists who burn things - like suffragettes. They are sterotyped as being losers who are marginalised in society. But, let's backtrack, what does feminism really mean? It's all about guys and gals being treated equally: equal opportunities, equal treatment and equal care. That's why, from now on, I think it's important to make clear that there are rules that we must take to stand our ground.
Rule Number One: if a guy ever offers to pay for dinner then we should say no. See, with Knight I just let him pay for whatever - I mean, he had the cash to do it...! But now I'm going to say 'no' - true, it means that I'll have even less money than I do in my dwindling cash account, but it's a price I'll just have to pay.
Rule  Number Two: Ask him out. This is where it gets tricky. Most of us girls have watched the romcoms - we've seen Heath Ledger chaing Katarina in 10 Things I Hate About You and we've admired Danny's perseverence in Grease. But things are changing; it's now perfectly acceptable for a girl to ask a guy if he's busy this weekend, or if he wants to see a movie with her. It's as simple as this: if a guy can chase what he wants then so can a girl.
Rule Number Three: Treat people equally. This is really obvious, I am aware, but it's really as simple as that: in order to bring about equality you have to not laugh at the "Bring me a sandwich" jokes and you have to be unafraid to stand your ground. I love the 60s - it's a well known fact - and this includes the films, but even my rose-tinted glasses aren't oblivious to the blatant sexism. If you've ever seen Oceans Eleven (the original one of course) then you'll know what I mean - they treat their girlfriends like property, like sex objects, and it's glorified in the film. A girl has to know what she wants and she has to dump the guy who doesn't respect that.
Now that the Basics of Feminism have been covered, I feel it's necessary to extend this rant further - the Rules Of Common Decency:
A. Smile. It's easy to do and everyone loves a smile - just the other day some women from Jehovah's Witness came knocking on my door and they said it made a 'nice change to see a smile' and then we had a nice little talk about Jesus (I'm agnostic by the way but they didn't need to know that...)
B. Don't force your opinions on people. I know some people who are sure of their beliefs and I have total respect for people who have integrity and aren't afraid to show their beliefs. But there is a line. If you are shouting at people or forcing them to see your point of view then that doesn't follow the Rules Of Decency and, instead, that's actually prohibiting open-mindedness. It's just wrong, OK?
C. Say please and thank you - I cannot tell you the number of times that I have held the door open for some 10-year-old chavs and have ensued the silence of the absence of good manners. I wanted to drop the door on them harrumph.

So, I think that's just about everything. I'm aware this has been a long post and is definitely not light-hearted, but these were important messages I needed to put out there to certain people.
Keep you posted,
Grammar Gal xxx