“Hello, my name is Amy and I am a stay-at-home mom and I am a Feminist.”
I made this self-realization in college when I began to absolutely love studying history. I had always enjoyed history, but it was not until I began to get the real scoop on everything from war and religion to politics and education that I learned about all of the amazing women who led the way for me to be sitting in the classroom learning about…..how the men screwed things up for the rest of us.
I do not really believe that last part, but being a stay-at-home mom feminist in Middle America….I might as well. I took this love for history through the perspective of women and ended up right smack in the middle of seminary. How did I get there? It was the church that first gave women a voice.
It was not until I had my second child and decided to “stay home” to care for the boys “for a while” that I ever stopped long enough to think about if I was or was not a feminist. I decided…..well, I think you know by now, I am.
I recognize that I am here (physically and metaphorically) because of the women who came before me. To me, it is that simple. So, when I received an invitation to attend a meeting for the Oklahoma Chapter of The Feminist Art Project, I was thrilled.
The Feminist Art Project is an international collaborative initiative celebrating the Feminist Art Movement and the aesthetic, intellectual and political impact of women on the visual arts, art history and art practice, past and present.
The Feminist Art Project is a strategic intervention against the ongoing erasure of women from the cultural record.
The Feminist Art Project re-focuses public attention on the signal achievements of the Feminist Art Movement and shines a spotlight on current feminist art influences, trends and accomplishments.
So, don’t be surprised if you see me wearing an apron, cooking for the entire block, knitting and reading at the same time, hanging out at the gym watching my kids practice gymnastics, attending football games and cheering on the Thunder……I am and I always will be a feminist. I will always work for the right for women to choose their own path, advocate for women make their own living, and insist that women are provided a quality education and be able to provide for themselves and their children. I will forever disagree with laws that prohibit women from making their own choices. I will be a feminist until women are no longer sexually and physically abused, women make the same money for the same work, are recognized as the artists, writes, lawyers, doctors, mothers they are, I will be a feminist until…………..this is my gift to my mother and grandmothers and to all the women who came before me. Most of all, this is my gift to myself.
