Before I came back to UNM on my 10-year plan for a bachelor’s degree, I worked male-dominated jobs.
I did production work for a local audio company, worked as an entertainment coordinator for the New Mexico State Fair and was festival director for the Hyperactive Music Festival.
Every job I’ve worked had an environment that was owned and operated by men.
The difficulty came from being a woman in a position of power over men, or from lacking nerves in daily confrontations with men. I began entertaining and enacting a feminist belief system in approaching men I interacted with at work.
That was the wrong approach.
The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines feminism as “the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes; organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”
In the Albuquerque production scene, there are politics. However, the politics were not whether I would advocate a female city leader or official. Instead, politics abounded if I booked the band that the music editor of the Alibi played in and if I could get more press for the event. It had nothing to do with women at all.
There was not an economic problem, at least for me, because I had a job that generated an actual paycheck and didn’t have to worry about how much money I made at the door for a show or what the bar would pay me for playing a 30-minute set.
In most of my positions, I made more money than the men I worked with. The social equality of the sexes was not something I pointed to when I chose an event.
Many of the women who played or sang with the groups I worked with were not more talented than the men in the groups, and I didn’t book them because they were women.
I booked them because they would draw more people to the event. Women in bands bring more men, and more men bring more women. I did nothing to advocate for women’s rights and interests, and in retrospect, it got me thinking.
What is feminism, and how do folks rallying for the cause really define it?
There are the ones who call themselves feminists because they think women are better. Well, in certain situations, we are. We can have babies. We are better at organizing and rationalizing, and we have boobs. However, none of these attributes advance the equality of the sexes, and none of these qualities act on behalf of women’s rights and interests.
Most of the women I have met who call themselves feminists think they are better than men. That does not incite equality between anyone.
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In my positions, I just thought I was better. This attitude didn’t gain me popularity, I can assure you. What that attitude did was prove that women can be overly emotional, excessively sensitive and great at gossip. I acted in the opposite direction of feminism.
In order to gain ground for feminism, I believe that there is a set of criteria to focus the objective on.
One, don’t think for a minute that women are any better than men. We aren’t. Certain people are better at certain things and excel because of the time and effort they apply.
Two, have an agenda bigger than yourself for the cause. This is where I failed miserably. To advance the equality of the sexes, there must be an environment created that allows for the sexes to participate equally.
If we spend time on defining women and men differently in their approach and interaction with the things they do, then we end up putting giant neon signs around them that spell out how different they are.
Three, women and men are different sexes. Let me repeat that: Women and men are different. Furthermore, people are different. It is the way we embrace these differences that allows us to advocate for equality.
Don’t get me wrong. I still think I rule, and I think women are exceptional in the obstacles they overcome in their work and personal lives. I am just beginning to understand that feminism is not radical, and it has nothing to do with being a woman.
