I am calling this week's (return of) Feminist Fare Friday, "Things I Wish I had Written or Recorded".  All of these incredible women have beautiful voices (written and spoken) and I am happy to say that most of them I can call friend (some IRL, some of the internet kind and some I hope to one day meet and befriend).

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1. First up is this fabulous post by Shannon at The Radical Housewife. Seems I am not the only one who got struck with the too busy to blog bug over the holidays. Luckily Shannon was able to sum up all the shenanigans that happened, especially on Twitter, and managed to wrap it all up in a "how to be a white lady feminist and not stick your foot in it" pretty sparkly bow!

I’m a cis-gendered, middle-class, hetero white feminist lady.  Does it hurt when call-out culture calls ME out?  OH MY GAWD YES.  Of course it hurts. It hurts so much that against my better judgment I want to get out my Diversity Bingo card and wave it around (if you’re a white liberal like me, you have one, even though it embarrasses you to admit it). 

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2. I think most of us bloggers  have developed somewhat of a tough skin. We kind of have to in this realm where we put "it" out there for all to read and expect a certain amount of discourse, the good and the bad. For the most part it is easy to ignore the "haters" and use the delete button with impunity when someone comes into our space and spouts off. Every once in a while though, a button gets pushed and one has to respond. This week Avital at The Mamafesto got her button pushed and she responded in the most wonderful and brilliant way. 'Cause that's how she rolls, yo! (And her kid is pretty darn awesome too!)

I’ve written before about how the rigid constructs of gender have only frustrated my son, who – at 7 – cares for many things that are typically considered more “girly.” Because of that, he still gets confused for a girl regularly. For a while that bothered him, but more recently he’s decided he is fine with it. He is comfortable and proud that he’s a boy, and understands that his likes/dislikes do not define him, much to the confusion of many adults he encounters.

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3. In the last FFF post, I wrote about my friend Joanne Minaker doing her debut TEDx talk last month at TEDx Garneau Women and the video is finally up on Youtube and the TEDx site. You can also read more from Joanne about her new endeavours to create a Care*Full world. And I am with you lady! I am so proud to call you my friend and an incredible example of how to truly practice what one preaches.

 [youtube]http://youtu.be/DRUPRF5SnxE[/youtube]

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4. Of course I do not know Chimamamda Adichie, but in my mind, I think we would be great friends. And I needed to hear this from my imaginary author/story teller/feminist friend this week. The Single Story. Really think about this. Think about how much we judge everyone around us based on the singular story that we know about them and how much harm this does to us all...

[youtube]http://youtu.be/D9Ihs241zeg[/youtube]

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*Bonus Recommendation - "The Motherload". This new documentary from the CBC is a brutally honest look at what the reality is for working mothers in North America in the 21st century. From trying to "have it all" to barely getting by, it profiles Canadian and American women from different walks of life navigating the expectations of everyone around them. The question is, at what cost?

Seriously, please take 30 minutes out of your day and watch it. One particular quote from the show really hit home for me:

"...in the feminist fight for equality, something was left out of the equation: children."

Have a wonderful weekend everyone,

Natasha~