I had lunch at the coop restaurant in center 11 (oerlikon) and every woman was given a rose at the checkout, it was very nice, I thought.

Well, I suspect it is to raise awareness of women's issues on the global stage. After 20-odd pages on here, I'd say it has achieved that.

It's all over my FB feed and it's appeared in the main news outlets.

It seems to have "done what it says on the tin", as they say.

No such thing as bad publicity...

I certainly don't get that impression. Where did you?

I'm not going to defend someone I know little of and have never met, but going off her age, it's possibly her grandmothers or great grandmothers that may or may not have been feminists. In my family, my great, great grandmother owned a factory outright 120yrs ago, so 'feminism' is an alien concept to me as I haven't known anything different.

I don't read Emma Watson's words and think "Oo! Feminism!". I just see someone speaking their own mind, and if you think her showing a bit of cleavage diminishes anything she has to say, you have a problem.

Meloncollie's and MusicChick's posts about Eastern European women giving and being given flowers on this day.

Yes, because northing says sexual equality more than adhering to traditional courtship gender roles.

But seriously, one case was here in CH and the latter was 'back home' in what I suspect was a Western nation, so what brought you to the conclusion that it's a bigger deal outside the demographic I suggested?

It's equality in general, not just 'sexual' and the giving of flowers does not only mean courtship.

Flowers have been given for thousands of years and their symbolism is profound.

Ok, if it's about equality, and the symbolism of flowers is profound... when was the last time you gave a man flowers?

You are asking the wrong person. I don't like receiving flowers, nor will I give them or buy cut flowers for the house. It's a waste.

I bought trees and potted plants. Does that count?

Same here - or wild field flowers.

As for the level of this discussion, well wow.

Emily Pankhurst and co were indeed posh white women- they are the ones who had the time and the position to begin the slow, slow fight for equality- and there is still a VERY long way to go- even for posh white women. Here are a few celebrated today- they don't seem that posh, or that white either:

https://medium.com/greenpeace/5-bada...88f#.v1t15thq1

Aha. So what you meant was:

I'm not a big fan of cut flowers either. Possibly as a result of having brought a dozen roses home roughly every 2nd Friday for about 15 years.

Oh come on, people don't have to experience, take part or even agree with something to appreciate whether it is of some importance do they?

I

was

just

winding

you

up.

Another posh white woman:

https://www.facebook.com/BBCFamilyNe...5046568573895/

I like how she stands up for women's rights whilst simultaneously wearing a symbol of women's oppression. Groovy!

Most of the muslim women I know cover their head for their own reasons. They live in western countries and don't have any obligation to wear it other than their own religious observance. I guess the equivalent of a nun's habit in this case.

Anyway, the symbol of women's oppression used to be the bra, though, didn't it? Burning bras in the 60s or something

Groovy - wow. You've really reached the bottom of the barrel
Time to leave you to it

Maybe she wears it precisely because she DOESN'T have any rights or say in this

Also, wearing a headscarf isn't always a sign of oppression. Often, but not always.

There may be no societal expectation in Western countries, however that doesn't mean some are not being forced in some way or another by their own family. So I disagree that it's always by their own choice, even if living in the West.



Lastly, re flowers and whatnot: just because a woman is a feminist doesn't mean she has to wear a garbage bag, look like half a man, never accept any flowers or a drink on a date or whatever else it may be. I can be a feminist and STILL be 100% woman. I wear skirts, I wear make-up, I have no problem if a man opens the car door for me blabla, the list is endless. For me, these are non-issues. Wearing lipstick doesn't make me less of a feminist. Gender roles are learned - I can choose to break some for me and only me and choose to accept others for me and only me. Above all and most importantly, I believe that I can do whatever I want with whatever abilities I was given and if I don't succeed in whatever it is I try, then it's certainly not because I happened to be born without external genitalia.

Feminism has a very negative connotation these days, and I partly can see where it comes from - for example, I never quite understood why some women feel the need to "stand up for feminism" by walking around with their boobs out That for me is as irrelevant as can be. It doesn't bother me, but I simply see no connection to feminism or any call for equality.

Feminism is not about women being superior and it is not about women not being "real women", whatever that means. It's about equality, it's about choice, it's about trying to achieve that woman can do whatever the heck they please, that they're not being disadvantaged because they happened to be born female, and no, that is NOT the case in the very very large majority of societies around the world. Patriarchy and women's oppression is as real as it has ever been. We may not see much of it here anymore, or only subtle forms, but on a global scale - hell yes.

I've still not seen where you, or anyone else, has tried to explain why you think she's doing that.

As far as I'm aware she's never suggested that women shouldn't make themselves appear attractive to the opposite (or indeed, the same) sex, so I just don't see any evidence of double standards.

I'm assuming that you're just caught up in the popular myth of feminists being ugly man-haters who villify any woman that doesn't agree with their rather odd principles, or has the gall to - gasp! - conform to normal standards of attractiveness. EW campaigns for equal rights for women, internationally, and has nothing to do with that pareticular stereotyped image of so-called feminism.

I get my husband flowers for his birthday. He gets them for me. We buy flowers every week for our house. Maybe it's a consequence of being Dutch. We always bought my father in law flowers for special occasions.