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| 1944: Joan, age 1, with mother |
Today is the 100th International Women's Day. One hundred years!
I'm a seasoned woman -- age 67 as I write this -- and I remember accepting blindly the women's roles and attitudes I was taught growing up. I watched my mother -- a brilliant woman who wanted to be a doctor her whole life -- working as a lab assistant in my father's ob/gyn medical office. No wonder she was bitter as she slapped down dinner after a long day running pregnancy tests with mice and rabbits.
Thanks to remarkable feminists who dedicated their lives to changing what we could expect from our lives, I was able to unlearn my upbringing, shake off society's roles, and go for what I wanted. My mother died unhappy, but I live pursuing my interests and dreams.My self-discovery journey took me on many different paths and through several metamorphoses over the decades -- high school English teacher, aerobics instructor, health/fitness writer -- to who I am now: senior sex activist/ educator/ speaker/ author who teaches line dancing for fun, exercise, and balance!
It's fitting that on the 100th International Women's Day, I discover this video: "Satisfaction the Granny Remake for EqualPayday." Thanks to Sarah Forbes, Curator of Sex at New York's Museum of Sex, for posting it on her blog in honor of International Women's Day and titling her post "Using Senior Sex to Sell an Equal Pay Day" so it would get my attention!
Watch it and tell me what you think:
