Saturday, December 5, 2009

Recovery Feminism - A New Kind of Feminism

I just stopped following another blogger who is not positive enough for my recovery. I know that perhaps one of the biggest reasons why I do not get a lot of hits on my site is because I do not spend enough time reading and commenting on major feminist sites, but life is not a popularity contest. I write this blog, because I have something to say and if I do not write my thoughts out, then I will ruminate and ruminate and ruminate. I also a person who is in recovery and is trying to follow the path that leads to serenity and so I cannot spend my time at sites that continually disrupt my attempts at serene-living.

I consider myself to be an outspoken feminist and feminism does often call us to be angry, instead of complacent over how womyn are treated, but not ALL the time. I refuse to live my life always in anger-I must be more productive than that. My kind of feminism always acknowledges my journey in recovery. I do not know if there is a already a name for this type of feminism, but I suspect not, so I am naming it: Recovery Feminism.

Recovery feminism means that I am free to stop fighting for a certain cause or reading triggering material if it is causing me harm. It means that my recovery comes first, so if what I am doing for "The Cause" causes me to get incensed to the point that I no longer want to eat or start becoming depressed, then I must stop. It means that I must strive to promote sisterhood and peace in all my affairs. It means that while anger is an option, rage and hate is not.

There was a time when I was really upset about all of my limitations due to my mental illness, and I still hate it sometimes when I know that I cannot attend a rally or protest, because I am afraid that I will become too triggered or emotional, but I had to finally realized that I will not help any cause if I am curled up into a ball. I just won't. I am committed to my recovery, which means that I must surround myself with positivity and I cannot visit blog sites, even if they are wonderful writers, who allow attacking and/or hate speech on their comments section.

I know some feminists may think that by distancing myself that I am copping out, but I sincerely believe that acknowledging and positively feeding my worth as a human being is a more than valid feminist response. Surely promoting peace and sisterhood are, right?

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