I am an unlikely feminist. I had a conservative, middle class upbringing.  I did the dishes and found a boyfriend.  My brother took out the trash and went to baseball games.  My mother raised 6 children, my Dad worked.

Having grown up in the 60s and 70s the word “Feminist” brings all sorts of things to mind. Bra burning, protesting, women leaving their families to find themselves.  None of that interested me.  I liked my bra now that I had one.

I remember when I experienced my first pang of feminism. I didn’t call it that at the time. It was 1995 and we had our first daughter.  I bought a CD by Dar Williams and there was a song titled “When I Was a Boy”.  I remember listening to that song over and over (while breastfeeding and watching the OJ trial) and just crying.  I know I was hormonal but it made me think about my own childhood, my path through adolescence and my life as a young woman.  It made me think about what life would be like for my own daughter.  It began my thought process of how I was going to raise this new little person.  I didn’t want to define her.  I didn’t want to plan her life.  I didn’t want to tell her she was beautiful.  I wanted to tell her she was amazing.

And so my journey began.  It has been a fun ride.  It is like anyone’s journey… a road filled with laughter and tears, success and failure.  It has been eye opening, at times heart wrenching and continually shows me how little I know.

2014 is an exciting time for girls and women.  Malala received the Nobel Prize,  Beyonce and Emma Watson seem to have brought the word “Feminist” back to young girls.  We are bombarded with talk of a woman in the White House.  But even with all the chatter and noise I wonder what all this means.  Is it affecting how young women view themselves?  Is it creating more opportunities?  How do we help make sure it’s not just another good news story?

I want to talk about it.  I want to make sense of what it means to be a woman today.  I want to help make being a woman positive and exciting and less complicated.  I want to see women helping each other.  I want to see women being less afraid of each other.  I want my daughters to live the lives they dream of.

I blame my daughters for who I have become.