About Gender Roles (In my experience)

¿Do I feel like a woman? 

Yes, I believe I do. I'm one and I've been treated as one too. Even when I know we are living in a time were this kind of "label" is being discussed, I just can't help it!!! Now, I'm not saying that it's something I hate or something I don't like but, I believe that the exageration of expect that women or men acts in a certain way is something that shouldn't be an obligation.

In my experience, I was born and rised in a family where the genre models were (and are) always very clear. For example, my family is formed by a majority of women (mother, sister, grandmother and me) and even when my mom works, in the weekends my father is always the MOST IMPORTANT for her, you know, he is the "man of the house" or the one who bring the sustent of the house, and she is always trying to served and treat him as a king. 

I absolutely hate that and is something that I've been figthing with her a lot now, because my father is all grown man and he can perfectly do his things alone! When I was a little girl that attitude was very normal.

Another example, is that since I was a little girl, my mother always buy only dresses for me to wear, and I always has to be clean and not play in the dirt!!! Well, maybe it wasn't always this restrictive. At least I was allowed to play with my friends to hide and seek and play with balloons and ride my bicycle or even play video games, thing that usually are "masculine", but in my birthdays or christmas I always recieved dolls to play with or any "Barbie" products. 

All this attitudes, formed in my mind as a child a vision of what is my "role in society", but that vision was changing as time passed, because even when I am a woman and I feel like a woman, I found out that I didn't fit in the stereotype of the "all femenine and girly girl", and even when that makes me a little sad in my teenager years, with time I've learned that is not necessarly to be all femenine or achieved certain goals to been treated as a girl.

But i'ts not something so easy just to start to thing different, even now I somethimes feels like I'm not so pretty or I don't dress so beautiful as other girls, but I've been working about it, convinced myself that I'm beautiful just in the way I am and it doesn't matter if I like "male stuff", because is only material things, all that matter is how I feel with myself.

I think is time to change that closed mentality of believe that a girl has to be this kind of job or thet a girl has to be soft and gentle with a man or man has to be strong. I want to cchange my mentality I know is a slow process because came from my roots, but I have a lot of people sourronding me tht believe the same that I do I work togheter all the time to help me and teach others to open their minds to this change. 

Especially in our cause as women while we are in disadvantage.

The story behind this photography.

¡Hello everyone!

Today I wanna talk to you about something in my childhood I usually don't speak very often... my days as a "cheerleader". Can you believe it? Well, yes, I used to cheer up people and this picture is the perfect proof.

This happened when I was thirteen. At that time, in my school was obligatory to sign up in any extracurricular activity, and for me sing up Cheerleaders was the only one thing that reeally attracted my attention -which is really weird because I've never been good working out-. From the beginning the group was formed only by females and we were very few members because the extra activities were never considerated as something important.

The things changed when, in time, we started to make a lot of presentations in the school's festivities and more girls wanted to form part of the team... as a result of that, our group started to expand. Something that I treasure of that days, is the "big family" atmosphere we created with my teammates, it was a group surrounded with love and team spirit.

Once we formed this big family, we were ready to bring more difficulty to our routines and our teacher, Miss Macarenaa, thought that we were ready to sign up in a BIG  competition! So, the photograph I choose is from the day we had that first competition. I remember that the picture was taken by my dad and the event was in Ñuñoa's Polideportivo. 

Ok, now that I'm older i can see that the event it wasn't thaaaat BIG, as our teacher told us at that time. But, it was big enough for us, because a lot of schools from Santiago were present that day and a lot of them were already familiarized with whis kind of competitions, while this was our first try and we were really nervous!!! Especially me, as you can see in the picture...

But everything ends well, after all, not only we made it great in our first try, but alsowe won the second prize, YAY! Not so bad for the rookies. 

That was, definitely, one of the best of my life! And I must say... that day I learned that you are capable of doing great things if you want to, the only thing you have to do is always believe in yourself.

See you later alligator!

This is why we need legal and safe abortion, NOW!

Hello everyone!

Nowadays, women started to have a big infuence in the society. Saddly, the reasons of this situation aren't the best ones, because with our participation and movements, we are looking for a way to being listened, about different reasons such as our right to live in peace with ourselves as women, rights that must of the time are violated. Is something so basic, but yet, we had to wait a lot of time to became aware of how big deal this was.

In this sense, analyzing the chilean situacion, one of the principal issues which society and government had been paying attention these past years, directly related to women's rights, is abortion.

Chile had been one of a few countries with an abortion ban -until recently- in all circumstances. This law was put in place in 1989, during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorhip, supported by conservative parties and the Chatolic Church, same ones institutions opposite to liberalize one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world.

But, this change -a little bit- in 2017, when, after a heated debate that takes almost two years, with the approval of the judges in the constitutional court, the chilean President, Michelle Bachelet, has pushed trough a bill that will allow abortion but under three exceptional circumstances:

• When woman's life is in danger
• When a fetus is unviable
• When a pregnancy results of rape

A lot of people believed in this results as a progress in the "women's rights territory", but, ¿does it means a real progress?

I believe that, even when we can see this little progress as a "small vistory", the abortion still remains as an option for a girl or woman who don't want to be a mother, and proceed to abort her baby by illegal and dangerous methods. The situation is more complicated that only reduce to "three conditions".

¿Why chilean women are still treated as criminals? I -as a future journalism- know that one of the principals responsibles of spread this "conservatory point of view" is social media, especially with the lack of care in the treatment of the information.

They show a reality, in a way to show you how guilty is the girl or woman who choose abortion as an option, perpetuating the classic speech "you are carring a perfect, complete and finished baby on you, deal with it...", while in the other side of the world, the countries that approves the abortion, allow it in a period of twelve or fourteen weeks, a period when this creature is still an embryo lack of any human form.

You know why this happens? Because, as a country, Chile is short of knowledge in the matter. Because is a "too much controversial theme", and sexual education is off the tables, is tabú, most of the time -especially in home and shools, places where the young girls shoul learn about the care of themselves-  ¡We need to investigate and inform ourselves in a better way! If the big countries can do it, ¿why we can't?... ¡¡¡We practically lived copying them in every singe matter!!!

If our government legalize abortion, not only this will be a big step and resulted ina a better and safe future for the pregnant woman, but also, this step will avoid the future of a kid growing up in a place such as Sename, because the mother couldn't support and take care of her child product of her age or her economic reality, a truly desperate situation.

A woman needs rights, needs the liberty to find out what she wants for herself and for her own safe. The govenment manage almost everything in out lives, but our body is ours, ¿right?, so, the only ones who must choose what to do or what not to do with it, is ourleves as women. It's time to move on, ¿Don't you think?

See ya later alligator!