on feminism and relationships

i recently bumped into a friend who has this firm belief that i am a feminist. i remember once trying to assure him that i have great appreciation for my undergarments, but he obviously wasn't convinced. the truth is, i once looked up what it meant to be a feminist. and according to our favourite online encyclopaedia, i actually am! a liberal feminist, to be precise.

one thing i really believe in is equal pay for equal work. if a woman does the same job as a man does, ceteris paribus, then she should get the same salary.

what i don't believe is that women should be paid the same as men regardless. ie if sportswomen want the same pay as their male counterparts, they should rival their (the men's) performance. so if a female tennis player can hit a ball as fast as a male tennis player can, then sure, ask for equal pay. but if not, then just as women protest against being discriminated against, so should we protest against receiving preferential treatment in the workplace.

and of course, there is the other domain where feminism has really made an impact: relationships. and what started me writing this post in the first place was that i was finding yet another way to procrastinate by reading this article. i've deliberately linked the third page because of how beautifully Ms. Stranger phrases the conundrum (paragraph three).

if i recall the invigorating speeches made during Assembly periods in my school, the vast majority of them were about being great leaders, women of the future, etc. women nowadays are earning more money than their male counterparts. at least, some female undergraduates in America are. so do we still expect our meals paid for, or do we go dutch?

or should we just do what the guest speaker for my Yr 12 Valedictory service suggested, and marry down?