Achtung Baby: Feminism And Our Daughters
Achtung Baby is a column about family life written by Suze Nowak, who is originally from Denshaw and now lives in Germany:
FINJE NO LONGER wants to be a bat for fasching. Whilst admittedly slightly put out after I had toiled to make her some wings, I am secretly thankful that she will not be showcasing my pathetic efforts in kindergarten.
Yesterday, she returned form a visit to a friend’s house and with appropriate humility announced she had renewed plans. Now this particular friend is quite the girly girl.
She loves all things pink, plays “mother” to a plethora of dolls and will be attending fasching, unsurprisingly, as a princess.
So I was relieved to discover Finje’s new costume idea bore no relation to anything tulle, flouncy or rose-coloured. With her friend as a princess, Finje rejuvenated her desire to become a knight in shining armour. That pleased me on a number of levels but mainly because I had seen a knight’s costume in the local toy shop at 50% reduced. Joy is me!
Chatting about life in medieval times, Finje posed an innocent question that resulted in my telling her an untruth.The Germans, not yet infested by the scourge of über political correctness, still use the feminine and masculine forms for job titles. A male teacher (Lehrer) can be distinguished from his female counterpart by the addition of two letters (Lehrerin). This is common for most job titles, Arzt (male doctor) and Arztin (female doctor) for example.
The word for knight in German is Ritter. There is no female equivalent, female knights not being all that common in medieval times.
Finje however, was insisting that she was a Ritterin. The word does not exist in the German language.
I’m not a feminist. I like a chap to open a door for me or hold my coat. I shall not be losing any sleep over the fact that Ms Greer would sneer her disapproval at that. However, if being a feminist means that I believe that I am as good as any man, then yes, I am.
So I didn’t tell my daughter that the word Ritterin is in fact a non-word. I encouraged her. And when she was informed by some snotty nosed boy in kindergarten that there was no such thing, she walloped him with her sword and said,
“Well, I’m a girl and I’m a knight. And you are dead!”
That’s my girl.
(This article first appeared on Parent Dish here, and you can follow Suze on Twitter here. Past columns can be read on Saddleworth News here)
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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