Born to be Wild

Did anyone watch Paper Giants this week?  Sure you did.  Loads of us did.  I really liked both the portrayal of Ita Buttrose (how awesome is she by the way) and the walk down memory lane.

I was born in the [very] late 60's, so much of the fashion, music and sentiment depicted in the show triggered a load of great memories.

I've always been a bit of a 70's junkie. (If you are a long term reader of this blog, you will be familiar with how many 70's inspired posts I have written).  I could have provided the costume department with many gems from my 70's collection of polyester and nylon!

Apart from wanting every piece of fashion featured, did anyone notice the Hoover constellation vacuum cleaner in the background during one scene?  How great was it to see the items we thought were cutting edge at the time.  And how thankful are we that times have moved on!

Without getting too political, watching Paper Giants, or any show set in our not so distant past, tends to make the inner feminist in me boil to the surface.

I grew up believing that women were absolutely equal to men in every way, and whenever I was confronted with anything less, I stood up for myself, hell, I stood up for woman kind!  Paper Giants got me thinking about the strong female role models I have had in my life that helped form this belief.

• My Mum was a working Mum.  She was creative, feisty, loved fashion and expected everyone in the household to pull their weight equally.
• My Grandmother was independent, wore funky plaid flares and was not to be messed with.  She spoke her mind and had a great sense of humor.
• My Aunt was a career woman.  She was unmarried, had a fancy job and a groovy apartment.  (One of her light-shades was made from eyeballs!  I think they were ping-pong balls with black dots painted on them suspended by wire, but I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen).  

   Family photos from the 70's          www.stylefarm.com.au

In my teens, I recall hurling a maths book at some smartass kid in school because he made a derogetry comment about women.  To my delight, the teacher gave him detention for being rude - which I suppose was the 80's version of politically incorrect - and I got off scott free.  I liked victory.

Throughout my adult life, I have worked mainly in female dominated environments.  The Brashs record bar  was almost entirely staffed by women.  Although looking back, it was very gender divided.  Girls worked in music, and the selling of complicated stuff - like stereo equipment - was left to the blokes.  ahhh the 80's!

I then spent a gazillion years in beauty, another industry with a very high percentage of women.  As I moved up the ranks however, there were fewer women and more straight faced, 'accountant type' men. I won't bore you with the frustrations encountered when dealing with these men, but I'm sure you get the idea. *sigh*

So come to think of it, it may be 2011 but we still have a long way to go before we are treated (or paid) as equals.  Viva la revolution ... and look out if you call me love!