WOW

Sunday evening I will be playing with the WOW Orchestra at London's Festival Hall. This is a BIG EVENT, and in many ways an even bigger one for me.   This is the second year I have been part of this, last year a friend put me in contact with them after seeing they were looking classical musicians of a high standard who are, or self identify as, women.   Almost as a test as to whether they would be as good as their word I applied, and got the gig!

This year I was contacted direct and invited to apply, clearly once again I have been accepted, this great on several levels, I have been accepted both as a musician and as a woman, but perhaps more to the point I have been accepted as a woman, by a feminist organisation!

I have read a lot about TERFS (Trans Exclusive Radical Feminists) recently, we hear about groups who will not allow trans women into their events, feminists who deny the concept that trans women are women at all, and it would be easy to start to see feminists as the enemy.   For me this is a timely reminder that as women feminism is about us trans women, just as much as it is about cis women.   When we gave up our male privilege we became more aware than most of  way society treats men and women differently, if nothing else this mean that we should all be feminists.

A while ago when I was banging on about feminism I was asked if I became a feminist when I became a woman, no, although I think I was always sympathetic, I became a feminist when I became a parent, when I tell my daughter that she can be anything she wants, I want it to be true.