Women Behaving Badly -- Really?

Yesterday, I wrote about the great little  Blue Dog Bar and Grill in Matlacha. What I didn't tell you was when I went to the restroom, inside the stall there was a sign:

I had to take a photo of it, because I did not want to forget this saying. And then, I got to thinking about the words and the women who have changed the course of history by going against society and its norm.

The first person who came to my mind was Susan B. Anthony. She was one of the first who vocalized women's rights in America. She was quite the lady. Her first "fight" was in 1853 to have women be recognized as teaching as a profession, and to give them better pay. Besides the labor movement, she was known for the abolition of slavery, the right for women to own property and to keep their earnings, and of course, the right for women to vote in America. Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote in 1869, but it did not come into law until the 19th Amendment in 1920, 14 years after Anthony's death. She devoted her life to these causes, and definitely was not a well behaved woman.

Rosa Parks was one woman who had a lot of guts in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. She refused to give up her bus seat to a white person, and her defiance made her a symbol of  the Civil Rights Movement. In her years, she campaigned for civil rights, and we know how that played out -- or I should say how it is still playing out. She was not a well behaved woman.

Aung San Suu Kyi was a pro-democracy activist in Burma, who because of her speaking out against the dictator was put under house arrest in 1989 for 15 years! After being granted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, she was finally released and in 2010 she held a seat in Parliament. She headed the National League for Democracy in Burma, and in November of 2015 the NLD won the majority control of Parliament and they were allowed to select the next president. She was not a well behaved woman.

Then, there are the novelists, George Sand (Amantine-Lucille-Aurore Dupin) and George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) who wrote under male pen names simply because they were female. What is interesting to me is both these ladies had loves in their lives who they set up house with but did not marry them. That was a definite no-no a century or two ago. Not only that, but George Sand left her husband and eventually legally separated from him to live with another man who she fell in love with. George Eliot lived with a man who was married to another but could not get a divorce. Neither one of these women were well behaved.

Finally, there is Katherine Hepburn, lovely, lovely Katherine Hepburn, who also did not marry the love of her life. She was definitely a non-conformist and wore trousers (which became her signature) when trousers were not worn by women. She was what we consider today as a trend setter. She was not a well behaved woman.

I think of these women that I mentioned and know there are a slew of others who make history by not following all the rules, then I think of what Katherine Hepburn said, "If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun." How true, Katherine, how true!

Until tomorrow...have a great day...