I just got engaged over the weekend am still all squishy and high as a kite, so you'll have to forgive me for this self indulgent post. Mods, please take it down if it's not appropriate.
A few years ago i stumbled across TRP after hearing some people moaning about it. I came back to browse it a couple of times out of boredom, but didn't find anything too groundbreaking. I agreed with many of the principles, but it all seemed to be common sense and way too ranty i guess. I came across it at just the right time though, because about a week later i saw an announcement that a women's sub, RedPillWomen, had been created.
I'd never given feminism too much thought - where I live it's just assumed that you're a feminist if you're educated. I'd never seen anything like a group of women coming together to question that and its implications. I'm used to seeing women my age coming together to party, to gossip, to complain, but never to disect culture in the way that the mods and endorsed contributors did at RPW.
I haven't always contributed a great deal, and I've changed usernames a few times over the years, but I've always come back to read and learn from you ladies. In RPW I've found a true community of women that I didn't realise I was missing.
I had a couple of false starts where I'd tried implementing "RPW-ness" before fully internalising it. I'd fuss around my ex and wear dresses and pack his lunch and then get mad that he didn't suddenly morph into my totally hawt dreamboat alpha-bux boyfriend. I was like the equivalent of the NiceGuy (tm) who puts in attention and gets mad when she won't have sex with him. I was thinking transactionally and still framing everything in terms of myself and what i wanted.
RPW (now RPWi) has given me so much more than feminism ever did. It taught me personal responsibility, honesty and critical thinking. It gave me intelligent, caring, tough-as-nails feminine role models who are willing to spend hours upon hours on here and their blogs sharing their wisdom. It taught me that there is another way forward than simply trying to emulate men.
I find it so ironic that feminists will call us misogynistic - RPW understand and appreciate womanhood where feminists reject and stifle it. I can finally admit to myself that I am GLAD to be a woman and don't see it as a hinderance or disability. I want my partner and one day our family to be the centre of my universe, and I'm not ashamed of that anymore!
I once read on RPW to "stop trying to find a good partner, and try to BE a good partner." This stuck with me and became a kind of mantra, and it worked!
I've changed so much these last few years, and I know for a fact that if I hadn't found you ladies I would not be the type of woman that my fiance would have proposed to.
So here's to you, RPWi! You've given so much to so many women and I just want to send you all a big fat hug.
