Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.04.2016, Síða 55

ArtisAn BAkery
& Coffee House
Open everyday 6.30 - 21.00
Laugavegur 36 · 101 reykjavik
LÓABRATORIUM BY
LÓA HJÁLMTÝSDÓTTIR
HUMANS OF REYKJAVÍK
SMJÖRFLUGA
This issue’s human:
Hinrik Hrafn Marinósson
On Reykjavík
Reykjavík is cool but these hotels
bother me. I mean it doesn't matter
if your hotel is in Laugardalur
or downtown. You can walk
everywhere. One day Reykjavík will
be full of hotels and no one to fill
them. We're wrecking Iceland with
hotels.
On sunny days
I go out on my cruiser and cruise
around. With my beats of course.
On hot dog preferences
10-11. You can get two bacon-
wrapped hot dogs and a coke for
like 600 krónur. But Bæjarins Beztu
will always be the best hot dog.
On the superiority of Bæjarins Beztu
hot dogs
I don't know. It's just—I cannot
answer that.
Every issue, we will interview someone living and working in Reykjavík, so as to share
with you, dear reader, the trials and tribulations of daily life here in the capital.
Why doesn’t any-
one whistle to me
on the street?
By JÓHANNA PÉTURSDOTTIR
Having grown up in Belgium, where you get catcalled often,
I was surprised that no one whistled or looked at me in an
inappropriate way while I walked the streets of Reykjavík.
This made me think about feminism in a different way.
Let’s put aside whether or not you’ve experienced catcall-
ing in Iceland. Just the fact that I questioned myself when
it didn’t occur disturbed me. I have always seen myself as
a feminist, but this made me wonder: “When can you con-
sider yourself a feminist?”
It’s easy, at least for people with some common sense—
being a feminist is as simple as wanting equal rights for
men and women. But for women, another question arises:
At what cost will you pronounce yourself to be one?
Things like catcalling shouldn’t be seen as common, but
there are other acts, expected by women and performed by
men, that might appear less offensive but are still, in my
opinion, rooted in inequality.
At what point does the fact that we want equal rights in-
terfere with some of the things we now take for granted?
Do you still think the guy should pay on the first date even
though you want to—and of course should—earn as much
as he does for the same job? To what degree will you flirt to
score a free drink or any other advantage that you might get
because you are a woman?
Does it still make you a feminist if you expect all the
above? Or haven’t you considered these circumstances as
symptoms of inequality between men and women?
The line separating men and women, identity and privi-
leges, has blurred over the years to the point that being a
feminist is about much more than facing up to the most ob-
vious examples of inequality.
Iceland may be more gender-equal than Belgium. That’s
fine for Iceland, but not enough. Women can never quit
questioning and never quit challenging all forms of in-
equality. It can be a little absurd constantly questioning your-
self, but I’ve realized calling myself a feminist isn’t enough.
It’s something I need to shout in the streets everyday.
SHARE: gpv.is/whistlers
REYKJAVÍK LIFE
By ELIJAH PETZOLD
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 4 — 2016
54