There seems to be a negative connotation that goes along with the term “feminism.”
“Feminism” means angry, unshaven, screaming lesbians fighting to get men abolished from society. At least, that’s what most people think.
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Feminism, as defined by author and women’s rights fighter Bell Hooks, is the movement to end sexism, sexual exploitation, AND oppression. That’s right, boys, feminism is fighting to help you too!
We feminists have been fighting for years upon years to earn equal pay, reproductive rights, and just basic human liberties. But the big secret? We don’t hate men.
Sure, we want to crush the patriarchy and uproot our white supremacist capitalist patriarchal society, but we don’t hate men. Men face oppression just as much as women do. Men are sexually exploited and pressured into looking a certain way just as much as women are: it’s just more commonly accepted that women can be portrayed in this way.
So here is your crash course of Feminism 101.
The scrutiny that women, the LGBT community, and people of color (and so many more) are placed under has been going on for far too long. Turn on your television or your computer and tell me what you see. I see ads for women’s clothing on scantily clad ladies who look like they’re in pain. I see all white representation and very little black, Asian, or any other race in television shows. I see straight couples in home value commercials rather than two dads. The fact of the matter is that feminists are fighting to end all oppression, not just their own.
Think you’re not a feminist? I can almost guarantee you are. Most people refuse to identify because of the negative undertones that come with the term. Nearly everyone can agree that humans deserve equal rights, right? Surprise: You’re a feminist! Welcome to our community! We don’t hate men and neither do you.
The argument that feminism is last generation’s fight and not for the millennials is just insane to me. Feminism is very much our fight. We still don’t have equal pay, we still have discrimination against LGBT youths and adults, and we still deal with nation wide oppression.
In my 20 years on this Earth, I have never met a feminist (male or female) who started off by saying “oh yeah, men are the worst, I wish it was just women running the world.” That’s because true feminists believe that all humans are created equal, whether they are black, white, transgender, asexual, or any combination of possibilities. Everyone experiences oppression, some more than others. My job here is to make sure that stops.
Make the oppression stop. Bring the shame and the hatred to a halt and never start the engine again. The only way we are going to get equal rights for everyone is if we stand up and let our voices be heard. Educate yourself and everyone around you.
I identify as a feminist on the simple stance that I believe we are all born with the same human rights and those rights should be honored no matter what.
