My brother and I have a lot of arguments and as a younger brother does, he knows how to push my buttons and there is just one thing he has to say to get steam coming from my ears. "It's because you're a woman".
I see red. I get so angry in a matter of seconds and not because he's saying I can't do something because of my gender. I know that isn't true in my life so that I choose to ignore it. It's the fact that he turns it into an insult, and he has been taught this. A few seconds after he sees that I am sufficiently angry, he will start calling me a feminist. Like it's a bad word.
That makes me angrier than when he implies, I can't do something because I'm a woman. That is complete bullshit and my brother knows that deep down. However, somewhere at some point in his life, someone told him that feminism was a bad word.
There are times when I get so mad at him for thinking this that I want to find whoever told them that and shake them until they see sense. It is not a bad word and society really needs to stop being so polarizing with an issue that is too important to ignore.
My brother would surely think different if one day I achieve my dream. He would be angry if he watched someone deny me my dream because I'm a woman. He would think differently if one day he has a daughter, and someone tells her she can't do something because she's a girl. He would feel differently if his mother was told to stop acting a certain way because she was a woman and it wasn't lady like.
Cut the bullshit. Stop telling boys and men that it's okay to say something that means men and women should have equal rights is a bad word. It's not. There are so many women out there that are denied dreams, help, and rights because of their gender and frankly, I think we should be spending our energy on solving that issue instead of telling our boys when they're young that feminism is bad.
Don't be that parent. Don't be that brother or sister. And don't be that friend. Stand up for their rights. Don't take away something that you've always had. Fight for their rights because they need your support.
Cut the crap and fight instead of ridiculing us for wanting basic rights. Don't tell me I can't do something because I'm a woman. Don't confuse ability with gender. I will do something despite this box you have caged me in. I will do something despite the fact that I'm a woman.
Gender has nothing to do with it.
