One day in my science class at school, our class was split up into three groups to work on a project. When my group was put together, we noticed we were an all girl group and were joking with each other about it. One girl commented, “I mean, I’m not like a crazy feminist or anything, but girls rule!”
I immediately felt all of the humor I found in the situation fade away. I’ve been a feminist for as long as I can remember, although I didn’t discover the literal word until high school, and didn’t start referring to myself as one until around a year and a half ago. Although, as numerous feminists who have come before me have proved, just because I didn’t know the word feminism or regularly use it, didn’t mean I wasn’t one. I was raised by two wonderful parents who taught me that I was equal to my male classmates and that I could achieve anything I wanted in life. When I was little, I dreamed of being an archaeologist, an actress, and even the president. I loved learning about the suffragettes in school, and I even owned a shirt that had a girl playing baseball on it and said, ‘Power of the Girl!’ on it.
As I grew older and started learning more about feminism, I was shocked to discover how many young women don’t identify as a feminist. According to a 2013 poll by Huffington Post and YouGov, only 23% of women consider themselves a feminists, and this is women of all ages, meaning the percent of young women is, sadly, even smaller. Although, the same poll says that 82% of both women and men said they believe that men and women should be social, political, and economic equals, which, if you weren’t aware, is the dictionary definition of feminism.
As a high school age young woman, feminism has been so incredibly beneficial to me, even in the smallest of ways. Take literature, for example. In my AP Literature class, we read novels from the Western literary canon, and I’ve noticed how almost all of the books chosen as the academic curriculum portray women unfairly or inadequately. For example, almost all of the books we read have male protagonists, and the women in the novels are either seen as side characters or as objects for the male protagonist’s desire. Although some may argue that it is important to study older works of literature and that this was how women were mainly seen, there are numerous works that are considered “classics” that portray strong female characters- for example, Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Color Purple, to name a few. More schools should include more of these books in their classes. If schools want to show their student body and community that they advocate equal opportunity and representation for all of their students, they should look to choose literature that fairly portrays all students.
Another feminist issue that specifically affects high school age girls? Dress codes. The majority of my school district’s dress code is targeted toward girls, stating that if a girl wear leggings, her butt must be covered by a finger-tip length shirt or skirt, and that no low-cut necklines or cleavage is allowed. The sexist bit, though, is that the dress code aspects intended for girls are for covering up the parts of us that are considered “sexual”, whereas the dress code aspects for boys don’t include these aspects, mainly citing that hoods may not be worn, “muscle shirts” and not allowed, and that pants must not be baggy or oversized. If schools convey to young women that they are only seen as sexual objects that must be hidden in order to not distract male peers, they will feel that is all that they are- someone who’s worth is only attached to how they are viewed by men.
It also seems to be that high schoolers tend to dissociate themselves with feminism because they feel as though it does not apply to them anymore, or worse, that it doesn’t exist anymore. The little feminism that is taught in schools in mainly taught in two waves, the 1st wave feminism of the suffragettes, and the 2nd wave feminism of the 60’s and 70’s. The Document Based Question on my AP US History national exam was about the feminist movement in the 70’s, furthering my point that feminism is seen as something of the past, something that does not apply to young women in the present. An article from pbs.org called “Why Millennial Women Don’t Want to Call Themselves Feminists” states, “Ironically, it is the very triumphs of second-wave equity feminism that lead young women to believe feminism has nothing to do with them.” Feminism is critical among young women, because we are the next generation in this country, and when we go to college, we need to not be terrified of campus assault, and when we have our own careers, we need equal pay for equal work, and when we have children, we need access to childcare. We need to know we will have equality and success in our adulthoods, and this starts now: with high school girls knowing that they deserve to be treated equally with their male peers, and that they must fight for every opportunity possible. Because we are the future.
I sometimes feel like I am judged when I go out in public wearing one of the numerous feminist-themed shirts I own. I see people stare and my shirt and then stare at me, probably wondering, “How can she be so sure of her views at such a young age?” or “Why is feminism so important to her? She’s just a teenager.” Although I often pass by these people too quickly to say a word, I will say it right here: Yes, I am a feminist. I am a young woman who observes the society in which she lives and notices the injustices she faces, be it large national issues or small scale, at home injustice, and I will promote feminist ideas until all are equal. I may be young, but it doesn’t mean I am not passionate. I believe in feminism and I work at feminism, and it applies to all women, no matter their age. Yes, I am a high schooler, and yes, I am a feminist.
