Recently history was made all around the world; the women’s march on Washington was the top story on Saturday on every news station, social media app, as well as the topic to bring up at the dinner table. There were an estimated 1 million men and women marching side by side in Washington, and an estimated 5 million worldwide. Celebrities even showed up in solidarity to show their support. But what were they supporting? Since that historic day, there has been a sea of mixed messages on what they were really fighting for. Some people have said that those feminists are fighting for equality, reproductive rights; you know basic human rights that every person should have. In fact, the women’s march website actually says that their mission is just that: “We stand together in solidarity with our partners and children for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families - recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country.”

On the other side of this, there have also been articles, Facebook statuses, online video rants, and plenty more actually saying that the protest was ridiculous. Their image of the march was created by people like Tomi Lahren, who is known for ranting on the Internet about how millennials are too sensitive; her iconic line that liberals are “snowflakes” has seeped into the minds of conservatives everywhere, which somehow gave them permission to dismiss any issues that, surprisingly enough, doesn’t effect them as much as it should. For example, the issue of defunding Planned Parenthood, the stigma against them is that they are solely there for abortions, when actually that’s just 3% of their services. Many people who don’t use P.P. don’t realize that they help out communities so much with giving cancer screenings, physicals, prenatal care, birth control, etc. Without them, where could I get any of those things at an affordable price? But I’m not here to defend that establishment. I’m here to talk about the article “I Am A Female And I Am So Over Feminists.”

This article not only feels like I am reading an archive from the 1920s, but also it’s so clear that the author doesn’t know what it means to be a feminist. First I would like to start this off with the definition of the word feminism: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. Confusing I know, I’ll break it down so everybody can understand: feminism means that you believe that men and women should be equal in everyway. So to be a feminist means you believe that theory, crazy I know. Back to the article, she opens up by talking about a class discussion on why male sports dominate television instead of female sports. She explains that TV stations are going to air what will get the highest ratings, while I agree with that, I am left to wonder if she has ever thought about why the male sports gets more ratings? It’s not just that topic that leaves me with questions, after reading it once through it was hard for me to understand what she is trying to get at. Is feminism hurting the world? Is her boyfriend upset? Are her teachers telling her all of this? I just don’t know. Later in the article she does make an unintentional joke; she states that feminists get upset when a man pays for a meal. LOL. If you want to pay for my dinner fine, go ahead, but I will get offended if I try to pay but you’re reasoning on why I shouldn’t is that I am the girl. Yeah, thanks for the clarification doctor, I really had no idea. Next she claims that “the male body is meant to endure more physically while the female is more delicate,” I’m sorry I just don’t believe that. Just because the Dove soap commercial says so, doesn’t mean it’s true.

The point I think she is trying to make is that she feminism puts the opposite gender down, and we shouldn’t do that. I agree, we shouldn’t put any gender down, but I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but that’s not what feminism is (refer back up to the definition I kindly gave). And if you still don’t believe in that, then that is fine. To each their own, but don’t try to twist the definition into this man hating, hurtful, thing.

Pictures provided by Sarah Bingol