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Rights you have because of feminism

Gee Golly I sure love living in the 1960s

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Rights you have because of feminism
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Seriously what the fuck?

You know what I'm done.

I'm done with people cringing every time I say I'm a feminist

I'm tired of people confusing feminism with female dominance

News flash: I'm not even a woman

News flash: Men are feminists too

Everyone should be a feminist

Because it's about equality.

IF you're against feminism, you either a) don't know what feminism is or b) are an asshole.

If a, open a dictionary.

If b, try and defend how domestic violence, income inequality, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, sexism, racism, Islamophobia, anti-semitism, and a whole slew of other issues aren't important.

Yes, society has come a long, long way, but inequality is still everywhere. Violence is still an issue.

Buckle up kiddos, and get ready for a series of fun facts:

Women couldn't get any form of birth control (including condoms) without the consent of her husband until 1972 with Eisenstadt v. Baird. That means a woman couldn't be on birth control if her husband was raping her (Marital rape wasn't criminalized until 1993. Seriously. That's messed up) which meant she would be forced to continuously give birth which is what eventually killed Margaret Sanger's mother, inspiring the first birth control clinic in 1916 (Promptly shut down and Sanger arrested.) It also meant that single women couldn't be on birth control. Since I brought up marital rape, No-Fault divorces weren't a thing until 1969. Which means if someone wanted a divorce someone had to have done something wrong. And couples couldn't lie because it was too easy to reject a divorce when the lie came out. And if one of the spouses was abusive? Didn't matter because both parties had to be consenting and present for the divorce trial. If you know someone who has been divorced, statistically they had a no-fault divorce. Yes, divorces happen for other reasons, but no-fault divorces are the most common. This affects every single person on birth control and every single married person.

Do you know why it's expected for men to pay for meals? Because until the 1960s women weren't allowed to open bank accounts without the permission of her father or husband. So if a man made a woman pay for her own meal, he was mocking her for not having money. This also meant that the men in a woman's life owned her. They controlled any money that she may have earned or needed. She needed to go to the store? Father or husband isn't around? Too bad. You don't have any money of your own. Men can still pay for dates if they want, but women can now too, OR each party can pay for their own meals. It's a conversation you should have with your significant other, not a decades old expectation. This affects every single person in a relationship. It's a financial decision, not a romantic one.

Women weren't allowed to serve on jury's for a long ass time. Because it would place "undue burden" upon the household. And once they were allowed to serve on a jury, they were rarely selected because they could be "too emotional."

Women also weren't accepted into Ivy League colleges. They were Men's only universities until the 1970s. And once women going to college became an accepted fact, it was expected that they would drop out once they found a husband. Because women didn't need degrees. They only needed husbands. Every single woman in college? Yup. Once you find a hubby, just drop out. You don't need that education degree once you get married! You've wanted to be a teacher your whole life? Sucks. While you're in college, looking for a hubby, do you want to play sports? Well, without feminism, you wouldn't be allowed to. Title IX is what allowed women's sports to exist.

Until 1973, job ads were allowed to discriminate by sex. If a woman applied for a man's job, she was rejected and probably blacklisted. Yes, your retail job? You might have stolen that from a man in 1965. Those very few women who did/were allowed to work outside of the home? Got paid 59 cents on the dollar. If they were white. Black and Latina women were paid less and still are. We have progressed from there, yes, but it's still not equal. And if that woman who worked outside of the home got pregnant? They got fired. Which was legal until 1978. If they didn't get fired for being pregnant, they would be endlessly sexually harassed by coworkers. And there was nothing you could do about it. If your male coworker wanted to feel you up in the copy room, you just had to accept it, quit, or try to complain and get fired.

But if these things don't shock you, you're right we don't need feminism. If you want to go back to the 1960s when these things were commonplace, go for it. But don't drag the rest of us who have worked so hard for the privileges you take for granted. By rejecting feminism, you are 1) supporting a system of inequality and 2) spitting in the face of every person who has broken an unjust law to bring you rights.

The next time you think, "Ugh feminism." I want you to remember every job you've ever applied to. You are allowed to apply for that job because of feminism. You are allowed to press charges for sexual assault and rape because of feminism. Every time a woman opens a bank account, it's because of feminism. Applying to college, feminism. Playing ANY SPORT, feminism.

But yeah, pack up after your college course, wearing a "University Track & Field" T-shirt, and go buy a smoothie that you pay for with your credit card that you pay off with your job, where your paycheck goes into a bank account with just your name on it on your way to pick up your prescription for birth control and go "Ugh feminism."

I'll wait for the irony to sink in.

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