The F word: some say it's the dirtiest word ever to be created. People fear it. They loath it. They even go out of their way to publicly announce their disgust for it. Man, woman, child, senior citizen, black, white, European, South American; the distain for it has no bounds.
I for one love the F word. I live for it. I fight for it. Heck, sometimes I even say it in my sleep! That’s right, I love the F word, because the F word is the only thing protecting me, my mother, my sister, and my friends in this harsh world.
I love feminism, but some people just don't get it.
First of all, if you still live under a rock and don't know, it's time to understand that feminism is not a movement calling to make women better than men. Nobody is trying to get ahead of anybody, just get us all on the same playing field. Feminism supports equal pay, equal rights, and equal opportunity across the board. Though this seems like a no-brainer cause that everyone can get behind, there is still backlash to this movement, particularly from "menist" supporters.
"Menism," give me a break. Sounds like some ignorant (in all sense of the word) person got offended because the word for equality among genders stems from the word "female," and, therefore, had to create their own fictional ideology that promotes male dominance. Go ahead Mr. Menist, fight the female nuisance who dares to demand for equality! Shame on them for disrupting your utopian society where women belong on the bottom of the food pyramid.
Some women even support "menism" and claim that they don't need feminism. They assert that they're strong enough, make the same amount if money as their male coworkers, and don't need guys to "protect them," or whatever crazy argument they use to try to excuse their ill thought out ideals. Women who believe this are blinded by their own privilege to even think they, and this world, don't need feminism.
But aside from that putrid counteractive ideology I refuse to acknowledge again in this piece, even those who understand feminism seem to have it wrong.
Feminism isn't just about being able to walk down the street without being catcalled or slut shamed for your outfit. It's more than not being punished for going braless to school, or heck, even showing your bra straps. It goes beyond wanting to receive equal pay for the same job or having female representation in congress that matches the proportion of women in this country. It's more than fighting abortion rights, or for equal opportunity in the military. It surpasses the call to allow men to be stay at home dad's without judgment, or let them to work "feminine jobs" and participate in "feminine activities" without describing those jobs or activities as feminine. It's about more than just giving enough maternity leave to women and men after their child is born, and without fear of hurting their careers. It's beyond getting angry over the sexist statements made by commentators at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Feminism is so much deeper than the surface issues we focus on today.
Feminism is for the women of Brazil, who face the reality of becoming a statistic; of being one of the women who is raped every 11 minutes. Feminism is for women in Africa, who fear falling victim to female genital mutilation. Feminism is for women in the middle east, who have to send their sons and husbands to the grocery store to get better prices and fresher food than shop keepers would sell to a woman. Feminism is for young girls in Cameroon, who are forced into breast ironing to mask their development. Feminism is for women in Thailand, sold into sex trafficking. Feminism is for the women in Pakistan, whose husbands, just this year, were advised to lightly beat them as punishment.
Feminism isn't simply about hot button issues you see your friends tweeting about; it's greater than your first world, well off, privileged mind can imagine. It's for those opressed, assaulted, and ridiculed all over the world and right in your own neighborhood. Just becasue you might not think you need feminism, doesn't mean someone else in your life doesn't either.
So stop hating on feminism and feminists and join them, or at the very least, let us get pedicures with our boyfriends and break glass ceilings in peace.
