Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Emma Watson are all known as feminists. When you think of feminism, what comes to mind? Girl power? Rosie The Riveter? The Venus symbol with a fist in the middle? If you know anything about the words and phrases I just said, I applaud you.
Do you know what feminism means?
Many people assume that feminists hate men, don’t shave their armpits, and are only women.
1. Feminists don’t hate men, feminists hate the patriarchy.
2. Whether or not a female decides to shave her armpits has nothing to do with her stance on feminism.
3. Men and women can both be feminists.
A feminist is a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of all sexes.
To all of my friends, I am known as the crazy feminist of the group. Whenever we get into debates about the subjects of equality or female rights, my friends usually look at me as if they are saying, “Here we go again.” Then they ask me, why do I always have to do the “feminist thing?”
What “feminist thing?"
I am a feminist because I don’t think that my gender should be used as an insult. Just because I am a girl, that doesn’t make me less equipped to do everyday human tasks. I don’t understand the need for people to add phrases like “for a girl” to the end of each act committed by another female. You run fast for a girl, you are so strong for a girl, etc. All of these serve as a constant reminder that we will never just run fast or being strong without having our gender attached to it.
I am a feminist because I believe that women and men with the same qualifications and work ethic should be paid the same amount. Currently, a women working in the same department as a man with the same job will get paid 78 cents versus and male earning $1. This seems fair, right? Wrong! I find this extremely unfair, and a double standard, if I ever saw one.
I am a feminist because I want to raise my future kids without them being influenced by society’s basic gender roles. I do not want to have to raise my daughter in the culture of fear that many young girls face today. I don’t want to have to teach her self-defense in case someone tries to attack her. I do not want to tell her to be self-conscious when she gets dressed. I do not want to have tell her to be careful of how much skin she shows.
Instead of blaming the appearances of the future females for crimes committed against them, I want to raise sons who realize that everyone is a human, and that if a women is dressed in less clothing and showing a bit more skin, that doesn’t mean in any way, shape, or form that is she asking for anything at all.
I am a feminist because I see all of the negative things happening to girls around the world, and I plan to try my best to voice my concerns on these double standards so that our futures can be equal.
