Last week, an Odyssey writer published the article, I Am A Female And I Am So Over Feminists. It has been shared 161k times over the past 5 days.
The popularity of this article should not be taken lightly.
Author Gina Davis claims that women in the US are doing just fine. She called the idea that society is unfair to women "a load of bull" and wrote, "Relax, feminists. We're ok."
With all due respect to Gina Davis, that's a load of bull.
Society is far from fair. Promiscuous men are admired as "players," while women are labeled "sluts. Society asks "what were you wearing?" to rape victims, instead of "what are we teaching young men?" A woman CEO is "bossy," while a man CEO is just "doing his job." And time after time, through abuse and harassment, we are told - "boys will be boys."
I don't know about you, but I have a hard time feeling like any of this is "OK." Instead of the "fair" society that Davis portrays, I see women caught in a cycle of shaming and objectification - criticized when we try to live up to societal standards but ostracized when we break from those norms.
On top of this, women of color, LGBT women and women of size face complicated variations of oppression that make it increasingly hard to progress in society. There is a very real and painful gap between human potential and societal possibilities for women in America.
But the sexism that permeates our society isn't just impacting women. All people are limited from their achieving their goals when gender rules our perceptions and interactions. To this day, gender continues to separate and confine us, rather than helping us live our most authentic lives.
That's why we all need feminism. It's not about "girl domination." It's about breaking the barriers of gender so that everyone can feel free in their skin.
Man, woman, agender, transgender -- how ever you identify you deserve to be treated as a human being. Gender is a beautiful form of self-identification, but it is abused by our society to divide and disempower people.
I refuse to be a slave to my society, I refuse to be a slave to my gender and I refuse to let people like Gina Davis convince me that feminists need to "stop the complaining" about the real and serious challenges women face every day. An attitude of complacency never got women anywhere, and it certainly won't progress us toward a just and equal future.
It's time we take feminism seriously. It is not some scary world-domination tactic, and it's not a fight over nothing. Feminism is a movement of inspired, passionate individuals aiming to create a world that works for everyone. So thank you, feminists -- I am so not over you.
