I was talking with one of my buds one day, as buds often do from time to time. The conversation eventually went towards women's rights and, the inevitable, feminism. I proudly became a feminist my sophomore year of college after watching Laci Green's "50 Reason's Why I'm a Feminist" video and found myself agreeing with practically everything she said. By last semester, while I would call myself a seasoned pro, I was a half-baked amateur at being a crazy-liberal-feminist-killjoy and was loving every bit of it.
Anyway, my bud, like most of my buds, is conservative. That's not a problem. Conservatives can be feminists too. The problem was the thing she said: "I mean, I'm not a feminist, but I think women should have the same rights as men". You know how in Stark Trek: Next Generation, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (of the USS Enterprise) does the facepalm? Yeah, that was me. I couldn't believe it! Did she know? Did she know that she just gave the definition of feminism and then denied that she was a feminist, whilst stating that she believed in the feminism definition? What was going on there?!
Feminism has gotten a bad rap over the years. Don't think so? When I say feminist, what do you think of? Yeah, a loud butch woman screaming about how terrible men are, how a new society should be formed in which men are subjugated and relegated to the position of subservience, and telling you that shaving is conforming to the gender spheres thrust on you by the patriarchal society. None of it sounds appealing.
We don't see the works of Emma Watson or Malala Yousafzai, or Maya Angelou. We ignore that because of feminism, women have the right to vote. We can do that, file for sexual harassment in the work setting, divorce our husbands. Because of feminists, there are child labor laws, and female professors/doctors/insert-public-position-that-has-been-denied-to-women-here.
Feminism is the empowerment of women (and men. What? Boys can be empowered too! A patriarchal society benefits no one. Boys are told to always be aggressive, tough, to be leaders even when they aren't suited to be. This makes showing affection problematic to the point where guys can feel emasculated. And that's wrong) to rise up out of the funk the patriarchy put them in and claim the freedom to rule their own lives, be who they want to be, and enjoy those basic human rights.
Now, Feminists come in all different shapes, all different sizes, all different sexual orientations, and religions, and sexes, and genders. I, a 22 year-old white southern Christian, am a feminist. You, if you believe in the equality of the sexes, are a feminist. It's a scary word with negative connotations, but you gotta own it.
I had the pleasure of reading How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran over the summer (Caitlin Moran if you are reading this: I love you so much and I hope Raised by Wolves becomes uncancelledIfollowyouonTwitterohmyGodyourereadingthisaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh) and I loved it for so many reasons. And in one chapter, specifically on her becoming a feminist, she describes a way to deal with your budding realization of your feminist tendencies. Go to a mirror, look yourself in the eye and say "I am a Feminist". Other words or phrases like "Feminism", "Patriarchy", and "Sexist/Sexism" could also be thrown in there to spice things up. Don't be afraid of who you are or what you believe. You are fantastic, you are amazing, and you are not putting up with this patriarchal BS. And you can totally shave if you want to.
