Alright guys and gals, I have some bad news for you all. Whether or not you believe in feminism, there are still many global issues that victimizes women and girls. Women are not equal, not even close. I am not here to shame people who hate on feminists. I am here to tell you that feminism is bigger than both you and me, and here is why.
1. Female genital mutilation
Some of you may not know this is even a thing. It’s a big issue in many African, Middle East, and Asian countries. Some of you will try to argue by saying “but we still circumcise males in the US!” That is true, and I’m not saying that male circumcision isn’t an issue; however, I will point out that female genital mutilation causes many more issues. It involves removal of a part, or in some cases all, of the external genitalia, and is done on girls up to the age of 15. There is no medical reason for the procedure, and it leads to complications with birth, causing a higher rate of newborn deaths. Other long term impacts can include a variety of infections and the need to have later surgeries. If you want to know more about this topic, you can go to the World Health Organization.
2. Breast Ironing
Ta-da, another form of mutilation that young women are vulnerable to in other countries, mostly in Africa. When girls start go through puberty and start to develop breasts, they are forced to go through some form of breast flattening. This usually involves burning with a heated spoon or rock, or they are forced to wrap cloth tightly around their chests. It can take weeks until they are done flattening their breasts and the results last for life. It heightens the risk of breast cancer and cysts, along with making it harder to breastfeed. The motivation behind this is mostly to prevent their bodies from becoming sexual objects. If the description doesn’t truly tell you how awful breast ironing is, you can Google the series of pictures done by photographer Gildas Paré, of those who were in the process of and have already gone through the procedure.
3. Acid Attacks
Yes, you read that right. A very popular form of degrading women in India is by destroying their face and body for the rest of their lives. Let me just emphasize the “rest of their lives” part, because while acid attacks are brutal and excruciating, in most cases victims do not die. You can find various stories on women who have had acid thrown at them, for simply doing something such as turning down a marriage proposal. If you would like to read more about acid attacks, there is an entire website dedicated to trying to stop it:
4. Child Marriage
Yup, even though there are laws against it. If you want to talk about stealing a young girl’s future, here it is. Young girls who are forced into marriages often leads to becoming pregnant young as well. This means higher risk of pregnancy complications and higher risk of death to the girl. This happens in most African countries, many South American countries, and even Mexico. I shouldn’t have to go into too much detail over why this is wrong but if you want more info, here you go.
5. Sexual Assault
I know this is the one most people are aware of, yet it’s still an issue, so I’m bringing it up. There is a one in three chance that a woman will be sexually assaulted at some point in her life. If you would like me to put that into a real life situation, that means there is a very high chance that me, or one of my two sisters, will face some sort of sexual assault. How many daughters do you have? How many sisters or friends that are women? It’s terrifying when you really think about it. It can happen to anyone at any time. I know this article is dedicated to the problems women face, but I do mean anyone. Every 1 out or 10 rape victims in the U.S. is a male.
Not only does rape and sexual assault continue to be a big issue for women, but reporting and having the person responsible brought to justice is a problem. Let’s try to leave victim shaming in 2016, women who have been assaulted sexually are already at a high enough risk of getting PTSD or depression without people asking questions regarding what she wore. No means no. It shouldn’t be more complicated than that.
There are many, many more issues I can bring up, but I just want everyone out there to know that when I say I’m a feminist, I don’t hate men. I don’t want to be better than men. I’m not fighting against men. But I am fighting for the girl who is having her breasts flattened because it’s her fault if others are distracted. I’m fighting for the girl in Bangladesh who is thrown into marriage before she even has the chance to discover her true potential. I’m fighting for the thousands of women who were told they shouldn’t have drank that much, or they shouldn’t have worn that skirt. I’m fighting for those women because most of them don’t have the chance to fight for themselves.
