Why do we need feminism? Most often, the reason supplied is the fact that women make $0.79 to a man’s every make $0.79 to a man’s every dollar. Can we all agree this is pretty outrageous? I mean, it makes absolutely zero sense for people with certain genitals to make on average 21 percent more money than those without. So for this good reason, and also likely because it’s a cold, hard, statistical fact, this issue has been singled out as the token feminist issue, and has been getting a lot of attention in the media.
Recently, Jennifer Lawrence wrote a pretty badass essay for Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner’s e-newsletter “Lenny,” titled “Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?” This sounds pretty self-explanatory. In the essay , she attacks the gender wage gap she experiences as a societal issue, but takes the argument further, saying she “failed as a negotiator” for not putting up more of a fight out of fear of not being liked or being perceived as a “spoiled brat.” Can you imagine a man being called a brat for demanding equal money for his work? JLaw doesn’t think so either.
From this essay, I think we can conclude much more than the fact that the wage gap sucks. Jennifer nails one of the biggest issues facing women every day right on the head, that being the need to be perceived as easy-going or, to put it more bluntly, submissive, in order to be well liked. A woman who confronts someone cat-calling her is self-righteous, a woman who ignores "compliments" from cat-callers is stuck-up, a woman giving out orders because she’s the boss is a slave driver, a woman who is assertive in a relationship is controlling or psycho, and a woman who speaks her mind “has balls.” But all of the women fit under one umbrella: bitch. The problem here isn’t necessarily with being seen as or called one. The problem is the extremely negative connotation with being perceived as a bitch. If I have to be a bitch to also be assertive, confident, driven, powerful, enthusiastic, or even dominant, then sign me up.
Audre Lorde eloquently said, “The true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us.” It’s easy to see feminist concerns as the oppression or victimization of women, but much more difficult and important to recognize that the society we live in has socialized women to angle themselves to be demure, flexible, non-confrontational, small, complacent, and indifferent people, in order to be well liked and feminine.
The need for feminism will not end when, finally, our society comes to its senses and grants equal pay for equal work among every gender and race. Racism has not stopped because, after 43 presidents, our president is now black. Transphobia has not been eradicated because Caitlyn Jenner was on the cover of Vanity Fair. The need for feminism did not end in 1920 when, after 72 years of our fore-sisters fighting, women were granted the right to vote. It merely began.
The feminist movement will continue to be important because women are continuously belittled in order to be heard and to save themselves from being written off as "too much" or difficult. I'm so over that, though. Be a bitch. Be the bitch. Better yet, be the HBIC: Head Bitch In Charge. Speak loudly, and fight to be taken seriously, respected and treated as equals.
