Over the years, I’ve grown tired of the unconscious insults and ridicules about being a girl. It all started with the remarks the guys would say to me: “you throw like a girl” because I didn’t throw the football as well as the boy next to me; they didn’t think about the reason why most girls throw the way we do. First off, how many girls do you see playing on the pop warner football team growing up? Maybe one or two fearless girls that constantly get picked apart from the little boys who reciprocate what they’ve seen and heard from their parents. Or on the other hand, how many of us woman have been told “that’s not very lady-like.” Just because society expects us to act a certain way, but we choose to live the way we want to live that isn’t the social norm, does not make us unladylike or manly or a dyke. Labels are the real dirty words and shouldn’t exist; stereotypes are something we need to be against and in the process of rejecting labels and stereotypes, we need to support feminism and defy gender roles because our children don’t need to live in a world where girls and women are inferior to boys and men.

There is so much power behind words. So I hope these reasons behind supporting feminism can be impactful to you and open your eyes to the real issues both men and women deal with.

1. When we treat men and women as equals, both girls and boys will be able to embrace their interests without harsh criticism and questioning, whether a boy chooses to pursue a career in fashion or being a hairstylist, or a girl wants to be in STEM classes and become an engineer. Gender is performative and you can’t deny who you are on the inside, even though so many do because of fear of rejections from family, friends and society.
2. Women shouldn’t be treated like objects. She isn’t just body parts and a nice booty; she’s a person with goals and morals, just like the men. So women being objectified is a contributing factor in rape and sexual assault because rapists look at women as things and objects that are always inferior to man.
3. Oppression. You hear this more often with different minorities or economic statuses, but women are oppressed too because they deal with harsh and authoritarian treatments. Supporting feminism will help raise awareness to create a better work and school environment for women and make a change in homes across the world to decrease the rate of domestic violence and spousal abuse behind closed doors.
4. Feminism will contribute to change in gender roles. Gender roles say women stay home and tend to the children while the husband goes to work and makes the money. Times are changing and women are very capable of doing “a man’s job.” It is time to defy gender roles because women are getting their degrees and going onto be CEOs and lawyers, and they deserve the same pay and respect as men. It’s also very acceptable for a man to be a father first, too. However you want to live is acceptable whether it’s working, staying home or not having a family.

Feminism is all about wanting equality for men and women because allowing girls and boys to embrace their passions without “the social norms” weighing on their shoulders is a world I want to live in. We were created as equals; so men, women and transgenders should be treated accordingly.