Dear old feminist me,

You are a feminist, and that’s wonderful! I know you’re feeling proud of who you are, and you should. You grew up with three brothers, so women empowerment is something you’ve always known and cherished. If it were not for those times you couldn’t be with your brothers because you were a girl, or the times you were told you had to cook and clean because you are a girl, or maybe when you were told to forget about college because you are a girl… you probably wouldn’t identify as a feminist.

Remember when you started to read feminist articles, and you started to learn about Susan B. Anthony when you were probably thirteen? Remembering learning about the fight women had to go through just to be able to vote or wear pants in public? I remember it. I sure remember the feminism you were exposed to as a young girl. However, the feminism you thought was so wonderful? That feminism was not so inclusive. But it’s okay. You were young, and you were still learning. Feminism is a learning process, and you my girl, still have a lot to learn.

I can’t really blame your early feminist thoughts, though. The kind of feminism you were revealed to wasn’t intersecting at all. You aren’t even going to learn about Gloria E. Anzaldua, Angela Davis, or Sandra Cisneros until you get to your first semester of university! Oh, the wonderful thoughts you’re missing on, but don’t worry since you will get to that soon. I am sorry, but you’re stuck with Taylor Swift and that Lena Dunham white feminism in your fight against the patriarchy for the moment. Ah, white feminism. You haven’t even heard of the term, but you are definitely thinking about it. You’re thinking about how empowering it is for women to grow out their hair or the fact that more women are defying gender roles, yet you shame women who choose to be a stay-at-home mom. You also shame women who like to be sexually confident, saying something like “wow, how about you show how smart you are instead?”. You were so annoying with how you thought girls should pick brains over beauty. Like seriously? Come on, girl. Step up your game.

Still, I don’t completely blame you. It is what you learned at first, after all. It is what was displayed on TV, in the movies, and in popular books. You saw wealthy, white women gain leadership positions and saw them fight against sexism. But you didn’t think about black women fighting sexism and racism at the same time. Or Latinx women fighting the machismo they grew up, the same machismo you grew up with. You didn’t think about the abuse child brides went through in India, or the violence undocumented immigrant women go through at detention centers. You didn’t even know sexism also negatively affects men. How could you not think of your brothers, and the way toxic masculinity could affect them? How could you have known that feminism is truly about race, class, education, sexuality, and so many more complex ideas all intersecting each other?

Remember that a white woman and a black woman go through sexism differently. Remember that if your feminism isn’t for trans-lives, then it’s not real feminism. Your feminism should be to end FGM, provide everyone with the opportunity to have an education, and giving people a choice with what they want to do in life. There are so many different layers and aspects of feminism you have yet to learn about that I hardly touched the surface in this letter. Don’t ever forget about inclusion in your feminism. I know in the small fight you’ve had for feminism, it’s been tough, and I’m sorry to say but it’s only going to get tougher (you won’t imagine the stuff you will go through in 2016). You yourself still have a lot to learn about feminism, and you won’t stop learning either while you’re writing this letter in 2017.

Sincerely,