Feminism should not be a controversial subject, but it is. Whenever I hear people discuss feminism, they often use it in a negative context. It's horrifying to hear someone you know say they're not a feminist.
To be fair, not everyone knows what the actual definition of feminism is — which is why I'm writing about it today. I'm writing this so that maybe, just maybe, I'll change someone's mind about this idea.
Feminism is not the notion that women are superior to men. I've had so many circumstances with friends and family where they thought just that. Instead, feminism is the idea that women are equal to men; therefore, we should be treated as such.
To me, this doesn't just mean equal pay (although that is still a current issue). This means that the societal views about women, from intelligence, skills, sexuality, and purpose, need to change.
The public needs to change its attitude about feminism. This is not a liberal idea, this should be a basic point of equality, and should be reflected as such in the general treatment of women and young girls.
If we don't change, I'm worried about our future. There's a big part of me that is worried we'll end up with a future similar to that of "The Handmaid's Tale," a book and TV show on Hulu.
I just started watching "The Handmaid's Tale" a few months into this year, shortly before the second season premiered.
I watch a ton of dark, grotesque shows and movies, but "The Handmaid's Tale" is one of the worst of the bunch (and my favorite show is "Game of Thrones," so that's saying something).
Set in a dystopian society, where the women are legally inferior to men in almost every way imaginable, "The Handmaid's Tale" is a depressing reminder of the social constraints put on women in the real world. This story draws from the basic philosophy that women are only meant as wives and mothers — to support, obey, and bear children.
Usually the brutal content and abuse, and there's a lot of it, doesn't bother me, but one particular episode did. Spoilers ahead for Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale."
During one of the last episodes of the second season, the wife (Serena) of one of the most powerful officers of the new government tries to appeal to the court to change a law that says that women aren't allowed to read.
Serena reads a verse of the bible out loud during her appeal, and afterward, her husband has one of her fingers cut off.
Reading and writing should be considered basic human rights. In this world, they're not. That is exactly what I'm afraid of for the future of every nation in the world.
We should learn from fictional stories like "The Handmaid's Tale," and ones that are not fiction — in outside countries, where discrimination against women is common.
Feminism is one step closer to equality, there should be no reason to oppose it.
