One of the main reasons I wanted to become an Odyssey creator was because I noticed how powerful these writers' words were and how much of a difference they make. They are the voices that bring up a lot of important social issues. They are the voices that demand to be heard. They are the voices that could change the way our society is (as well as make us laugh and brighten our days).
So, as an audience member, another Odyssey article titled "I Am A Female And I Am So Over Feminists" raised some questions for me. My first thought was, "Wait... so does she not want equality?" Naturally, I clicked on the article and gave it a read, especially noticing how many shares and comments it had.
After reading the article by Gina Davis, I became saddened by the fact that so many people were confused on what feminism actually means. Feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. Right off of Merriam-Webster. I would like to highlight the fact that it says men and women should have equal rights. I feel as if this is a very important clarification that needs to be made because through her article, many people seem to think that this is not what feminists fight for. This was not the only point in her article I felt the need to address, though.
First off, she states in her article that, "Women have never been more respected. Women have more rights in the United States than anywhere else in the world." Yes, this is true, but there is still much progress that needs to be made, and she states one of the biggest feminist issues in her article that still needs work one (equal pay). Another big issue for feminist that still needs more progress that has to do with the lack of respect for not only females (while they do make up a majority of the victim population), but a lack of respect for human beings, in general, is the topic of rape. There are still so many rape victims that are scared to speak up because they fear they won't be taken seriously, and while this stigma has decreased somewhat, it hasn't gone away completely. So how can one say that feminism isn't needed when they are the ones primarily making this issue aware to those of society, therefore making the changes that need to be made?
Secondly, her statement of, "I consider myself to be a very strong and independent female. But that doesn’t mean that I feel the need to put down the opposite gender for every problem I endure. Not everything is a man’s fault," highlights the confusion most people have of feminist. We do not hate men. I never once in my life have said, "I hate men. Everything that's wrong in my life is because of them." In fact, I've been in a relationship with a man for three and a half years now, so how does that meet with her idea of a feminist? With her idea of a feminist, wouldn't I be over in a corner with a group of my feminist friends talking about how much men suck and ruin our lives by their presence instead of happily being with one? In fact, I would never dare speak to a guy because how could I after hating them so much? Goodness, they are just awful, I don't even want to look at them, right?
No! This is not what we think at all! In fact, we believe the same thing as Ms. Davis here, that, "Men and women are meant to complement one another—not to be equal or to over-power," which brings me to my last point.
She closes her article with, "There is no 'dominant' gender. There’s just men and women. Women and men. We coincide with each other, that’s that. Time to embrace it." But there used to be a dominate gender: men. Men (white men, to be specific) were the dominant gender for a very long in our world, and the fact that women had to fight for their right to vote proves that. That's why feminism was created — to get rid of this dominant gender and promote equality between the two. And feminists continue to get a step closer to equality for both genders every day.
