I know you probably scoffed when you clicked to read my article, but believe it or not, you might actually be a closet feminist. Yes, I said it. Now wait, don’t exit out yet. Just hear me out.
There is a whole spectrum of feminists. Each type of feminist is Pro-Women, but it’s their approach to feminism that varies. The conservative feminists, the radical feminists, and then there’s some in between. Each type of feminists have unique characteristics, but are often mistaken for one type. The radical feminists get the most attention, and often, some of their actions turn other men and women away from the movement.
But first, here is what a feminist is not. A true feminist is not just a woman who wants what a man has, because she is jealous of his stature. A feminist is not a woman who is obnoxious or necessarily masculine or even a woman who thinks she is better than a man. A feminist does not necessarily want to do all the work that a man does.
Simply put, a true feminist respects a man, but just asks that a man return that respect. To put this respect into perspective, an example of this two-way respect is when a man opens the door for me or when he pays the bill at dinner. Now, I know you’re thinking that feminists won’t stand for that, but what I am here to tell you is that many feminists still want to be feminine. They still want to be women. You can be pro-women and still want to be feminine. The difference for feminists is that they want you to do those things for them out of a position of respect, not because you think that they are lesser. There is a huge difference. Just think about it.
The conservative feminists are the part of society that are passive feminists. They don’t really hurt the movement, but they don’t do much to encourage it either. Honestly, not much can be said for these feminists, because they are very well hidden in our society, and often do not show themselves as feminists, if at all possible.
The radical feminists are the ones you see walking around with the “free the nipple” movement and women who take feminism to the extreme. They have even been given the term “feminazi” by the rest of society. These people do a lot for the movement, don’t get me wrong. However, our society sees these feminists as extremists, and unfortunately, don’t react well to these feminists.
So now, let’s talk about the “in between” feminists. These are the feminists that do a lot to help the feminism movement in a respectable way, without throwing it in society’s face all the time, like the radicals. These people do a lot of behind the scenes work for feminism, in order to slowly introduce it into our society. Although, this is something that shouldn’t be hush-hush.
These feminists can include Emma Watson, Kerri Washington, Michelle Obama and many others. These women should be the face of feminism, because these women represent what it means to be a true feminist. Also, the company “Always” has a #LikeAGirl campaign. It’s quite amazing. (You should check it out. I’ll even leave some links to a couple short videos at the bottom for you.)
As I said, a true feminist is a woman, or man, that respects women. Period. That’s what makes up a true feminist. Forget the equal pay war, forget the women who want what a man has, simply because they’re jealous, forget the women who contradict everything I have said. Just think about what you would want your daughters, sisters, wives, aunts, grandmothers and any other important women in your life to experience.
Do you want your daughter to be told that she can’t do something, simply because she is a girl? Or that she’s too dumb because she is a girl? I have been told both of those things in my life, and they’re traumatic, I’m not going to lie. At the age of puberty, girls start to feel lesser. They are made to feel that their feelings are “too much” or when a boy is “just being a boy” by picking on them, they’re told it’s because the boy is "sweet on them". Is that what we want to ingrain into our younger female generations? And we wonder why so many women stay in abusive relationships as adults.
So now that you’ve reached the end, what do you think? Are you a passive feminist? Watch some of the videos below, and maybe you’ll discover that your Pro-Women after all.
Emma Watson’s Speech at the UN (2014)
