Have you ever read the book "Frindle" by Andrew Clements?
If not, let me tell you about it. In this book, a young boy, disgruntled at his English teacher and her precious dictionary, vows that the meaning of words can be changed. So he starts calling a pen a "frindle." It starts off as a joke between him and his classmates, but quickly escalates, until it is a nationwide thing. Suddenly, pens are frindles.
This happens in real life. It’s meant as a children’s book, but "Frindle" has subtle, underlying themes running through it about the meaning of words. Take the word “gay." A hundred years ago, to be "gay" meant to be happy and joyful. Now it means being homosexual.
Now, what does feminism mean?
There’s a raging battle across the internet about its meaning and what it means to be one. You hear about different interviews held with celebrities, asking them if they’re feminists, and the chagrin the responses are met with. Women are angered over the very word, either because they think it’s pointless or because it has such a bad stigma. Men scoff at it, for the most part, and if they appreciate the word; they think of it with not much significance.
What is feminism?
Originally, at its core, feminism was supposed to mean having the same rights for all of the sexes. According to Google, it means the advocacy of women's rights to be equal to those of men.
However, very likely due to the origins of the parts making up the name, it’s viewed as an attempt to make women the dominant race, because of the word “feminine.” This makes people who want fundamental rights angry. It also upsets "meninists." This word stems from "meninism," a word meant to counteract feminism and assert its dominance over women and assert manliness. These words wage a war of the sexes. And other words have sprouted as well, such as "femi-nazi." This word is a play off of feminism, in that women who battle for their rights in an extreme or dedicated way earn this title.
The thing is that, this word, with such a confused and mixed meaning, leaves me baffled. I stumble even while trying to write this, because it’s such a complex topic to broach. My personal opinion? I believe in equal rights for every race, sex, creed, origin, religion, human. But I can’t sum that up into one word. Maybe the person who originally used the word meant for it to go someplace and stand for what I believe in. Or maybe they really did believe that women should be dominant over men and that our sex has been crushed for far too long.
While I agree that my sex has been dominated over for far too long and still is, as my friend put it to me, we can’t put others down to get to the top. There will never be peace unless we, meaning not just women, but every person, demand our rights without throwing someone under a bus. We need to make clear what needs to change to meet the standards of living happily.
So feminism isn’t a word I would use to describe what I feel, because it is too congested right now. There are too many voices contesting for its use. We're going through a phase in language history in which the meaning of a word is being established. Until maybe thirty years down the line when the meaning of feminism is more clear, then we can use it. Until then, there is no point in being a feminist until you can be sure what the word means. Why call yourself something if no one knows what it is?
Maybe the word I’m looking for is simpler than that. Maybe something that’s already been around, but needs to spread in a better way.
I think I’ve found the word.
I think it’s equality.
