Do you believe women are human beings?
If you answered yes, congratulations! You're a feminist!
Unfortunately, the definition of feminism has gotten lost over the years. There are people in the world who believe that women are superior and should be treated as such. That is not feminism; that is female supremacy. Feminism is the (apparently crazy) idea that women are people and should be treated as such.
I read several posts on International Women's day about how men ought to be more appreciated, and there is no International Men's Day (there actually is -- it's Nov. 19). It was infuriating. The fact that International Women's Day caused controversy shows exactly why we, as a global community, need it. Women have been systematically oppressed for thousands of years, starting with the development of formal societies. And while significant progress has been made, we still have a long way to go.
On International Women's Day, somebody asked me why we needed the holiday. Appalled, I responded with:
"Because I went to high school with racist, sexist uninformed boys taking time out of my education to talk about how it ought to be a sin for mixed race people, like myself, to exist; but if I dare show a bra strap, I am a menace and distraction to the school and am sent home. Because there are 45 states in which I cannot purchase sanitary products, things that determine my overall health, without paying almost 10 percent extra on it. Because I am told, as a woman, that my healthcare does not matter. Because I met a young woman who was shot in the face for wanting an education. And I wish I could say that these were things of the past and that the world has moved past these things, but all of these things happened in the past five years. I cannot walk out the door without being harassed by someone in one way or another based on something as trivial and out-of-my-control as my body. People consider me "high yellow" even though I am more Chinese than African American. I don't want to be held above men. I don't even want to be treated like a man. I just don't want to be repeatedly disrespected simply because I am not a man."
These are only the more gentle things that happen to me and women everywhere. When I go out in public, I wear my class ring on my left hand so that strange men do not try to approach me and solicit information. I am terrified of what might happen if I just tell a stranger "no," because I have heard horror stories of what happened to women who did simply that. I was raised to believe that, because I am female, I should be more worried about how I look and am perceived, or about not being a distraction to someone else's success, than about making the most of my education and trying to determine how I fit into society. To traditionalists, my place is at home with the children. However, to realistically sustain a family, whether I am married or not, I will have to work in one way or another.
Another issue facing women is women. There are, in general, three types of women: those who are feminists, those who are female supremacists and those who are not involved and do not voice their opinions.
Female supremacists take feminism to an extreme and dangerous level, often times unnecessarily. They believe all institutions are an attempt to enslave or abuse women, and fight to have them, along with the concept of gender altogether, abolished. Sheila Cronin, the leader of the feminist organization NOW, was quoted as saying, "Since marriage constitutes slavery for women, it is clear that the women’s movement must concentrate on attacking this institution. Freedom for women cannot be won without the abolition of marriage."
Ti-Grace Atkinson shares a similar belief: "The institution of sexual intercourse is anti-feminist." It is appalling to me to think that there are women who believe the basic, biological need for procreation, shared by every living organism on the planet, is rooted in opposition to a relatively recent concept. While I will not tell these people that their opinions are wrong and invalid, I cannot agree with them on wanting to destroy age-old institutions. Some even go as far as to wanting to, almost entirely, eliminate the male half of the population: "The proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10 percent of the human race." That's Sally Miller Gearhart in "The Future – If There Is One – Is Female." Not only is that completely impractical, but it will endanger the human species as a whole, narrowing the gene pool and resulting in the decay of the human race.
An issue that proves that there are many trials facing feminism is body image; in particular, the Kim Kardashian selfie that occurred recently, the leaking of nude pictures of other famous women and body-positive pictures. Kardashian's selfie drew a lot of attention because she willingly posted a picture of herself nude on Instagram. Many people told her she was setting a bad example for women, that she was a whore or a slut for willingly doing this and even that she had set feminism back decades.
However, when a woman who is overweight, or who does not fit the society-created image of beauty does the same thing, she is a hero, empowering women everywhere, making a statement, propelling feminism. Personally, I wanted to congratulate Kardashian on getting her body back after having her second child -- it’s pretty impressive. That causes an issue for me. As a person who is not overweight, I understand that if I post a bikini pic, I will be subjected to societal shaming from female supremacists, and those who choose to then voice their opinions because my decisions do not agree with their views.
Thirdly, when the several pictures of female celebrities were leaked, people found the pictures attractive and supported them. According to these observations, the nude female body is only attractive when it is online against their will, or when it is not that of a Victoria’s Secret model, being that “plus-sized” models claimed their rightful spot in magazines, fashion and advertisements.
I have so much more I could say about how women ought to be respected by everyone and how I should not have to be afraid every time I leave my house. I could talk about the fact that my little brother understands that when a girl in his class says she does not want to do something, he respects that and does not get upset, while grown men cannot seem to understand that.
I have hope that, sometime soon, the need for feminism will be moot, because the idea of disrespecting anyone based solely on their gender will be unthinkable. Attaining this will be difficult -- it will require Congress, major CEOs, those who don’t view women as people and those who view women as more than people, to all view women as people. Once all people are treated like people, then it will it be easier to live as a global community.
