I'm a feminist, and I don't put down men. I'm a feminist, and I don't get mad if men open the door for me. I'm a feminist, and I dont like anyone paying for me, whatever gender they may be.
A friend of mine shared an Odyssey article that proudly proclaimed she wasn't a feminist, that this is the best time in the history of the world to be born a female, that feminists claim women are the dominant biological sex.
There are a lot of problems here. First, feminism isn't about putting down men. It is about elevating women to the status of men. Feminists do not say women are the dominant sex. Feminism isn't about putting down others. It's about equality. It's about how the first human settlement was one that didn't have gender restrictions. I don't care that you don't want to get tackled by a 200-pound linebacker. I care that a woman who does, who has the capability to outperform a male, can't do it if she wishes to. So, no, this isn't the best time to be born female, and honestly, that depends a lot on where you're born, what color your skin is and what class you are.
So, why are you so passionate about this? Why did you read that article and immediately drop everything you were doing to type a response? There's two reasons.
I want to be in the infantry. I want to join the Army as an infantry woman and be respected among my mostly male peers. But there are people, such as the author of that article, who would not have it because I happen to have been born female. Someone brought up the same NFL argument that she did. "Could you imagine a female being able to drag a 200-pound casualty out of harm's way?" Can every woman do that? No. Am I asking you to lower standards to let me in? No. But if I can do that, if I can show you that I am a useful member to an infantry platoon, why on earth would you not let me in? And why does no one think there are also men who can't drag 200 pounds out of harm's way?
My parents both come from families that have strong, independent women. I like to think I am one, too. They've brought me up to fend for myself. They brought me up to mow the lawn. They support my weightlifting, my Army future. They've told me I can be anything I want, that I should ignore glass ceilings and just do what makes me happy and successful.
I don't need to put down men. But if I open a door for you, you and your testosterone will walk straight through that door with a polite "thank you." You will not stand there and wait for me to walk through. Feminism is when males don't feel threatened by females actually having power. Feminism is when 50 perfect of CEOs are women because we are qualified (and more women are getting higher education than men), not the measly 4 percent we have now. Four percent. You're telling me only 20 out of 500 CEOs are women, and you're OK with that? Calling yourself anything but a feminist fractures a movement that is not only trying to help women, but men, too.
