This is what a Feminist Looks like.
I come from a long line of strong women and yes I am a feminist. There I said it. I am not ashamed, embarrassed, nor scared of that title, on the contrary I'm incredibly proud of it. The fact that I want to see myself being treated better by the world at large reflects how much I value myself, the fact that I'm determined to see better for every woman and girl on this planet, makes me extraordinary.
My journey into defining myself as a feminist probably started when I was five. It was around that time, that seeing my mom in an abusive relationship with my dad, that I began to see that the only thing I really wanted to do with my life was to help empower women and girls. Yes, at five I was very well aware that being a girl meant a multitude of things all of them bad. It was around that time that I also decided I wanted to be a doctor, so that I could help people who were sick. I didn't know if this was possible, I thought it was one of those jobs girls weren't allowed to have seeing that I had never seen a female doctor. I remember feeling scared when I told my parents of this idea, thinking they would immediately tell me this wasn't possible, I was surprised when they instead encouraged me to follow that path.
I sometimes feel that the more empowered you are, the more you realize how oppressed you are. I think coming from a long line of strong progressive women has cemented that in me. My mom got both her BA and her Masters from Berkeley, when all of her female classmates had decided to get married and have kids. During this time she traveled all over the world by herself going to well over 80 countries at a time when women barely traveled across our own country on their own. She once told me a story about how she made friends with a tribe full of cannibals who were very nice to her, my mom has a way with people. My mom's grandma on my Mexican side of the family, was the first women to attend the University of Arizona. It was right after the college had opened and they needed students, while she only lasted 3 days mostly because she just wanted to get married, I still thing it was a start, in carving out the line of women who would follow after her. My grandma on my dad's side emigrated her from Sweden, she fled the country during World War 2, however she was college educated and an Opera singer/career woman. Maybe that was more strange during that time in this country, than say in Sweden, but it certainly was nowhere near the norm for the majority of women on this planet.
I never understood why being called a feminist was a bad thing. Although I definitely was called one on a daily basis, by a male colleague back in college. I was the only woman, working amongst a group of men, and every time I would try to weigh in on anything, I would immediately be called either a "feminist" a "hippie" or a "liberal" before I could even get a few words out. The ringleader of the group was someone who not only proudly talked about being a conservative republican, but who also proudly talked about having a confederate flag, we can conclude that there was definitely a lack of any sort of sex life in his world. It did hurt me though, not because I thought it was a dirty word, but I didn't get why it had become one. I just want equality and respect, how does that make me a bad person?
The point is it doesn't. I feel that our generation has shied away from the word, because us having rights, or being angry, or speaking out and using our voices, has been portrayed as being a bad thing. It won't make guys like you, in fact no man will ever want you, and the most important thing is to be desired by men, any man at that. Where are all of these negative connotations coming from? Well from men, of course! Men who watched as women began to demand better, became scared shitless, and saw degrading this word as a way to stop women from fighting. When you think of the word feminist you think of "a hairy girl, who hates men, and doesn't shower and is probably a lesbian." Lesbians are already seen as a bad thing, except when its in the context of the male fantasy, and the other characteristics are that of someone who is undesirable to men, and all of them are women who have rejected feeding into the idea that they are only playthings for men, doing so by not living up to the perfect barbie stereotype that has been pushed on women. In the case of lesbians, while no one chooses their own sexuality and is thus born a certain way, something a lot of people still don't seem to understand, she in the mind of a man who hates women, represents the complete rejection of the male kind, and even she should want him. Because after all its all about men, men all the time.
If women aren't chasing after men for approval, but thus looking inside of ourselves for it and realizing we can be happy without some guy constantly degrading us, and even going so far as to completely removing ourselves from the entire male structure and creating our own businesses and our own women friendly environments, than boy world would completely crumble. Men would no longer have any power over us, or over our destinies, and in their minds they would than cease to exist. This was the real fear that was brought out during the start of the women's rights movement, and the real fear that still exists as the men around us watch us become more and more powerful, creating the need for a backlash.
The truth is that women don't need men, but men do need women. If I want to have a family, I can just wander to the local sperm bank, or even the local bar for that matter, and make it happen. If a guy wants a family, good luck trying to accomplish that without a woman. Even if you adopt or go through a surrogate, which is very difficult or expensive for single straight men (I'm not even going to touch on any discrimination directed towards adoption by gay male couples or single gay men, all of which will be fixed shortly when I become president) you still need a woman to create those kids in the first place. At the end of the day you as a man will always need women. I don't need a man, but it sure as hell would be nice to live in a world where I wanted men, because it was better with them around and in my life, than better without them. Because of this, as a straight man you need to work a 1,000 times harder to have a woman in the first place, the problem is the vast majority of straight men don't.
Men need to just realize that women are the ones who have the ability to create life, and your job is to support us. You can start supporting women and thus joining our team which will make you very valuable as a man and make women greatly appreciate your existence on this planet, by also becoming a feminist, and standing up and fighting for equality for women :) Than you too can proudly walk around telling everyone that "this is what a feminist looks like!"
My journey into defining myself as a feminist probably started when I was five. It was around that time, that seeing my mom in an abusive relationship with my dad, that I began to see that the only thing I really wanted to do with my life was to help empower women and girls. Yes, at five I was very well aware that being a girl meant a multitude of things all of them bad. It was around that time that I also decided I wanted to be a doctor, so that I could help people who were sick. I didn't know if this was possible, I thought it was one of those jobs girls weren't allowed to have seeing that I had never seen a female doctor. I remember feeling scared when I told my parents of this idea, thinking they would immediately tell me this wasn't possible, I was surprised when they instead encouraged me to follow that path.
I sometimes feel that the more empowered you are, the more you realize how oppressed you are. I think coming from a long line of strong progressive women has cemented that in me. My mom got both her BA and her Masters from Berkeley, when all of her female classmates had decided to get married and have kids. During this time she traveled all over the world by herself going to well over 80 countries at a time when women barely traveled across our own country on their own. She once told me a story about how she made friends with a tribe full of cannibals who were very nice to her, my mom has a way with people. My mom's grandma on my Mexican side of the family, was the first women to attend the University of Arizona. It was right after the college had opened and they needed students, while she only lasted 3 days mostly because she just wanted to get married, I still thing it was a start, in carving out the line of women who would follow after her. My grandma on my dad's side emigrated her from Sweden, she fled the country during World War 2, however she was college educated and an Opera singer/career woman. Maybe that was more strange during that time in this country, than say in Sweden, but it certainly was nowhere near the norm for the majority of women on this planet.
I never understood why being called a feminist was a bad thing. Although I definitely was called one on a daily basis, by a male colleague back in college. I was the only woman, working amongst a group of men, and every time I would try to weigh in on anything, I would immediately be called either a "feminist" a "hippie" or a "liberal" before I could even get a few words out. The ringleader of the group was someone who not only proudly talked about being a conservative republican, but who also proudly talked about having a confederate flag, we can conclude that there was definitely a lack of any sort of sex life in his world. It did hurt me though, not because I thought it was a dirty word, but I didn't get why it had become one. I just want equality and respect, how does that make me a bad person?
The point is it doesn't. I feel that our generation has shied away from the word, because us having rights, or being angry, or speaking out and using our voices, has been portrayed as being a bad thing. It won't make guys like you, in fact no man will ever want you, and the most important thing is to be desired by men, any man at that. Where are all of these negative connotations coming from? Well from men, of course! Men who watched as women began to demand better, became scared shitless, and saw degrading this word as a way to stop women from fighting. When you think of the word feminist you think of "a hairy girl, who hates men, and doesn't shower and is probably a lesbian." Lesbians are already seen as a bad thing, except when its in the context of the male fantasy, and the other characteristics are that of someone who is undesirable to men, and all of them are women who have rejected feeding into the idea that they are only playthings for men, doing so by not living up to the perfect barbie stereotype that has been pushed on women. In the case of lesbians, while no one chooses their own sexuality and is thus born a certain way, something a lot of people still don't seem to understand, she in the mind of a man who hates women, represents the complete rejection of the male kind, and even she should want him. Because after all its all about men, men all the time.
If women aren't chasing after men for approval, but thus looking inside of ourselves for it and realizing we can be happy without some guy constantly degrading us, and even going so far as to completely removing ourselves from the entire male structure and creating our own businesses and our own women friendly environments, than boy world would completely crumble. Men would no longer have any power over us, or over our destinies, and in their minds they would than cease to exist. This was the real fear that was brought out during the start of the women's rights movement, and the real fear that still exists as the men around us watch us become more and more powerful, creating the need for a backlash.
The truth is that women don't need men, but men do need women. If I want to have a family, I can just wander to the local sperm bank, or even the local bar for that matter, and make it happen. If a guy wants a family, good luck trying to accomplish that without a woman. Even if you adopt or go through a surrogate, which is very difficult or expensive for single straight men (I'm not even going to touch on any discrimination directed towards adoption by gay male couples or single gay men, all of which will be fixed shortly when I become president) you still need a woman to create those kids in the first place. At the end of the day you as a man will always need women. I don't need a man, but it sure as hell would be nice to live in a world where I wanted men, because it was better with them around and in my life, than better without them. Because of this, as a straight man you need to work a 1,000 times harder to have a woman in the first place, the problem is the vast majority of straight men don't.
Men need to just realize that women are the ones who have the ability to create life, and your job is to support us. You can start supporting women and thus joining our team which will make you very valuable as a man and make women greatly appreciate your existence on this planet, by also becoming a feminist, and standing up and fighting for equality for women :) Than you too can proudly walk around telling everyone that "this is what a feminist looks like!"
