Feminism: It Still Matters

Yesterday in my creative writing class, a disturbing thing happened. We were in the middle of workshopping an essay, and the piece happened to touch upon some feminist concepts. My teacher asked the class (which is made up of 8 girls) if we considered ourselves feminists. Only two of us raised our hands: me and the girl who had written the essay. My teacher's mouth dropped open, and I felt the exact same way.

I've considered myself to be a feminist since I knew what the word meant. Before that, I just thought of myself as a strong woman, as capable and deserving as any man. I always just assumed all other girls felt the same. Turns out, that's not the case.

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Feminism means you believe in equality between men and women. It doesn't mean you hate men. It doesn't mean you believe women are better than men. It doesn't mean you don't shave your armpits and refuse to date guys and are super ugly and obnoxious. It just means you believe all human beings should be treated equally, and that everyone on this planet deserves to be shown respect. Not a weird concept at all, right?

So how come so many young women shy away from this word?

I worry that girls refuse to own the word because of negative connotations, or because they're afraid they'll be judged. Many girls I talk to believe in everything feminism is about, but when it comes down to it they end up saying, "...but I'm not a feminist." I want to be like, it's not a bad thing! You should be proud to call yourself one!!

Another thing I sometimes hear is that feminism is no longer important because men and women are already treated equally. To that I simply say false. If you are not affected by sexism in your life, you are very lucky...but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And until there really is equality in the world, I don't think we should stop fighting for it.

What about you? How do you feel about the word feminist?



Editorial Intern

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