Yes, I Am a Feminist

In honor of Women's History Month...

Yes, I am a feminist. But no, I don't hate men. I try not to hate anybody. Okay no, that's a lie, I hate a lot of people. I should probably work on that.

Anyway, many people have manifested the wrong idea of feminism entirely. Some have labeled us as "feminazis" because we're the "nazis" of feminism. Feminism itself is explained as the idea that men AND women should be equal and have the same opportunities. Therefore, feminists aren't just fighting for women's rights, but they're fighting for all rights. Now, I can also agree that some women take it too far, but these are the women that have the wrong idea of what feminism really is.

There are a couple main focuses in feminism. Some being gender equality, justice, and the idea that women should not be shamed.

Gender equality focuses on equal opportunities between the sexes. Women are still fighting for their right to be heard in some environments. Our voices are overcome by men.

It's also a problem when we are teaching our daughters from a very young age that boys are mean to them because they like them. "Oh a boy hit you at school today? Yeah they just have a crush on you." What is that teaching? So when I'm an adult in a relationship and a man hits me I should look at that as a sign of love? Absolutely not! If you want to read more about this, click on the link below to read my article about domestic abuse.

Men can be feminists too. People believe that feminism is just for women but it's for men too. Feminists are fighting for men's rights too. Men are sick of hearing the terms "man up" or "grow a set" when they show any sign of emotion. This should never be the case. We are all human. We are all the same humans. We just have different genitals.

Justice focuses on the idea that women should not be to blame when they are raped. Too many times in the past women have been accused of being the reason they were raped because of how they were acting or what they were wearing. A 17-year-old girl took her own life after she was humiliated in the courtroom because they used the underwear she was wearing against her. As if because she was wearing a lace thong, that gave this 27-year-old permission to rape her.

This led to an uproar around the world. This didn't settle right with anyone.

Rape is a worldwide problem and rape culture are the aspects surrounding it. As defined by Google, "rape culture is a sociological concept for a setting in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality." Victim blaming is the first problem. This is usually the case of women being the victim but they are blamed for the clothes they were wearing. People may say, "Oh, well, she was asking for it." Based on the definition of rape, it's contradictory and just impossible to be asking for it. Another problem is trivializing the seriousness of sexual assault by simply saying, "Boys will be boys." This also overlaps with the idea of gender equality.

The "boys will be boys" saying is outdated. Women are shamed for posting "provocative" selfies on social media and tempting boys to engage. Instead of shaming girls, why don't we teach boys how to control their sexual aggression? Let's also address the idea that girls are constantly being told ways to prevent rape, but boys are never told to not do it.

Politicians have made the comment that God put the idea of rape in our heads so it's okay. So if I have the idea of murdering someone, I'm not going to get in trouble because God put the idea in my head? Yeah that's what I thought.

Something needs to change because as of right now, only three percent of rapists will ever serve a day in jail. Yet one in five women and one in 71 men reported being raped. This is an epidemic.

Not shaming women is pretty self-explanatory, but this focuses on their sexuality and biological structures. Too many times women are shamed for the fact that we have periods. That's a natural part of life and it shouldn't be some taboo thing to talk about. I could say the same thing about breast feeding in public. This is a process of nature. It should be looked at as something beautiful. The process of our bodies producing food for our young. The process alone is astounding. We should feel privileged to observe such beauty in our everyday lives. I once saw a post asking what if a child were to walk by and see a mom breastfeeding her baby? Well, simple answer to that is the child would continue walking and think nothing else about it because they would see a mom feeding her child. Children don't sexualize breasts. We learn to do that as we grow apparently. And if you think that any mom purposely chooses a public place to breastfeed her baby so she can seduce men, you're completely wrong. I can almost guarantee you that no mother is concerned about anything else other than feeding her child at that moment. They couldn't care less about your sexual impulses. People need to start realizing the biological purpose of this process instead of shaming mothers to the bathroom when they need to breastfeed.

Another problem in society today is the idea that women can't enjoy sex. Taking a look at society's stereotypes if a male sleeps with ten girls he's praised for his actions, if a female were to sleep with ten guys she'd be labeled "slut," "whore," "skank," "sleaze," etc. Let's stop the slut-shaming and embrace our sexuality. This goes for both girls and guys because I know plenty of girls that slut-shame other girls.