Recently, I’ve seen a number of articles going around about feminism, especially since the occurrence of The Women’s March on Washington. I’ve seen posts ridiculing women wearing labia (because female genitals are taboo in our society), insinuating that any woman there was just a mad she couldn’t get a date and even worse things. People are afraid of feminism: they don’t understand it. They want to believe that feminists just hate men; men do not want to lose their power over women. All of these contribute to a culture in which I, and many others who consider themselves feminist, constantly have to defend ourselves for wanting equal rights across all the genders. I am here to set the record on feminism straight: this is what feminism means to me.
Let me preface this by saying I have been extremely privileged. I am a white female. I was able to attend a private, all-girls high school. I was incredibly fortunate in that my high school was incredibly diverse: I attended school with students from all over the globe, many cultures, many economic classes, many sexualities and gender identities. I was fortunate enough to have teachers who appreciated this diversity and helped us, as students, learn to think critically about the world we live in. I had never questioned my role as a feminist until recently.
To me, feminism is a lot of things. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, feminism is “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.” It is not the idea that women are superior to men. Feminism is questioning why working women in 2015 made only 79.6% of what men did on average. 1 It is fighting to right that and fighting even harder for women of color who make even less on the dollar.
Feminists are not “pro-abortion,” and in fact, many of them are pro-life. A common philosophy across most feminists is the idea of being pro-choice: every woman has the right to decide for themselves because it is her body. Being pro-choice does not mean that you personally would have an abortion, but that you recognize you cannot choose for anyone else. Many feminists believe in affordable access to women’s health services through organizations such as Planned Parenthood. They believe in access to contraceptives and condoms. I believe that if the government is going to subsidize medication for erectile dysfunction that they should also subsidize birth control.
Feminism is questioning why feminine hygiene products, such as pads and tampons, are deemed “luxury” in some states and are therefore subject to sales tax. It is calling attention to the stigmas surrounding menstruation and breastfeeding. Why is it okay for underwear ads featuring mostly naked women to be prominent in television and computer ads and plastered up in the mall, but a woman cannot feed her baby in public? Why are we scandalized at the idea that a breast is actually NOT a sexual organ? And menstruation…be honest. How many times have you, as a woman, been asked if you were PMSing because you expressed anger or discomfort with a situation? I know that if I had a dollar for every time I heard something along those lines, I could pay off my student debt and live a life of luxury without ever working. And what about working? Why are men who stay home to take care of their children ridiculed and women who work are told they are “bad mothers” for not spending all their time with their child? The 1950s called: they want their rhetoric back.
Many people like to say that American women make a mockery of feminism, and that women in other countries have things so much worse. I won’t deny that they do. What is wrong with noticing injustices in your community and trying to change them, while working to improve conditions abroad? I believe that feminists have the responsibility to fight for women abroad: we have the responsibility to promote equal access to education. We have the responsibility to advocate and educate the world for the women in countries where it is dangerous for them to do so on their own. We can support women in other countries while making progress here in The United States of America.
Feminists are not just angry women. Feminists span every race, every gender, every sexuality, and every walk of life. We are not bitter or “salty”, we are just trying to put women and men on equal footing. Women made up 50.8% of our country in 2015. When we advocate for women, we are advocating for half of our population to be equal to the other. When everyone has equal rights, our country can truly progress and prosper. Feminists really just want everyone to have an equal opportunity to thrive and succeed.