I was born to two equally strong people born and raised in Upstate New York. My whole life I was taught to stand up for myself and what I believe in; to work hard and play hard; to not let people run over you. I’m proud of how I was brought up. But otherwise I have been taught by society to keep my mouth shut and to let the men get everything. The other day I had a firsthand experience with someone who doesn’t understand feminism and had no desire to be educated on it.
According to Merriam-Webster, Feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights. Let me repeat: Feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights. So imagine my surprise when I was having a completely open and civil conversation with a male, since you know we’re equal (in my mind at least), and he assumes that all women “are beneath him”.
Yeah, you read that right. Apparently we AREN’T equals. I asked why he felt that way, maybe he had a girl who was super mean to him and now he’s extremely bitter. When I got my response let’s just say it was Rated R for red flags being thrown everywhere; I was appalled. Why have women who just want to be equal to men been called terrible words, expected to smile and thank the man that’s catcalling her, and to accept when men are rude to them?
Feminism is deeper than it seems. Ever since the 19th century women have been fighting for our right to vote, to have reproductive rights, to have equal pay, and be considered human beings. Women have been fighting for all of these rights and we’re going to let some Donald Trump wannabe try to take that away? I’m proud at how far women have come as well as how far my peers and I have come. Everyday I’m surrounded by strong and empowered females who have and will continue to make history on this campus, heck maybe in this country and world.
No, we aren’t any bad word you can think of. We don’t expect everything to be easy and handed to us on a silver platter. Women know that nothing in life isn’t easy, but there are plenty of females in the army, in politics, and in the business world (all of which are considered male-dominated). So for the ones that think we can’t do it all, why do we have Hillary Clinton running for president?