As a female feminist, I tend to be in utter shock when another female does not agree with many of my feminist views. A male not agreeing with my views is typical and expected and I am even shocked when a male does agree. However, I came to a crossroads when my best friend called me out for our differing views. She believes that feminism is too radical; she believes that feminism is not needed in today’s society. When she finally voiced this opinion to me after years of friendship, with me never really knowing her stance, I came to a fork in the road. I could either take it one way to fight her on it and convince her of all the reasons we need feminism in 2017, or I could suck it up and just accept.
A problem I see that many feminists face is that we cannot get the right people to listen to us and respect us. People assume what they think they know about feminism, but never truly take the time to listen.
I want to state right now that the type of feminism I am talking about is the equality for all genders, even if the equality does not benefit us females at times. Different feminists have different types of feminism they agree with.
Sometimes we just need to suck it up and accept it. I do not mean accept it as in taking our raised fists out of the air and accepting defeat. I mean we need to accept that we are not going to reach everyone, and over reacting and shoving our opinions down someone’s throat for disagreeing is going to get us nowhere.
That leads to the question of what are we to do? Because not only do we have males who vehemently disagree with anything a feminist has to say, we have females who see nothing wrong with the world and are not trying to change it. If we could accept that they exist, we can further our reach and be able to change the world.
We need to learn to accept women of all different shapes and sizes and views. So many times we are caught judging and bashing other women on social media, behind closed doors, and in our minds. Learning to love each other for their differences and educating about those differences, when acceptable, can lead to a better world where we, as feminists, can accomplish our goals and accept.
Accept that girl who is “too loose.” Accept that girl who is a prude. Accept that girl that is too peppy or too antisocial. Accept that girl’s curves and that girl’s slim figure. Accept that girl who thinks feminists are nuts and that men have already let us do enough. Accept that girl who is a flaming feminist who wants to see a change in the court system, where an ill-fit mother does not get custody when the father is the best option.
My entire point is that we need to accept more. There are things in this world we cannot change. There are things that seem like they cannot change, like others’ opinions. But if we try a different approach, and let our actions speak for themselves, we can change those opinions and the world. Keep fighting the good fight!