As the Oxford Dictionary defines it, a feminist is an advocate or supporter of the rights and equality of women.
Supporter and advocate when it comes to the rights and equality of women. Read that again.
In today’s society, feminism is frowned upon. Hated, even. The once-popular agenda that was pushed all over the world to ensure women’s rights is now despised by many. How and why did this hatred start? We have to start from the beginning.
The first initial stage of feminism began in July 1848 in the United States with the Seneca Falls Convention (the first women’s rights convention in the U.S.). 300 people attended this in order to command women’s equality and suffrage. This convention was organized by two women: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. This movement initiated a 70-year struggle for women’s voting rights. By 1913, feminism was a household term in the U.S. In 1920, the 19th Amendment was set in stone, granting women the right to vote.
But women were not completely equal to men when it came to rights after they were granted the right to vote. In March 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment was passed and then sent to the states for ratification. It unfortunately failed to be ratified by the required 38 states before the 1982 deadline, which led to its legal status and adoption into the Constitution unresolved.
Women have been fighting for hundreds of years for their rights, and for what? Why are men superior to us? Why do they get the freedom we do not have? Even in the 21st century, women are still fighting the battle for equality. Roe v. Wade was decided on Jan. 22, 1973. With this, the Constitution of the United States protected the right of women who were pregnant to decide to have an abortion if they wanted to.
Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24, 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The final decision was 6-3, which ended 50 years of protection for abortion rights, leaving it up to individual states to decide.
Shortly after this was overturned, a ten-year-old girl in Ohio became a victim of rape. She was six weeks pregnant and ineligible for an abortion in the state of Ohio. She then traveled to Indiana, desperate for an abortion procedure to be done. Caitlin Bernard is the name of the woman who performed the abortion on the girl, ultimately saving her childhood.
She was ten years old, probably in fifth grade. Why must young girls and women suffer at the hands of men putting laws on our bodies? How many more fights need to be fought?
In elementary school, I remember standing up to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at 9:15 a.m. “With liberty and justice for all.” I was proud to say those words as a child because I believed them. I did not know how restrictive the government was when it came to the rights of women. Maybe I should have known that there was no such thing as complete equality, but I was just a kid.
So why is feminism frowned upon in today’s society? It is about the equality for women, after all. So why do so many people hate it today?
People have twisted feminism into a man-hating, victimizing self-narrative, and accusing all men of being bad. Men have turned into the root of all of our problems, according to modern-day feminism. This is not what feminism was supposed to be. Most people today would say it is no longer about equality, but rather female superiority.
I asked my boyfriend a couple of months ago if he was a feminist. He looked at me and scoffed. “No?” he said. His tone almost accusatory. I wondered why that was his answer, but after hearing him explain, I realized why he did not want to identify himself as one. The misandry that follows modern-day feminism is concerning because that was not what this was initially supposed to be about. It was supposed to be about equality, not supremacy.
Not all men are inherently bad. Yes, there are a lot of bad ones out there, but it is not all of them. I have been hurt by men countless times. Sexually assaulted, harassed, verbally abused, fallen victim of the dangers of a man when he drinks too much alcohol. I know why women dislike men, but it is not fair to the good few men we have out in the world.
For example, my father, a great man whom I have always felt safe around and never in danger, has made me always know that not all men are bad. Ever since I was three years old, men have scared me as I have constantly been hurt by them, but after living for over eighteen years, there are ones out there that are truly not evil.
Such as one of my male friends who always walks me back to my dorm when I am with him, who offers his coat to me when I am cold. Those are not the actions of someone bad. Or maybe my other friend who offers to go to the store with me so I feel safe and not alone. Then there is my boyfriend, who eats dinner with me nearly every night, so I do not get in my head about food.
If all men are bad, then how do these ones exist? I am unsure as to whether any of them would identify themselves as feminists, but that is fair. With how feminism has been shaped today, why would they say they are one? So they can become misandrists when they are men themselves? It is time to bring back the true meaning of feminism, but it seems nobody wants to try to fix it.
I identify as a feminist, but not as a misandrist. I feel unsafe with men, but not all men. I do not hate them all, even though many have screwed me over. I stand with equality for all.