When I was a little girl I always stood out in elementary school. I was loud. I had a lot of friends who were boys and loved to speak up in class. I think that the six or seven year old versions of ourselves are very pure representations of who we actually are as people. When I was seven, I was opinionated. I sought knowledge and read lots of books. I wanted to know the answers to all of the questions that ran through my little brain. And I made a lot of fart jokes.
However, I started to notice that people told me that there was a certain way that I had to do things and a certain way that I had to behave. I couldn’t sit Indian style while wearing a dress. I had to brush my hair everyday so that it looked pretty. It was weird that I preferred to paint or play with trains during playtime. I couldn’t joke about bodily functions because it was “unladylike.” Even in elementary school I thought that this was strange. What does it really mean to be a girl? I felt wholly and completely like a girl. I loved some of the steroypical girly things, like wearing pretty dresses and picking out outfits for all my dolls. But why couldn’t I love superheros and trains at the same time?
These questions rattled around in my head until one day I heard about Gloria Steinem. Gloria Steinem is such a cool, awesome lady. She wrote an article in 1962 about how women should not have to choose between children and a fulfilling career. She also went undercover as a Playboy Bunny to write about the ways that the women were mistreated. I began to do research about feminism and it blew me away. I realized that I was a feminist.
“A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.” – Gloria Steinem
Now is such an amazing time to be woman. Never before in history have women been able to have both children and careers. Now we can actually enjoy having sex and not have to worry about getting diseases. Now we have rights and control over our bodies and we can decide whether or not to get pregnant. We can live alone and financially support ourselves if we want, and we can also get married and raise our children. Both of these noble, amazing things. We now have the right to choose our own paths in life and have our voices heard.
“There’s just as many different kinds of feminism as there are women in the world”- Kathleen Hanna
To me, feminism is the fact that I was raised by a single mother who put herself through undergraduate and graduate school while working and raising a child. She did a phenomenal job raising me, and she also graduated at the top her class. To me, feminism is the fact that there are so many amazing women in leadership positions at UCF, including our president. To me, feminism is getting to write about my opinions and have them published on an awesome website like Her Campus. To me, feminism means loving and supporting my boyfriend, and having him love and support me in return.
Every woman has her own version of feminism, but to me, feminism does not mean that women are better than men. Feminism means men and women having equal rights and privileges. I don’t mind if my boyfriend holds the door for me, because sometimes I hold the door for him. I wear makeup and try to look good because that makes me confident and happy. Feminism is supposed to mean the point of view of men is just as important as the point of view of women. Feminism is about equal rights for all people, and making sure that everybody’s voice is heard.
“I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely.”- Simone de Beauvoir