#22: The Real Definition of "Feminism"

For awhile, people were totally onboard with feminism, but now people have twisted the term, thinking it means something completely different, and even some women have abandoned the cause. People now associate feminism with the idea that women > men, and now feminists have been referred to as "feminazis," and "feminist" is seen as a dirty word. Let me just clear something up right here and now: feminism means and has always meant that women = men. And that is it. Please don't abandon or warp this cause.

A lot of people don't mind abandoning feminism, because women are, for the most part, equal to men these days, at least in this country. Yes, we have the right to vote now. We can hold jobs and choose whether or not we have kids. Yes, we have made a lot of progress, but we are not finished yet. The wage gap between men and women who work the exact same job still exists. To this day, 1 in 4 women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. Many people fight to rid us of our right to our own bodies. We are the ones expected to drop out of school, give up our education and our dreams, and stay home with the kids when we get pregnant. And if we have a kid with someone who decides not to stick around, we are almost always the one who ends up getting stuck as the single parent without any help. We are taught to be ashamed of our bodies, as men objectify us, while men don't bear the same burden. We still need feminism.

And even if we didn't need it in this country, there are many countries out there that do. There are countries in which women have no rights. These women are not allowed to hold jobs, get an education, or vote. Some women in other countries aren't even allowed to express their own opinions. Sex trafficking is a huge problem in many places in Europe and Africa, and I'm sure it's a problem in many other places. So the world needs feminim, even if you don't think you need it in your life.

And if you're a man, guess what? You need feminism too. In our culture, it is seen as lesser to be associated with femininity. If a boy does anything "girly," his friends will bully him and call him a "little girl." If a man dresses or talks on the feminine side, he is ridiculed for not adhering to gender norms, while a woman dressing or talking a little man-like isn't usually seen as a problem. If a man sides with a woman on the subject of sexism, he is seen as "weak" and a "doormat." The other day, I read some comments on Facebook where this guy was saying some really sexist things. I said something about being happy that I'm in a relationship with a man who respects women and treats me as an equal, to which he replied that it sounds like my boyfriend is a weak little boy who lets his girlfriend control him. Feminism seeks to eradicate the world of this stigma that it is, for whatever reason, lesser to be female or feminine. Guys, you need feminism just as much as women do, so you can live your lives peacefully without having to worry if you're acting or dressing too feminine-like.

I don't even know who started this new twisted version of feminism, an idea that women are better than men or should be treated better than men. Maybe it was one group of extremist women who asserted that, and it turned everyone against feminism. Or maybe no one ever actually did that, and a man just decided that that is what feminism always was about, to begin with, and that caught on. I have no clue, but that's not what feminism is, and I don't know anyone who believes that women > men. We need to make sure not to abandon the cause, because it is very important.

 It's called subliminal messaging.