Feminism and Sexism

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man.  When a woman gives her opinion, she's a *****"
-Bette Davis




To be a feminist is simply to feel a passion for the fight to the equality of women.  I wouldn't consider myself a feminist but I definitely feel strongly about this situation.


I was appalled after reading "Bad Feminist", an essay by Roxane Gay.  The opening paragraph was filled with society's thoughts and views regarding women.  "The right way to be a woman is to be thin, to wear make up... to be charming, polite, and unobtrusive... to bear children and stay home to raise them without complaint... to be modest, chaste, pious, and submissive." She ends the paragraph by saying that any woman who fails to meet each and every one of these requirements is a "bad woman".  This. Is. Absurd.


Women live their lives in the struggle to meet these requirements and ones alike.  Little do we want to admit that to be all of these and more is just too unobtainable and impossible.


Just like their are "rules" about how to be a proper women, there are also "rules" about how to be a proper feminist.  They must "...unilaterally decry the objectification of women, not cater to male gaze, hate men... focus on career...".  These rules, however, are as false as the ones for being a good woman.  There is not right or wrong way to be a woman and there is no right or wrong way to be a feminist.


Roxane Gay continues to announce in her article that she is ununiformed to these standards that society has set.  She states that her favorite color is pink, she reads Vogue magazines, loves dresses, and shaves her legs.  Although these things seem rather obvious to us, these are the things that feminists tend to struggle with.  They want to stick up for their beliefs yet they are still just women.  They are still human.  They do not want to fit into the box that society tries to tell them to be in.


She also states that because of all of these things, that she is a bad feminist.  She is not, in fact, a bad feminist at all.  She believes in what she believes in and she chooses not to stay in this same box.  I admire her determination and courage.


As mentioned in a previous blog post, the idea of SCHWAMP is extremely prevalent in these circumstances.  The rich, white men tend to have power- especially over women.  They like to tell us what to do and how to do it but we are independent as well.  But we have opinions and we have knowledge.


Let us not shy away from feminism due to its label.  We deserve equality with men.  There is no reason why we should not.