Today, I’m going to discuss an issue that can be divisive. Please don’t leave, though! This will be fun AND informative! Hooray for learning!
See, I think feminism has gotten a bad rap over the past few decades, and I’d like to address the misinformation floating around out there (I’m looking at you, Fox News!). People of a certain stripe with a fun little agenda have gloried in blaming it for societal woes that really have very little to do with the movement itself, and very much to do with the need for a scapegoat and a way to put women back “in their place” – because ALL WOMEN are interchangeable beings who ALL want the same things from life.
The problem is, some women today feel like they don’t want to identify with feminism because they don’t want to seem like militant man-haters. Many women who work full-time only to return home and pull a second shift of diapering and meal preparation feel like the feminist movement cheated them. “I want to go back to the days when women were only expected to perform one job!” they wearily sigh. Other women feel like they can’t choose to forgo the workplace in favor of staying home with the children and still be a feminist.
Men feel like feminists are the type of women who would yell at them for holding the door open on a date, so they too eschew that label.
However! Before taking a stand on the issue, you should evaluate what feminism really means before pitching your tent in the anti-feminist camp. The below test, formulated by me, should accurately gauge your true level of belief in the feminist cause.
This is not just for the ladies, gentlemen! Men can be feminists, too – it doesn’t detract from masculinity one iota.
How to tell if you’re a feminist:
1. You believe a person has the right to vote, regardless of whether or not they have a penis
2. You believe a person has the right to own their own property, regardless of whether or not they have a penis
3. You believe that two equally qualified people should earn the same wage for performing the same job
4. You believe that a person has the right to work at a job to earn a living
5. You believe intelligence bears no relationship to gender
6. You believe it is not okay for a boss to pat his female employee on the ass at work.
7. Ditto her ________ (fill in the blank with any other body part)
8. You believe that rape is a bad thing
9. You believe that women are capable of enjoying sex
10. You believe it is not okay for a man to hit his wife
11. You believe a person has the right to an education
See, without feminism, none of these would be true in our world today. Some of them still aren’t true, they’re just goals to which society should still aspire.
The work of feminism is far from over, and now more than ever we need young men and women to don the cloak of feminism proudly.
I mean, unless you WANT to go back to the time when it was okay for your husband to smack you for being “too loud” whilst giving birth. Your call.
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Photo 1 Source, Photo 2 Source
