By Chelsea Fisher
eSomethin Editor-In-Chief
When a lot of people hear the word feminism they roll their eyes, and I bet half of you reading this just did. I’m here to explain the actual meaning of the word feminism and not the warped connotation so many people know. Feminism is like a lot of things, where a minority of people takes it too far and ruins it for everyone else.
The actual definition of feminism is one of equality. That no matter what your gender, sexuality, identity, race, religion, class, or handicap is that you are no better and no worse than another human being- that the only thing that can define you is yourself.
Many people get annoyed with feminism by saying that it is no longer needed, or that it is misandry- both of these are extremely ignorant. By saying that all women are seen as equal to men is just plain false. Women around the world are being sold, trafficked, raped, married off, virtually enslaved, and cast out for something as “taboo” as menstruating. And along the lines of misandry (women seeing themselves as the superior gender) women trying to put themselves on the same playing field as men is equality, not hating men. Women who fought for our right to vote or to do things like fight in wars were told they were crazy and to just stop.
Feminism is about the entire world. Just because something might be “OK” here doesn’t mean it’s safe elsewhere. People are killed for being gay or bisexual, people are killed for being a certain religion, women who deny their husbands can be beaten or have acid thrown in their face, people are killed for being transgender, women are banished to sheds when they get their periods, young girls in France have been suspended for wearing their hijabs, sweatshops work people nearly to death, people in first world countries like America extort illegal immigrants with threats of reporting them, young girls are being married off by their families, the Keystone pipeline has leaked hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil on a Native American reservation in South Dakota, Flint Michigan still doesn’t have clean water, even here in America we call people femi-nazis or grammar-nazis but call actual literal nazis “alt rights.”
Some issues that I am personally more educated on include rape culture, human trafficking, climate change, LGBT rights and representation, gun control, period taboos, species endangerment and poaching, homelessness, catcalling, slut shaming, gender roles, mental illnesses, body shaming, cultural appropriation, immigration, DACA, Islamophobia, the prison system, famines, racism, poaching, double standards, colorism, homophobia, childhood vaccinations, domestic abuse, health care, education, transphobia, diversity and inclusion, Eurocentric beauty standards and so many more.
People always ask me “why are you so up to date on politics” or “why would you even want to know that” regarding current events, like I want to read and study and report on some of the worst of humanity but I don’t really have a choice in the matter because people around the world are literally dying and someone needs to do something to help.
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