I can't say when I became a feminist because I honestly don't remember. The definition of feminist is: "a person that believes people should have equitable (fair) places in society regardless of their gender". (From this article) I think that is some one isn't a feminist, then they are sexist. That doesn't apply to those who have no idea what feminism is- it's about those who have declared that they are not. Feminist stand up for all women around the world. I can fight for equal pay in the U.S. and also fight for the marital rape to be illegal in India. (A more detailed explanation of feminism can be found here.)
Many people believe that feminist hate men, which is very untrue. Some feminists may also be misandrists, women who hate men, but that is not what feminism is. Sadly, they are the ones that are most heard and always linked to represent the feminist movement, Most feminists don't believe that women are superior- they believe that everyone is equal. Also, feminists don't blame every single man for the oppression of women. This also means that feminists don't believe that women are "victims". I am lucky because my parents and teachers have never treated me differently because I was a girl. But when I get older and start working, will I get paid less than a man? If nothing changes, then I most likely will. Is that not a good enough reason to fight? I definitely think it is. We've been raised on the ideas that women aren't as important, so it makes sense that some men and women believe it; they haven't been taught otherwise. This article goes through explanations of why many think that feminists hate men and how that's not true.
The majority of anti-feminists believe that feminism is bad because they are uninformed. Many women say that they aren't feminism because "they work hard and don't want everything to be handed to them". I personally think that makes no sense, because feminism isn't saying that women should get special treatment. I think that everyone should work hard to earn what they want. There are of are many more anti-feminist sayings that make just as little sense, so I won't go through all of them. If everyone could be educated on what feminism really is and how it actually works, I don't think anyone would disagree.
Also, when feminists fight for equal pay it's not just among men and women. In the U.S., women of color get paid less than white women. That needs to be fixed too! Wages should never depend on gender or race in any way. There is thing called "White Feminism" which is not all feminists that are white. White feminists usually are feminists that tend to know how to stand up for their rights but not the rights of women of color or in a different environment than them. They're not bad, they just haven't been educated all the way. This video by Huffington Post (the video is the first part of the article) does a great job explaining what this is.
It's so hard to try to include everything about feminism in one post. Especially because there is so much that is important. As time goes on I might have more to add to this. What I've written is not all of it, not even close. There's so much more, but I can't write about all of it. I've put links to some more websites and articles that can help add on to what I was trying to write here. I hope it helps in some way.
*Another great website/ article about feminism
* A website for an organization dedicated to gender equality
*An amazing speech by Emma Watson to the United Nations (it's slightly long but worth listening to)
*A CNN article about how feminism has become a word that many shy away from
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| Although it's a man in the drawing, it's still a good representation of feminism |
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