'Feminist: the person who believes in the social,
political and economic equality of the sexes.' - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
I studied English Literature at A-Level; even though studying feminist poets and writers is part of the national curriculum, the definition of a feminist wasn't made totally clear to me. At age 17 I thought feminists were a bunch of man-hating hippies, at least that was the impression I got from Carol-Anne Duffy (Sorry sister, I was young). As I got older and started going to clubs and pubs, it became clear that men and women aren't treated the same in society. The political inequality is slightly obvious to me, just 182 members of the house of Lords are women, leaving 597 to be men. I can't actually comprehend the pay gaps between men and women: women working full time in the UK in 2012 earned 14.9% less than men. What is that about?!
BUT, everyone has a tipping point and for me, it's the social argument. It's indecent of me to walk around the centre of Plymouth without a top on but perfectly fine for Kevin down the road. As a woman, if I don't shave my legs or armpits, it's disgusting and manly and lazy. If a man shaves anywhere but his face, he's either gay or a cyclist. Men think it's totally acceptable to touch young women and girls' bums/boobs/vagina/____ (insert body part here) without invitation or request. The amount of times I've had to tell men that I don't want them touching, that they just assaulted me, the amount of times I've had a panic attack and wanted to leave a club because someone has violated me is quite frankly fucking ridiculous.
In a fairly recent student questionnaire, one girl answered 'I don't know any girl at university that hasn't been touched or groped without her consent'. Wow, just wow.
Then, THEN, there's the men. New fathers are entitled to just two weeks paternity leave. 2 WEEKS!! That's 26 weeks less than women. Male suicide rates are 3-5 times higher than female rates. Not many people know that for every three victims of
partner abuse, two will be female and one will be male. And male victims of rape: 'Men can find this kind of attack difficult to deal with because this is widely, but wrongly, thought of as a crime that only affects women'. I saw a video by Lauren Southern on why she was not a feminist. She says that 3rd wave feminism doesn't fight for both sexes making feminism, not a fight for equality. My answer to that is there is no reason that YOU can't be that feminist.
There are plenty of 'isms' and 'ics' in this world - racism, homophobic, agism, ablism but, it's arguable that sexism is still the most widely accepted. The 'who is the superior sex?!' argument happens every single day, so does sexual assault and rape and in my opinion, none of those things are okay.
Nathaniel and I often discuss whether it is worse being a black male or a white female and that should not be a relevant topic of conversation in 2015. When we started watching Suits on Netflix, he commented on how good it was that a black female was represented in a high position in the firm. I cannot wait for the day that is the norm.
Nathaniel and I often discuss whether it is worse being a black male or a white female and that should not be a relevant topic of conversation in 2015. When we started watching Suits on Netflix, he commented on how good it was that a black female was represented in a high position in the firm. I cannot wait for the day that is the norm.
LINKS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNErQFmOwq0 - Lauren Southern's video
http://blog.ted.com/beyonce-samples-chimamanda-ngozi-adichies-tedx-message-on-surprise-album/ - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's speech on feminism feat. her speech that is featured in Beyonce's song, Flawless (and that greatest video you will ever watch).
