What is Feminism? What is a Feminist?
Four weeks ago, if you would have asked me “What is feminism?” or “What is a feminst?” I wouldn’t have had an answer, or if I did manage to give you an answer, it sadly would have been an ignorant one.
Before taking this feminist blogging course, I believed a lot of today’s stereotypes about feminists, and honestly, I was a bit scared of them. I thought feminism was just made up of JUST WOMEN who hated men and sex, who decided they didn’t want to shave their armpits or legs anymore. I thought a feminist would be the last person I would want to converse with because I believed if I were to converse with a feminist it would lead to me saying something wrong or something to offend them. Now that I know these stereotypes are NOT at all what makes a feminist a feminist I feel a little silly for being so ignorant about the topic. In just four weeks, I feel the complete opposite as I did before, in fact, I now only want feminists in my life!
Now if someone asks me the questions, “what is feminism?”, and “what is a feminist?” My answer will be:
Feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. Feminism pushes for social, political and economic equality of the sexes, while advocating for women’s rights on the basis of equality. And a feminist is someone who believes in the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities, a feminist actively pushes for social, political and economic equality of the sexes, while also advocating for women’s rights on the basis of equality.
More simply put, feminism is a movement that stands for equality amongst the sexes, and a feminist is someone who supports equality amongst the sexes.
The Importance of Spreading What Feminism REALLY Is
I ask myself as I write this piece, why have I not been supporting the feminist movement before now, I am a women after all, how could I not push for equality?
The answer is because the word, “feminism” has such a negative connotation attached to it. The reason behind this negative connotation is because of the MISCONCEPTIONS attached to the words, feminism or feminists . The only way to stop these misconceptions from spreading is to correct people when they make an ignorant statement about the topic, and then try to explain what the feminist movement actually pushes for.
Feminism is a movement that stands for equality amongst the sexes. Period!
I wrote this piece because I wanted to remind, educate, and influence the ignorant persons (like myself four weeks ago) who still believe a feminist to be only women who are always angry, who are anti-men and sex, and are non-feminine. The words feminism and feminist should not cause people to become uncomfortable. The word should be valued, and excite people for change, not scare them.
I am right now just starting my feminist journey by taking this course, and to be completely candid, I was only taking this course because I am a senior who needed an elective. When I told my family and boyfriend I was taking a feminist blogging course their faces expressed confusion, and shock. This was to be expected because before now I have never showed interest in feminism. My boyfriend’s exact response when I told him about me taking this course was, “you’re not going to get all feminist on me, are you?” My response was “no…”, but I guess that was a lie.
In just four weeks feminism is now incredibly important to me. I now think it is important as a woman to be aware of previous and current gender struggles and it is important to make every effort to stop gender inequalities from happening in the future. I never thought I would, but I can now proudly say, “I am a feminist!”
And if you stand for equality, then sorry to inform you, but you’re a feminist too!
ShoutOut! James Madison University 