Feminism: What it Means to Me.
Throughout my life I have lived in two completely contradicting worlds that have two very different opinions on the word “feminism”. For one of those worlds (California), I do not think I could point out a single person that I was friends with who didn't support it. I am not trying to generalize everyone into one big group, because there were people in California who were anti-feminists, but for the most part people were feminists. Growing up in California, I saw feminism as the norm and didn't really need to question whether I was one or not. I thought of it simply as that I am a woman, and I support other women including myself and their abilities to be AS powerful and AS strong as men. Not a lot of people criticized feminism, because it was the societal norm, and it just seemed… well… like common sense. How could women be wrong for wanting equality for themselves? Right when I moved to Florida, there was a complete shift in the thoughts on the topic. Now, as I said about California, I am completely aware that people have their own opinions and have every right to keep them. But in Florida, I realized that talking openly about feminism was frequently frowned upon. People that I went to school with would talk about how it was a stupid concept and that women already have everything that men have. I was initially shocked by this, and was quite honestly amazed by the fact that people actually thought that not only equality for women, but even the term “girl power” was “stupid”. But even though I was initially shocked by what these new people in my life had to say, it caused me to want to hide the fact that I ever once supported something like feminism. Fitting in was all I was worried about since I had just moved across the country, so I decided to blend in as an antifeminist all together. Keep in mind that this was before I had met the beautiful, empowered women that I am friends with today. Not until recently did I realize that I should have never changed my own thoughts.
I think that being open-minded about the side of anti-feminism did make me rethink some of the things that I had been taught about feminism back in California, but I don't think that it changed the fact that, deep down, I am a feminist. Being on the two complete opposite ends of the stick made me come to a conclusion on my definition of the word “feminism”. I will always believe that everybody’s definition of feminism is different, but this happens to be mine. Feminism to me means that I am a person who is eminently proud of how far women have come in a world that began with an absolute patriarchy. Women have come an extremely far way. It means to me that I am a person who believes that, even though women have accomplished so much already, we still have some adjustments to make to reach equality for ourselves and the generation coming after us. We can never stop improving. It means to me that women need to work towards supporting other women in everything we do. This is big for me. I know that feminism can be talked about in pretty much any way whether it is politics, the economy, and others, but the most important way that I view feminism is through the social perspective. A lot of people do tend to forget that a problem in society is how women are represented in the media. It is almost like there is a mold that every woman is expected to fit into, and if you don't fit, than adjustments have to be made. Feminism has taught me that the mold doesn’t have to exist and that being who you are is something that is beyond more beautiful than fitting into the mold.
One thing that I will never quite seem to understand however, is when people are opposed to feminism due to the stereotypes that have been created about it. Let me get one thing straight; the fact that I am a feminist does NOT mean I hate men. Feminism is not a male hate club, but it is something that strives for equality (again EQUALITY) of the genders. I know this isn't a male hate club, because men can be feminists too. Feminism is not something that is set aside just for women.
Talking this freely about feminism is something that you would never catch me doing a year ago, which is a shame because you shouldn't ever hide your true self. I am now so passionate about this topic, and I believe that if you have not looked into what feminism is really about, it is difficult to come to an actual conclusion on your viewpoint. I believe that, as we say, empowered women empower women to be the best we can be. Feminism is a huge part of what helps empower me to be able to write and share my artwork with the world, because I know that one day I can really go far thanks to the women in the past who fought for me and all women to go out and chase our dreams as well as the women who continue to today. Women have come incredibly far in society and will continue to keep climbing to get to our very best. I will be forever grateful for being able to grow up in a world that includes people who have a focus on bettering my life as a woman, and I hope that me sharing my view on feminism helped you understand yours!
