The F Word

The F Word

High on the 'Words to not say aloud' list, beating hundreds of foul words to the top spot, scaring thousands of vulnerable men, women and children is the 'f word'. Yes- 'feminism'. Of course, it doesn't have to be like this. Why is 'feminism' such a vulgar word? Why is 'feminist' used as an insult? Society is becoming closer and closer to gender equality, and although we have come a long way since women first won the vote, there are still people out there who down-right refuse to admit to being a feminist. Why? 

The Oxford dictionary definition for the term 'feminism' is:

The advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.

However, the uneducated people amongst us still believe that feminism is the movement of 'man-hating'. Wrong. Why should women be treated as the weaker sex? Why do women get paid less than men for the same role in every profession except porn? This is disgusting, degrading and, to be perfectly honest, wrong. Both men and women are human, therefore we should be equal. Come on, it's not rocket-science now is it?

Men and women both bring exceptional roles to the world. However, stereotyping certain jobs or positions in society to one sex or the other is just as wrong. Men should be able to, and be encouraged to, participate in ballet lessons and cookery classes, and women should be able to, and be encouraged to, play with toy cars and become an engineer if they want to. Angelina Jolie is the perfect advocate for equality and the end to stereotyping. She allows her daughter to dress in 'boys clothes' have her hair cut short and be called 'John' because that is what she wants. This is a sign of good parenting and Angelina Jolie certainly should not be receiving criticism for it.

In 2014, Emma Watson, the UN's ambassador for women, declared the beginning of the #heforshe campaign, declaring that men, as well as women, can be feminists. The campaign is an example of how social media such as twitter can be a good thing, as it spread the message to twitter users all over the world in such a small amount of time. Emma Watson is another example of a brilliant advocate for feminism and equal rights.


I saw a Tumblr post a few weeks ago, where an anonymous person had asked a rather popular user- 'thenightvalepost', "what are your thoughts on feminism?", and the reply was "Exactly the same as my views on toilet paper. It's extremely necessary and anyone who disagrees is probably disgusting." What a brilliant way of looking at it! So if you believe in equal rights, however constantly use the phrase "I'm not a feminist, but..." I sincerely hope that this post has made you realise that your belief in equal rights does make you a feminist and you should be proud of it. And if you openly admit to not being a feminist due to your ridiculous beliefs that men and women are not equal then I suggest you leave and not return because I don't want your negativity on my blog.

Luckily, feminism is becoming less and less of a taboo subject, and an increasing amount of people are supporting the movement, but us feminists still have a long way to go. Let's stop this ridiculous confusion that all feminists are 'man-haters' who burn their bras and campaign against men, and let's remember that women and men are beautiful, spell-bounding creatures who need to live equally and happily on the planet. Let us all, men and women, shout "I am a feminist and I am proud!" Let us remove the 'F word' label and return that to its rightful owner, the swear. 

I am a feminist and I am proud!

Thank you for reading,

Chloe

xoxo