As Relevant as Ever

It seems like most people in the class really enjoyed the chapter, “You’re a Hardcore Feminist, I Swear!” by Jessica Valenti, even though we didn’t really get to discuss it much in class. Some of the students, girls particularly, mentioned that it made them look at feminism in a new light. I was encouraged to hear that, but at the same time it kind of saddened me. Are we still grappling with the idea that feminism is bad or worthless, even as college students? 

I have long thought of myself as a feminist, but over the years I have heard a lot of negative things when the topic is broached. I’ve heard that feminism doesn’t change anything, is useless, that women are already equal, or that these “feminazis” are man-haters. Can we really compare a movement that made advances in equal opportunities between the sexes to the fascist Nazi movement? When did that become okay?

I feel, like Valenti, that many women have forgotten the real meaning of feminism. They’ve forgotten how far the movement has gotten us, how much our mothers and grandmothers did to make our lives better. It’s a slap in the face to them when we as a younger generation don’t appreciate the rights we have now.

But it’s still a struggle. Women are still oppressed daily. Things are definitely not equal. Consider reproductive rights and how they’re constantly under assault. The recent Oklahoma proposition to force every woman considering an abortion to look at an ultrasound while the doctor talks to her about it is a topic that definitely didn’t receive the attention it needed. The pharmacists who refuse to fill a woman’s Plan B prescription, doctors who tell teenage girls not to get the Gardasil vaccination because they shouldn’t be having sex anyway, and the media who asks the question, “was she asking for it?” when a rape has been committed all participate in this horrible inequality for women. As women and girls, we need to accept that it’s okay to be a feminist, and it’s okay to not be okay with the way women are treated in society and the media.