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Women Banding Together to Promote Feminism

I am a proud feminist. Make no mistake, though; I am not a feminist with a chip on her shoulder. I am appreciative of everything that the feminist movement has done for me. I love that I can vote. I have great plans for my life that do not feature getting married and having children. I would not be opposed to marriage but I have not made it a priority because I do not have to marry to survive. I have nothing against women who want to get married and have children, though. I am simply thankful for options.

Courtesy of chsaplitprideandprejudice.weebly.com
Courtesy of chsaplitprideandprejudice.weebly.com

Yet, we need feminism. Women still earn only 77 cents on the male dollar in the United States. The Steubenville rape case showed that victim-blaming rape culture is alive and well. Young girls all over Twitter jump to Chris Brown’s defense anytime someone mentions the fact that he hit Rihanna with enough force to cause major bruising and say heartbreaking things about how they would let Chris Brown beat them to a bloody pulp.

A few weeks ago, Hanna Rosin published a short article on Slate called “Marissa Meyer Thinks Feminists Are a Drag. Is She Right?”. Rosin’s main premise was drawn from an interview with PBS in which Marissa Meyer described feminists as women with a “chip on the shoulder”. Within the past year, Meyer was appointed the CEO of Yahoo. Feminists across the country celebrated the appointment of a woman to such a high profile position in a male dominated field. Much to the disappointment of these feminists, Meyer has said a few times that she is not a feminist and has worked to dissociate herself from the movement. I have been tracking Meyer’s comments and movements, along with other women in the spotlight who reject the term “feminist”, with much chagrin.

How can these women disregard the way that feminism has fought for their right to be in such positions of power? Do they realize the example they are setting for younger women?

We need to stop calling it feminism, according to Rosin. The word has too many negative connotations, which accumulated as misogynists fought against the rise of feminism and were further perpetuated by (as Meyer said in the same interview) “militant” feminists. Rosin fails to propose a new term, though. I suspect this is because there is no word that can capture the movement in the way that ‘feminism’ can. The term has over one hundred years of fighting power behind it.

Egalitarianism may come in a close second to the term of feminism but it lacks the punch that feminism has. The term definitely goes hand in hand with feminism but, to me, it is the end goal. Some people are already egalitarians, which is wonderful. I have multiple male friends who call themselves feminists and treat me with complete equality. However, we are not in a cultural place where egalitarianism can replace feminism. Too much animosity towards women still exists.

As a feminist, I think women in my age group need to own the term. Each wave of feminism has made it mean something to them and I refuse to give up because it has accumulated negative connotations. We can change those. However, we need to work together. I often hear “I’m not a feminist but…” on Houghton’s campus. I hear things such as: “I’m not a feminist but I would never, ever let him treat me that way.” Or, “I’m not a feminist but I will wear leggings as pants because they’re super comfortable and it’s not my job to keep men from looking at my butt!” Or, “I’m not a feminist but I would love to have a career outside of the home and a husband who helps me with domestic chores.” Congratulations to anyone who has ever said such things, you are actually a feminist.

I understand why many people do not want to associate themselves with feminism. There certainly are militant feminists who are angry at the patriarchy and want to incessantly discuss this fact. However, they are not the majority. They simply have the loudest voices. If women who strive for equality would join together, we could rise above the militant feminists and work toward a connotation of feminism that is positive. We could make it a movement that people want to be a part of.

Am I being a bit idealistic? Of course I am! However, if we are going to fight the awful aspects of our culture, like the rape culture that has been so prominent in the past few weeks, women need to band together and promote feminism. Even if you do not feel oppressed, even if you are happy with your life, other women in the world need you to be a voice of reason. Men, you can take part as well. Just treat women with equality. That is all we want, in the end.