Feminism The Eternal Fight

Ever since I was young I always believed in equality but noticed as a working class child in the 80s that women seemed to be getting less and less opportunities and all I knew is that it wasn't right. I wanted to play with monster trucks, and get all the things my brother got. I always spoke out about it.

As I got a bit older I noticed even more that there was so much more pressure on women. Everyone used to ask my brother what he wanted to be when he grew up and they would just ask me what I would like to wear to my wedding. I would general answer I want to be a rock star thanks.

It wasn't until I discovered riot grrrl in my all girls secondary school that I realised I didn't have an attitude problem, I wasn't being cheeky when I would be extra noisy when told "Girls should be seen and not heard". I had just always been a feminist!

Kate makes an awesome point in the quote above. So many people label feminism with a bad name. No, feminism is not about men hating it is about believing that we should live in a world where men and women are equal. A world where women should get equal rights, pay and respect. Not to mention not being scrutinised all the time for what we wear and being labelled. I know these issues are not limited to women but statistically the numbers and cases are a lot higher. Nobody man or woman deserves to be degraded and that is what feminism is about to me, It is about standing up for my own and others rights and letting others know.

I for one embrace when men want to be a part of this movement and so they should. Sadly some feminists give true feminists a bad name. I will never forget being at a feminist workshop and when asked what niggles us about feminism one woman said "Male activists". In the room of 50 plus women was only 2 men. How dare that woman degrade anyone who st rived for the equality of the sexes to me this made her just as bad as those fighting against us. Men please do not be discouraged by such women we need you on our side too.

Not only are some feminists against male feminists but trust me the more you immerse yourself into any world the more your find there are more and More clicks within any movement. This is what sucks about protest there are always people over analysing things and taking ti too far. Like the cyst fems who believe that only women born women can be feminist or I recently saw a hash tag on twitter which was ripping white feminists says all white feminists were middle class girls. Excuse me how are we meant to fight for equality if all we are doing is fighting against each other? How is that going to encourage anyone to want to be a feminist and help us all just become humanists? Which is a question I often get asked. Why am I not just an equalist? My answer...when women have equality then we can work on maintaining that for all but until then I'm a feminist because in a world where women die every day and it goes ignored then feminism needs me.

So you can only imagine my outrage at this new #womenagainstfeminism thing that is going around. For those of you who do not know a lash out at the very important movement of "I need feminism" was created stating the opposite with lots of women degrading themselves and saying things like " I don't need feminism because I adore men" or "I don't need feminism because women are equal in my country". These are ill educated and mis informed ideas of what feminism even stands for. Feminism is not slating men in the slightest. It is saying that as women we should have equal rights that we work just as hard and should get equal pay for equal work. I think that these women need to read a little more about feminism and the women that fought for them to even have the rights they have now. Without feminism women would still be treated no better than dirt on a persons shoe. We wouldn't be able to vote, chose to be a mother or not, work or not or even wear certain clothes. We also need to remember that just because women in one part of the world have more rights we shouldn't turn our backs on our sisters around the world who do not! EQUALLY OF THAT OF MEN WHO SUFFER AROUND THE WORLD. feminism is being a woman who will stand up against inequality.

While I am on the supper rant train I just need to highlight the disgusting posters that were put out by the NHS. Please sign this petition below and stop the victim blaming.

http://www.change.org/petitions/jeremy-hunt-nhs-home-office-remove-all-copies-of-this-poster-and-stop-victim-blaming?recruiter=52118779&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_mobile

What does feminism mean to you?