this is what a feminist looks like

image from here

The F word. You’ve heard it before. Perhaps in passing, or in an academic setting, or maybe just in general conversation.

Maybe you have heard it been used in a positive way, or maybe you’ve heard it with a negative connotation.

Whatever the case, feminism strikes a definitive chord with me. I am an active supporter of equal rights. I believe that a woman’s choice is exactly that, her choice.

I am strongly opposed to the anti-feminist voice in contemporary culture.

And when people tell me that feminism is no longer relevant because sexism is no longer a problem, my blood boils.

As a facilitator of a high school girls’ self-esteem group, my ultimate goal as a feminist is to eliminate sexual oppression and increase self-confidence and self-awareness.

In my role as high school facilitator, I see issues pertaining to sexual oppression affect the girls on a daily basis. Why? Because they are constantly inundated with images like this:

image from here

Now let me be very clear – I am a fervent supporter of sexual liberation.

Some argue a blurry line exists between liberation, choice and exploitation. I don’t agree. To me, it is very clear that distinct differences exist between sexual liberation and sexual oppression and/or objectification. After looking at the ad above, you cannot tell me that women is empowered. That women is pinned on the ground, while not one but four men stare down at her. This ad – and all others like it, reinforce a patriarch paradigm, and the notion that women are to be controlled, dominated and used.

Think I read too much into this simple ‘sex sells’ ad for perfume? Consider this – a 13 year old girl named Hope in Florida took her own life when the topless photos of her, that she took and texted to the boy she liked, were distributed school wide. Or Srey Rath from Cambodia, who was just 15 when she was trafficked to a brothel, drugged and beaten and forced to sleep with men 15 hours a day, 7 days a week. Or the girls in my high school group – who just like me when I was their age – constantly question their appearance, their popularity and their self-worth.

We, the global community, can and will do better than this. We can do better than this with every thought and with every action we take. We can stand up, and fight the oppression (my favorite thing to do? I storm off the dance floor if a song comes on I find demeaning to women…I just, stop dancing. It is so easy!)

So, I challenge you to stand up as a feminist. Stand up for your rights, or your mother, or your brother, or someone you have never met. It feels pretty damn good.

And soon everyone will yell from the rooftops, this is what a feminist looks like.

(for more reading, check out the awesome book feminism is for everybody, by bell hookes…or visit http://www.halftheskymovement.org/get-involved)