I DO NOT support modern-day Feminism
Yes, you read it correctly, I don't support feminism...in today's society. I'll probably get a lot of hate for this, but here goes nothing.
A little about myself:
I'm a 20-something woman from NYC. I grew up with a mother and a stepfather who loved me dearly, they encouraged me to be the best that I could be and helped me to become confident, but they were also brutally honest. My mother didn't sugar-coat anything and from a young age she told me about what sex was. All my friends in grade-school were girls like me and the "sex" talk was as taboo as liking a boy. My mother was the bread-winner, but it never occurred to her to make my stepfather feel less than because she made more money than he did, he was and still is the "man of the house", in that sense I grew up in a more traditional household. I attended a parochial school in Brooklyn, NY.
Fifth grade was the year that I went through puberty, I got my period earlier than most girls did and hid it from my parents until my mother saw one of her pads in the garbage. I was the first one out of my group of friends who got my period and was an outcast because of it. I was called a "whore" for it. The teachers found out about it and had a discussion with us and the other girls. Clearly, they lacked education and didn't have a good mother to teach them about their bodies yet. Then, later that year, I was told by a group of girls who I wasn't friends with, that wearing a bra meant that I wasn't a virgin anymore. I was bullied and objectified by girls just like me, just for having my period, something that was natural.
Fast-forward to high school (Junior Year), where having your period was normal and having big breasts wasn't as taboo. This was also the year where Soulja boy's song played in every car...yeah you get the idea. I was the 'good girl', because I was a virgin, I no longer felt weird for getting a cycle every month, because every 16 year old girl probably did, but instead my personality made me an outcast and the butt of jokes. I dressed rather "preppy" and wore my hair straight. I liked bands and metal. I had friends that were both extremely intelligent and...weird. My guy friends were the type who girls turned down on a daily, because they weren't what you'd consider "alpha males", but I was the 'pretty girl' in their eyes and never once have they made me feel any less. I had my own safe haven until I graduated.
College came like a breeze, I was still a virgin my freshman year and this was the beginning of the "big butt" fad, or maybe its been that was for awhile, but I just didn't know about it. Girls wanted a big butt, they wanted to impress guys at all costs and they were willing to put other girls down for not having one. I had a girlfriend tell me "All you have is boobs and no ass girl, would you ever get butt-implants?" I answered "For what?". She stayed quiet. That very year, I became increasingly intrigued by the topic of FEMINISM. I took a class on it and my professor was the stereotypical short-haired white woman with glasses and a fedora.
She taught the class like she was on some podium and got offended when I brought my guy friend to class as a visitor one day, because he simply disagreed with a comment she made. Why? The entire semester after that, she was extra hard on me. She would make rude remarks that seemed to intentionally be aimed in my direction and she would insinuate that every man was after the same thing 'SEX', as though women don't like sex also...then at the end of the semester she asked each and every student if they were a feminist and why? We had to write a 5-page paper on it and it was due the last day of the semester as a final grade.
The night I started writing the paper I asked myself if I was a true 'feminist' or just afraid of getting an F on my paper. I wondered what a feminist truly meant, did it mean that I hated men or that I wanted equal rights for women? After all, my mother made more than my father, so how could I argue that I didn't feel the workforce was fair? She had a degree and he didn't. Did I hate men? NO, my best friends who protected me were guys! My stepfather was my best friend and support system and he was indeed A MAN. So what was left? I realized my entire life that the ones who held me back, the ones who made me feel bad were other women like myself.
They didn't support me, they talked about my body, they called me out and bashed me for having breasts at 12-years old! Perfect example: My own professor who called herself a 'feminist'. She made my college experience that first year a living hell. She was arrogant, ruthless and miserable. Was I a 'feminist'? NO! Was I ashamed? NO! I loved everyone, man, woman, and child, and I would never feel like I had to take one side over the other.
There was a time where women didn't have rights and women couldn't vote or were seen as less of a human, but now that we have those rights, the sky is the limit and the only thing stopping us are ourselves, not society. Women like Susan B. Anthony and all of the amazingly strong women who came before us had every right to stand her ground, now lets imagine for a minute not being able to vote, but now that we have rights, we take it for granted and blame men for everything that goes wrong in our lives. Modern Feminism is nearly a joke and a slap in the face to the women who came before us. Women in the 1920s and back died to have the rights that we have today, so why isn't it
enough? Why do we demand so much and put in so little?
I wrote that paper from the bottom of my heart and got a B in the class, of course I felt like I deserved an A, but a B will do. This is just my experience....Thanks for reading. So long!
Most Helpful Opinions