Let me break it down for you -- you either believe in equality for men and women or you don’t. Simple as that. Here’s a flowchart to help illustrate this concept for those who are visual learners:
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| via The Huffington Post |
You don’t think that a woman’s right to safety, education, fair earning potential, voting, freedom of mobility, and medical entitlement to her own body is a big deal?
Are you afraid to be labelled as weak, radical, or anti-men? Afraid to ruffle a few feathers by acknowledging that a group of humans in today’s society, a group that includes your mom, sister, and grandmother, has been disenfranchised for thousands of years and is still discriminated against to this day? Yes, improvements have been made in most countries, particularly in Western cultures, but the playing field between men and women is most certainly not yet equal.
Go ahead and call me a bitch for standing up for my gender. But the next time you get in a car and drive somewhere without a chaperone, or take one of your birth control pills, or agree with a harsh sentence that is handed down to a rapist in court, I encourage you to think about women across the world who are denied the opportunities and security for which we don’t even give a second thought.
The next time you choose to denounce being a feminist I hope you take a second to realize what you’re really saying and the message you’re sending about your beliefs.
Linking up with This Flooded Sky and She is Fierce.
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Very interesting. I usually don't label myself as a feminist because a lot of traditional feminist arguments or ideals don't take into account the struggles of black women. That rubs me the wrong way so I hesitate to align myself with them but I do agree with what you said in this post. I'm all for the equality of the sexes I just don't usually identify as feminist.
ReplyDeleteGood point! I really enjoy your flow chart :)
ReplyDeleteSo thankful that you wrote this, Danielle; very necessary and well-put.
ReplyDelete-- Drea from http://therealmissdrea-daily.com
Oh my gosh, I LOVE this! I agree 1000% with everything! (Including the flow chart, tee hee:) I'm raising my daughter to believe she can do anything she can put her mind to and no one is better than her because if their gender. Strong girls unite:)
ReplyDeleteWell said D. I couldn't agree more. I have the same opinion of 'Because of Jackie' ... teaching our daughters the power of women is a beautiful thing :-)
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about that...the word feminist has a bad rap, but it really shouldn't. We (including myself) are to blame when we give caveats after referring to ourselves as feminist. Along the same lines...you have to check out this short clip from Hillary Clinton...whether or not you agree with her politics...you have to be proud of her for standing up for what she believes in and doing it so eloquently! http://www.upworthy.com/dont-ask-hillary-clinton-about-abortion-if-you-cant-handle-her-answer
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