Feminism

I cringe at the fact that I have to explain this but despite your possible hesitation, you are most likely a feminist! Stop denying it, it's true. Do you believe women should be able to vote? Should women be paid the same amount for the same jobs? Do women deserve the same amount of rights as men? If you answered 'no' to any of that please reevaluate your life but if you answered 'yes' then that means you're a feminist!

"But I don't hate men!" "But I like the traditional gender roles!" "But I'm girly!" "But I want a man to pay on a date!" "But I like when men open doors for me!"

Don't worry! Liking that a man pays on a date doesn't mean you're not a feminist. I absolutely love a lot of things about traditional gender roles and think being a housewife would be a great job but I realize that this is not for every woman and it is not my job to enforce my ideal on other women.

Feminism is like this radical relativism when it comes to degrees of femininity and masculinity to which we choose to subscribe. I personally am very feminine in how I dress and behave but I am also very career driven, study philosophy, and enjoy movies like Fight Club. I won't let anyone tell me that watching violent movies is unladylike or that if I care about fashion I can't also care about philosophy. I have the ability to define what ladylike is for myself and what interest I choose to take up.

The thing about feminism is that men absolutely have this right too! A man can enjoy baking and watching sports and should not be chastised for either interest.

I know a woman who would absolutely hate if a man paid on a date. I hate when a man doesn't. Each of us are our own individuals and are entitled to feel either way about dating. We are not in competition with one another. If these differences are frustrating for a man, then he probably does not care about who the person is that he is dating but just wants to categorize all women as the same object.

It may take some conscious effort but feminism requires that you stop judging other women and men because their interest don't match what you think they should be and to realize that not all women or all men will be exactly the same in any way.

This is of course just a very fundamental view into feminism but I think once we get this down, we open ourselves up to further discussions.