Discovering my hidden feminist

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I am currently taking a class, Women in Global Politics, in which each week we need to write a journal entry discussing our reactions, comments and feelings on that week's materials and subjects. I am going to post them here on my blogger for you all to read as I share my reactions to issues relating to women in the world today. 

This week I was faced with the task of writing an essay entitled, “This I believe”. Based on the NPR segment of the same title, we had to write 500 words on a challenge facing women today that moved me deeply. I saw the topic and thought to myself, “wow, what a piece of cake- this is something that I can truly BS”. As I sat down to write it, however, I suddenly found myself completely incapable of writing.  I looked across the table at my roommate Jennifer, one of the only self-proclaimed feminists that I actually knew in person, and casually asked her, “Hey Jen, what would you say is the biggest challenge facing women today?” She prattled off a list of things and I smiled and nodded, but just couldn’t get myself to feel moved by any of them. I also couldn’t help but think of anything that was especially important; I mean, we had the right to vote and we almost had our first female president. What else could we possibly want?

It was then that I stumbled upon a website of jokes ranging from mildly to horribly offensive anti-feminist jokes. It was while I was sharing them with Jen and laughing that I saw a dark shadow cross her face and I saw that I had genuinely offended her. It was then that I realized even though the feminist movement had made it so far and had accomplished so many great things for women, there was still a horrible lack of respect and acknowledgement for these amazing accomplishments. As I began to delve in more to find my ‘moving’ issue, I began to grow more and more disgusted with everything I found. And, I also began to grow more and more disgusted with these jokes that I had laughed at merely thirty minutes ago.

For me, the biggest challenge facing women today is the perception that we are less than; that we are less than man, less than human. We do not merit the same respect that men receive. In this way, we are simply jokes that have no ability to be taken seriously as equals. This idea can be applied to the stupid stereotypical jokes posted on the internet from some shmuck in Wisconsin to the rebel groups that rape women as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both of these groups perceive women as not human, but as lesser beings that are capable of being ridiculed or used as pawns in the power games men play. As I spent the next hour researching, I felt truly connected with the question placed ahead of me. The question itself was a challenge for me to essentially grow up and really look at myself and know that I was also a feminist. I needed to shrug off whatever misconceptions I had of feminists- with unshaved legs, screaming and burning their bras- and understand that to be a feminist isn’t something dirty or embarrassing- it is rather something to be proud of.

So thus in true 21^st century style, I posted on my Facebook, “I AM A FEMINIST”. So, with a small homework assignment challenging me to identify the greatest challenge to women today, I ended up finding a challenge within myself to say “to hell with it all” and finally acknowledge my hidden feminist inside.