I Am a Feminist!

At least since high school I have considered myself a Feminist, although my feelings have greatly evolved since then.  I remember in my journalism class some of the boys calling me a feminist, meaning it as an insult, because I didn't like how they were portraying women in their comics.

I hate how people view the word feminism in a negative way, or the fact the by declaring the fact that I am a feminist that people will view me more negatively.  The problem is, people don't understand what feminism is.  It's not advocating that women are better than men nor is it saying we are the exact same as men, not at ALL! But we are equal. In a book I am currently reading, the author says:

"...We need to reclaim the word 'feminism.' We need the work 'feminism' back real bad.  When statistics come in saying that only 29 percent of American women would describe themselves as feminist--and only 42 percent of British women--I used to think, What do you think feminism IS, ladies? What part of 'liberation for women' is not for you? Is it the freedom to vote? The right not to be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal pay? 'Vogue' by Madonna? Jeans? Did all that good [crap] GET ON YOUR NERVES? Or were you just DRUNK AT THE TIME OF THE SURVEY"

She later says:

"...I do understand why women started to reject the word 'feminism.' It ended up being invoked in so many bafflingly inappropriate contexts that--if you weren't actually aware of the core aims of feminism and were trying to work it out simply from the surrounding conversation--you'd presume it was some spectacular unappealing combination of misandry, misery, and hypocrisy, which stood for ugly clothes, constant, anger, and let's face it, no [sex]...
What is feminism? Simply the belief that women should be as free as men, however nuts, dim, deluded badly dressed, fat, receding, lazy, and smug they might be."

  When I was in high-school, for me feminism meant to love being a woman and all that it stood for, I honestly thought women had equality in the USA.   As I have gotten older, and especially since becoming a mother, I have found myself disappointed over and over again at the inequalities I see, especially within societal culture.  

Feminism is also about accepting each other as women, for the individual choices we make, and not judging circumstances we can not understand. It is about respecting and bringing our fellow women up.  Women, I feel, are often the culprits for keeping other women down.  It's tragic.

I could go on all day, but I'll stop now.  But I will say, I love being a woman, and I love being a feminist. There are still changes that need to happen.

*the book I'm reading is called "How To Be a Woman" by Caitlan Moran. It's British and hilarious! But it has a good deal of cussing and some crude speech. I'm only on chapter 6 so we'll see if like the rest of it, but so far so good.