Sexism Views
This was written by Jillian (mystolenthunder) and it pretty much sums up my feelings.
Okay. A few things I need to “disclaim” in my opening statement of this keysmash. I am a woman. I am intelligent. I’m happy with who I am. I’m pretty happy with the world. Yes, I’m sixteen but guess what? Everyone has opinions and I suppose this is mine.
Now, if you have ever befriended me, spoken to me (even in passing), read my blog or even have glanced past my little corner of the internet you will very well know I am up for equality of all kinds. Sexuality? Ethnic background? Political viewpoint? Religion? I’m a-okay with everything but, in all honesty, feminists, to a certain degree, tend to rub me the wrong way. I’m not saying I hate feminists or dislike them as a whole but, well, let me put it this way.
We live in a world of extremes and, more often than not, the most extreme examples receive the most attention. This goes for liberals, conservatives, any participants in nearly any religion, feminists, the list goes on and on. Normally, through these extremes, people tend to find a certain negative connotation in society. For example, have you ever noticed that if you even mention the word “republican” in mixed company it seems that at least one person scoffs automatically? I consider myself a moderate or an independent, meaning that I don’t particularly enjoy everything each side has to say and I choose a candidate based on hard facts, accomplishments and what they’re running for not their political party or a catchy slogan. I’d like to point out another example that, when Obama was running for president, I spent about 5 minutes of my time in a voting room with my parents asking who people were voting for and why. My two main answers were “I’m voting for Obama because he’s promising change” and “I’m voting for McCain because he’s not Obama”. Now, to each their own but, when I asked what specific parts of the candidate’s platform they were voting for, many of them had no idea but only knew the name and party. Personally, I find this rather ignorant and it brings a bad name to many voters in America…but I digress.
So going back on topic here, I’d like to say that I’m not “judging” feminists on a whole but, instead, the rather extreme instances I’ve seen in my life and on Tumblr. Let me break my argument down into three topics.
- Count your blessings.
- Stop being so outraged with humanity.
- If you want to change…Stop. Talking. About. It.
Those all sound rather harsh and I do apologize but they sum up everything I’m going to discuss rather concisely and I’m going to go into more detail before you judge.
So, first things first; we are so incredibly lucky to live in this country (or for outside of the US members, in this world). Yes, things are not perfect but you know? They’re much better than they’ve ever been and they’re exponentially better than other countries. Women have the right to vote, the right to do whatever they want with their lives, the right to go and run for office, the right to marry whomever we’d like and have as many children as we want and, most importantly, we have the right to be free. If you haven’t noticed, many other countries have restrictions on all of these things (for example; the one child law passed in China. Also, fun fact, China is the world’s leader in pregnant women committing suicide because these woman would rather die than have their future child be forcibly taken from them). We might not have equal pay but at least we can hold jobs. Back when my grandmother was pregnant in the 1950’s she was required to stop her life’s work and passion of writing for a newspaper after she married my grandfather. Now, women can get married and come back and be praised for it (in some states, my home state of Massachusetts being one, even married to a woman. Again, in some countries…these women would be killed). I’m going to bore you with examples and I shall move onto my second point but, in short, so much progress has been made in a relatively short period of time; have faith it will be equal soon and, perhaps, maybe we should feel worse for the women who are not allowed to leave their homes instead of complaining because we have slightly (a term I use loosely) less than equal pay than our male counterparts.
Second, please stop being so offended. I know, I know, this is a rather absurd and blanketed appeal to all people around the world but, honestly, it needs to stop. Yes, sexism exists. Guess what? Sexism exists for men too. Men may be called a plethora of “feminine” phrases but women are guilty as well. Though I won’t go into specific detail on this as I’m sure you’ve bored of that by now, women tend to say to men that there’s no way they could ever bear children because they aren’t strong enough, women are the superior sex and men are just a bunch of hormone driven buffoons who want nothing more than to sleep with as many women as possible. Also, a side note, the fact that a woman is called a “slut” when she has had many male partners as opposed to a man having many female partners is a “hero” is, in some cases, untrue; I have known plenty of women proud of their “track record” and plenty of men ashamed of theirs with equal anger directed at each other for being so “loose”. Also, minor sexist jokes are jokes. You can fight as much as you’d like on this, ladies, but a joke is a joke. Yes, some may be in ill will but that is not something to be enraged at an entire gender for it is just something to keep in your mind and adding to your conscience as something that “just isn’t right”. Another side note in this whole Dr. Pepper for Men soda (or whatever it may be called) ; plenty of drinks are targeted at men and even more are targeted at women, it really isn’t a big deal.
Finally, my main point, if you want to be equal stop with the chip on your shoulder. The same is to be said about racism or any other discrimination. As Morgan Freeman put it “Stop talking about it”. Unfortunately, there is a reason that feminism has become the butt of many jokes today and that is because much too many people take such an abstract concept much too personally. I know that this may be the most unpopular opinion and I will berated for this and, most likely, will receive some sort of negative and presumably angry response to this but all I’m saying is…stop trying to be a hero. Yes, change can only happen if people fight for it but not if the fighting is bringing a cause to a negative place.
This is my request to the internet, to the country and even to the human race because this, in essence, is what I believe on this matter.
Stop acting like a woman and start acting like a human being.
That’s all. Have a lovely day.
