Removing the stigma on the F-word

Progress. We are in the midst of Progress.

On March 8, 2018, I tasted the sweetness of a peaceful, yet powerful demonstration in the name of feminism. Contrary to the image of feminism that society portrays, this movement did not include wild women screaming profanity about men and running topless in the street. Let’s get this straight FEMINISM = EQUALITY.

Instead, men women and non-binary people of all ages and races gathered together to change the future, and it was like biting into a juicy mango-wholesome goodness.

On this day I felt more empowered than ever before. Thousands of women and men took to the streets in the name of EQUALITY and their ecstatic energy reverberated! Hope, an intangible feeling of optimism for the good of the world, spread from the collective people’s passion. This energy inspired hope because when motivated people get together you see that change is possible.

This was progress, amazing progress, but in order for our children to experience true gender equality we need to fix a problem at the core: the stigmatization of the word feminism.

Before I rant, let me say that I am not calling any person who doesn’t liberally wear a feminist or girl power shirt a man-hater. Absolutely not. Instead, I feel the need to voice my opinion because the word feminism intimidates.

Feminism is gender equality. Yes, it does contain the word for feminine, but the English language is thick with important words that hold a male root i.e. huMANity, MANagement, HIStory,etc. As Emma Watson preaches in her He for She Campaign, men can and should declare themselves as feminists. After all every female I’ve met considers herself huMAN. Who cares whether the word that represents a movement for equality of the sexes is male or female.

Perhaps a brief look at the history of feminism will shed some light on to the stigmatization of the word.

The birth of feminism arrived during the late 19th and early 20th century. These early feminists fought for the right to vote, but at the time women’s suffrage was a controversial subject. Thus, opposers called these early feminists man-haters, etc. and it stuck.

All in all, let us not let this word divide us. Let us think with an open mind, from both sides, and embrace, at very least, the movement for a more equal future. We are far from equal, but days like March 8, 2018 in Barcelona, Spain reminds us that hope spreads like wildfire.