With
gender and its respective roles dictated by society comes it’s stereotypes. As
we have discussed in our class, the stereotypical roles of men and women are
familiar to us- women must be “vulnerable”, “kind”, and “nurturing” while men
must be “strong”, “bold”, and “tough.” And then, of course, there is the
feminist stereotype. The “man haters” who say they support gender equality yet
argue that women are actually better than men. Such ideas will only exaggerate
negative stereotypes of those who are working to fight back against inequality.
I will admit that I was one of those
people who looked towards feminism as a skeptic. As a woman, of course I
believed that women are capable of anything that men are, but I bought into
these feminist stereotypes like many others. I didn’t want people to think I
was one of those crazy, bra-burning “feminists.” Then one day I saw a sign
encouraging the spread of gender equality, their campaign explained to people
why feminism is so important in today’s society. The sign read: “I need
feminism because they told her Harry Potter wouldn’t sell if it was by Joanne
Rowling.”
This statement really stuck with me-
it really highlighted how disadvantaged women are in this world. The thought
that people IN TODAYS AGE wouldn’t read a book because it was written by a
woman is truly sad. JK Rowling’s work defined my childhood and now here she was
forcing me to rethink my thoughts about gender equality. It was this sign that
made me reconsider feminism and I saw it in a whole new light.
The key thing to remember about
feminism is that it is all about gender equality.
Men aren’t better than women. Women aren’t better than men. No one should make
more money than the other based on sex, no one should hold power over the
other, and no one should ever have to change their name in order to publish a
book.
Attached is a picture of my cousin who participated in her school's Slut Walk, a rally to end victim blaming.
No comments:
Post a Comment