I Am A Feminist
No Apologies Needed
I am not nor will I ever apologize, or proclaim my feminism reluctantly. I frankly don’t care if some male is threatened, in fact they should be. I am fifty nine years old and when I read younger women who apologize for feminism I shiver. After the apology they will reduce feminism to employmnet equality: “ oh, it’s not bad it’s about equality, how can that be bad”. It’s not that simple. Feminism is beyond workplace equality. It’s about women having choices in life. It’s about having the right to a life.
The one outcome of feminism that is overlooked is the ability for women to choose their path. Choose where they will live. Who they will love. When and how many children they will have. When they will end a marriage. Of course such choices cannot take place without equality in education and employment. But, it is more than that. The biggest barrier to women throughout the world is paternalistic authoritarianism.
Paternalistic authoritarians basically believe that women are property that define their ego and status in society. Therefore, women cannot make choices that in any way threaten that prescribed male authority that is handed down in religion, laws and culture. This is what feminism fights against. This is not a battle that has ended. This is not a battle to take on reluctantly because some man may feel threatened. In fact, they should be threatened.
Look around the world every fundamentalist society is holding on to the patriarchal structure handed down with violence and force. From the Taliban to the gangs in Russia, they all share the goal to continue the subjegation of women as property. Even here in the USA, the men of fundamental religions are constantly attacking the laws that empower women with choices, specifically their choice as to when and how to have children. Feminism is not just about women getting a high tech job. Feminism is about life for women.
When a little girl in Pakistan is attacked because she is going to school, that is a feminist fight. When a young woman is sold into prostitution that is a feminist fight. When a woman is forced to have her fifth child because the church does not allow contraception, that is a feminist issue. When a young girl in Thailand marries a fat German man for a better life for her and her family, that is a feminist issue. When a young girl in Kentucky is forced to have a child from a rape, that is a feminist issue. When a woman stays in a bad marriage for the cost of healthcare, shelter and food, that is feminism. When women have no choice, that is a feminist fight.
How could I be a reluctant, or wavering feminist? Our work is not done. Till we stop the disease of authoritarian paternalism, the need for men to collectively use their power to oppress and repress women throughout the world, we cannot stop being feminists. In fact the work is starting. This authoritarian paternalism is in families, in towns, cultures, religions and nations.
Hillary Clinton said it really well, but I don’t think it’s limited to extremists.
“Why extremists always focus on women remains a mystery to me. But they all seem to. It doesn’t matter what country they’re in or what religion they claim. They all want to control women. They want to control how we dress. They want to control how we act. They even want to control the decisions we make about our own health and our own bodies. Yes, it is hard to believe but even here at home we have to stand up for women’s rights and we have to reject efforts to marginalize any one of us, because America has to set an example for the entire world.”
—Hillary Clinton
If the word feminism makes a man nervous, then he should look inside his own behavior, his history, his education. Why does it make him nervous? Why should he be threatened by women having choices in all aspects of their lives? Why should any man be afraid of feminism? Well, because the basis of their patriarchial inelianable right of authority,passed along from generation to generation, is crumbling. There is no justification for societies to control the lives of women, other than oppression.
It’s a new world order when the rules of how women should be treated in society do not come down from male created dieties and prophets. . Feminism is the struggle to give women choices and to eliminate the world order that gave men the power and the authority to limit those choices. Of course it makes everyone nervous and threatens them. Losing power that is handed down to you simply because of your sex and having to learn a whole new world is and should be threatening and scary.
I will never apologize for my feminism, or be reluctant. Neither will my daughter. Where did I get this from? In fact my father lit the fire to my feminist nature. He knew that my life depended on my ability to have choices.
