I've known I was a feminist since I first learned the word in the sixth grade. My favorite teacher in the whole world, Mrs. Forney, was my sixth grade history teacher and she taught our class all about the American Revolution and early American history. One day I raised my hand and asked; “But where are all the women? Why don't we ever learn about them?” Mrs. Forney smiled and said “I'm so glad we have a feminist amongst us!” From then on, I knew I was different, special, and of course, a feminist.
I am currently a junior at Rutgers University, majoring in Journalism and Media Studies and minoring in Women & Gender Studies. I never questioned either because I've always wanted to work for a magazine, so both my major and minor seemed like a no-brainer. I've taken several classes now dealing with the treatment of women in the media, and in a similar fashion to when someone points out the major flaw in your crush, like how he's too short, once you notice the ill-treatment of women in commercials, movies, music videos, television, fashion, and advertising, you can't stop.
Our society has built up a tolerance towards to demeaning images of women, so many people think that the idea of “feminism” is over. Somehow, most people if you speak with them, women included, believe that there is equality between the two sexes, or, even worse, that men are greater than women and “that's just the way it is.” Just as I did at 10 years old, I still have a hard time grasping at the idea of so many people in the United States as ill-informed and gullible as this. It blows my mind.
Every girl should know the name Gloria Steinem. If you don't, well, you should Google her. She was, and still is, just about the coolest individual I have ever Googled. Last summer I watched a documentary entitled “Gloria: In Her Own Words” on HBO, which discussed Steinem and her many contributions to the Women's Liberation movement as well as her work as a journalist and founder of Ms. magazine. She protested and fought for the voices of women to be heard, and printed a magazine in which the idea feminism can be published and spread to the mass public. And she did it all with amazing style. Basically, she is my hero.
Where is the Gloria Steinem of today? Why is it that the media still portrays women in power like Hilary Clinton as “bitches”, and how they could never become president because of “fear of mood swings and pms.” ARE THEY SERIOUS? Why do people get to speak this way about women, who make up 51% of the country, and yet only 17% of the government is women. How is this fair?
We need a return to the education of women about who we are. We need someone to take a stance against the injustices still going on, especially those created by the media. The exploitation of teenagers, is a topic I feel very strongly about. I hate how teenage girls are treated. We have been depicted as vapid, greedy, TOO SKINNY, blonde, bitchy, immature but sexually mature, backstabbing and evil. Once more, we take the images seen in the media and actually believe that this is how a teenage girl should act. Why must I be sexually active, blonde, 100 pounds, and completely vapid in order to fit into “mainstream society?”
I write this not to attack but to inform. I am a straight, 19 year old girl from a good middle class upbringing, and I want to inform all of you readers, who are quite possibly the coolest young women around, that it's okay to take a stand. It's okay to speak up about ill-treatment, to blog about it, to research people like Gloria Steinem, and to write articles like this. It's okay to say “knock it off” to your male friends when they tell you to make them a sandwich. It doesn't make you seem crazy or “overreacting” and just because you say you are a feminist does not mean you are a man hater. We don't hate men, we hate how women are depicted. This is the not the same thing. I'm not saying everyone has to agree with me, but don't let the media decide what a woman can and can't do. We are the next generation in control of this country, and we shouldn't take this shit any more.
-Abigail
