What is Feminism?

This question can best be answered by telling you what feminism isn't. Most importantly, it has nothing to do with man-hating!  Feminists do not hate men! We are not all butch women and/or lesbians that burn bras and don't shave. Some of us (me) have pink cell-phone covers, glittery nail polish, a collection of pumps, and dream of fantasy weddings. Others are vegan, dread-locked, patchouli wearers. Others wear mom jeans and drive mini-vans.  Others are vegan, glitter wearing, butch, lesbian, moms. Most importantly, some are men.

Feminism is the simple belief that women are people. It is the belief that nobody has the right to judge you by how conventionally pretty you may or may not be.  It's the belief that you can be any kind of woman you want to be. It is the belief that "boys don't cry" is bullshit. Yeah you heard me.

It has everything to do with boys.

I mean, it starts with raising our boys to understand what consent is. And like we raise our kids to look beyond skin color, we raise them to look beyond gender. If a girl is an asshole she's an asshole, but men need to give all women the same chance to prove that first. Same goes for intelligence! And beauty! We all know the hottest girl can be ugly if she's mean and rude. And it shouldn't be a rare thing to find a gentleman that loves your brain.  It shouldn't be ok for men to refer to any woman as "honey" or "sweetheart" or "babe". Like do I know you? And same goes for men not being allowed to be sensitive, or take paternity leave, or wear pink, or get a pedicure, or not like beer and sports. OH and it means I shouldn't have to work so hard to cover up my cleavage if boys can wear shirts that say "cool story babe, now go make me a sand which" and not offend anyone.

So the next time you hesitate to call yourself a feminist, ask yourself:

Do I like being able to wear jeans?  Do I like voting rights? Isn't it nice to be able to leave the house without a man? Do I want to make more money? Wouldn't it be nice to leave the house after dark and not be afraid of being raped? Is my red dress a literal invitation to be raped? (That answer to that one is no by the way).

So say it. I. Am. A. Feminist.

Take the word back. Feminist. It means women are people too.