How can you call yourself a feminist when you grow out your hair, shave your legs and wear makeup? Easy — demand respect, regardless of gender.
Since learning about feminism in high school, I have been forced to define and redefine the concept as the media portrayed and slayed each of my female idols.
Beyoncé announced her Mrs. Carter tour and the feminist community went wild. How could a woman claiming that girls run the world advocate taking your husband’s last name?
I started out at LSU as a women’s and gender studies major, but was discouraged when a teacher said feminists cannot have kinks — as if my demand for equality and respect has anything to do with what I do in my bedroom.
When we make feminism an award to compete for, everyone gets tired of it. We can’t shame people for liking a song or having sex with someone in the name of feminism.
This is the feminist myth that a columnist for The Guardian debunked in a blog post speculating feminism and motherhood.
“Feminism’s job is not to reassure you that you are a good woman. Feminism is here to question what we mean by woman and ask whose version of good we’re adhering to,” Sarah Ditum wrote.
Unfortunately, many college students use feminism to back up radical appearance changes, finding assurance in the concept of girl power.
There has been a lot of talk around campus of the different ways to liberate yourself as a young female in college. One way that keeps coming up is to cut all of your hair off, liberating yourself from the standards of beauty.
For every young woman who cuts her hair off, there is another who refuses to shave. Is either a better example of feminism? No.
Feminism cannot be a fashion statement, and there is no one way for a feminist to dress.
And what about the men I have watched grow into feminists, despite their severe lack of female genitalia? We can’t exclude those who don’t fit into our imaginary idea of what feminism should look like.
Don’t mistake your personal preference for a boyish hairstyle for a feminist’s obligation.
Feminism is an important political and social movement striving for the safety and equality of women. But we won’t think about that in a society that pits woman against woman and shames us for our choices.
This competition between women to be the greater feminist does nothing to create a safer world for women, and it only destroys what we have already accomplished. We are wasting time when we have to repeatedly say, “Yes, I am a feminist, but …”
Whenever I discuss human sexuality topics with anyone, I am always asked the same question: “How can you be a feminist and defend pornography, BDSM, prostitution, etc.?”
Because I believe women are capable of making the appropriate choices for themselves.
There is a difference between the feminist choice and the right choice for individual women, as long-time feminist activist Kate Harding said in a blog post defending her choice to take her husband’s last name.
“Look, you’re a feminist who, in this particular case, made the non-feminist choice. That’s all. I assume it was the right choice for you, or you wouldn’t have done it, and that’s fine! But feminism is not, in fact, all about choosing your choice,” Harding wrote.
Our beliefs and choices as women do not define or devalue feminism, because feminism is not about your individual choices. We can be feminists and not make the feminist choice.
Feminism is a demand for respect and equality, regardless of personal choices regarding your gender roles. I demand respect, not because I am a woman, but because I am a human being.
Jana King is a 19-year-old communication studies sophomore from Ponchatoula, La.