Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Midnight Rant

It is exactly 12:17 AM right now, New Year's Eve. I'm here in my bed thinking about the world like the little aspiring activist I am, instead of a) sleeping like the normal people out there, or b) posting stupid sentimental junk on facebook like the other girls/women/female things my age: #Newyear #2014yolo and all that beautiful rubbish. So now that I'm here, and I've began typing, and my brain is in full writing-mode, I might as well grace you all with insight into what I'm thinking about.
As a young girl/woman/female thing who's in high school  I have begun thinking more seriously about where I stand, and what I believe in. I've always had I set standing on the bigger things such as religion and not touching anything conservative with a ten foot pole (sorry Sarah Palin),  but I'm just coming into the realization that I can actually identify as something besides "teenage girl". I'm not sure who's reading this, but if you are older and don't remember what it's like- it's exciting to be able to identify as this and that, and to say "I believe this" and stand by it. Some of us teens identify with clothing, some of us begin identifying with political and social ideals (though I knew mine by the time I was 6, and was advocating gay rights and picketing for better education funding like any other first grader), some identify through music, and for me, I've started identifying with my inner-roar of feminist power. Yes. I am a feminist.
What saddens me greatly is that we live in a society where the word "feminist" is thrown around like a dirty insult.
"Ugh, look at her. She's a feminist. With her unshaved armpits and legs, and lack of femininity, eew."  
All of a sudden, girls/women/female things who dare to speak up and demand equality of the sexes are stone age hippies with no personal hygiene. Also, the wide misconception that feminism is the belief that women are greater than men, rather than the truth that is the demand for equality really ticks me off.
BeyoncĂ© knows. 
Anyways, women are stronger then men, so even if feminism was about that, it wouldn't be wrong. How dare she say such things? Yes, I'm so horrible for saying that women are stronger then men. But look at us! We may have less muscle mass, and not be able to grow immense amounts of facial hair, or sing bass in a choir, but we do have our own superpowers (I'm Not implying that growing facial hair is a super power...). Throughout history, we women have been treated like such dirt. I don't think I have to remind you all that women were considered to be, as a whole, less intelligent then men, less capable, and much more helpless well into the 1900s. Seriously people, that wasn't that long ago. We cooked and cleaned and popped out babies like the good wives we were. And have you seen the clothes women wore back then? carry 20 pound of clothes around everyday, while also being sewn into a tight corset squeezing everything into doll-like proportions in itself shows our resilience and strength. Obviously we didn't take the discrimination quietly, or else women wouldn't even be able to vote or wear pants or drive or do anything of that manly nature. Women work hard. We do. We fought hard for our rights, and still are.  Just dealing with the ignorance of men in our society should be a full time job. Kidding (or not). 
We have successfully remained an irresistible fascination to the male species, and while we can use our feminine allure as an advantage, often times it does seem to distract men from our mental abilities. Just the fact that "Dumb Blonde" is a statement proves me right. I will not stereotype men, because that would be awfully hypocritical, and I strive not to be that, but I will say generally, men do like to think that women are somehow inferior because then they can step in with their lumberjack arms and husky voice, and protect us from the dark and confusing world. Well my attempt at not stereotyping just failed, but you get my point. It's not one sided though, and that makes it worse. Women like the attention. I think we sometimes settle for less, or make ourselves seem vulnerable and defenseless so that a man will swoop into our lives and say something like
"Now don't hurt yourself, little miss. Let me take care of that" in a deep, peanut-butter smooth voice while we bat our eyelashes and say thank you. God, I need to stop with these horrible gender stereotypes. But my point is being delivered, is it not? regardless of my slightly hyperbolic scenarios, the message is the same. Women, you need to stop settling for less just because men have been getting a better cut for the past forever.  And stop hating on the feminists people. We aren't wild yetis roaming the streets, shouting crazed propaganda and burning our bras. 

Goodnight kiddos
Panteha

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