Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a feminist and have been since I was old enough to think. I’m proud to be a woman, and proud to support equal rights for everyone, regardless of gender or race. I normally don’t feel the need to state things like that, but this election has me, and I’m sure many other people, going crazy.
In light of that, I decided to watch a documentary called “She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry” (on Netflix!) about the beginning of the feminism movement in the 1960s and 70s.
Because here’s what’s up: feminism is necessary. Sexism is not even close to being over, as this election has shown time and time again. Feminism does not mean hating anyone; it means wanting equality for everyone. So for your friend or auntie or weird uncle who says, “Why?”, well tell them that without feminism, women couldn’t: own a house/car or open a credit card without a husband/father signing for them; have a job that wasn’t as a secretary, let alone be paid the same amount of money as a man for it, which we are still struggling for today; be seen as a human being, independent of labels such as mother or wife; get an abortion, go on the pill, aka have freedom in their (sexual) health; and the list could go on and on.
My point isn’t to say, “But that was the past” or “Look at how good we have it now” but rather this: if we forget where these rights came from, how hard hundreds and thousands of women worked for them, we will lose them again. I’m not being dramatic. Need I say his name?
This also isn’t an endorsement of Hillary Clinton, although I’m sure if you’re reading this you already know that I LOVE her. The only thing we don’t agree on is the state of the country: she believes it’s always been great, I believe it’s never been great. But that’s a blog post for another day.
This is an encouragement to take an hour and a half from your very busy lives to watch this documentary. To remind yourselves (especially women) what women’s lives were like 60 years ago, and if you’re okay with how they were, then continue on your way. But be sure to leave your credit/debit cards at the door, along with your independence, well-paying job, and birth control.
I think we are forgetting how hard women had to fight for things we consider as basics todays, and we need to acknowledge them and their fight, and thank them for it. Because without it, we would all be living very, very different lives.
But a little about the documentary itself. It’s an eye-opening story about the first feminists who created the organizations that fought for women’s rights, and their later divisions. It does not leave out the bad parts, but rather acknowledges them. As one of the party leaders said, “Telling the truth and talking is very revolutionary.”
We are feminists. We are revolutionaries. And for anyone still reading this who doesn’t like the word, who thinks feminism is a shameful or irrelevant term, I say to you that the truly shameful thing is that we still live in a society today that treats half of its population as second class citizens.