Newspaper Opinion Piece--In Defense of the F-Word

In Defense of the F-word

People often throw the F-word around without understanding its true meaning; and no, I do not mean the four-letter word you’re thinking of right now. I’m talking about another F-word—Feminism! While the meaning of feminism seems pretty straight forward and simple—the social, political, and economic equality of women to men—if you go to any comment section for an article about a feminist cause you’ll see that this is not the general consensus. Statements beginning with, “A true feminist is/does/believes…” run rampant, and each “true” feminist statement or belief contradicts the other. At the same time, others comment about self-proclaimed feminists being man-haters, baby-killers, and much, much worse. As a Facebook savvy woman I’ve developed a habit of reading these kinds of comments and being filled with a sense of dread, disgust, horror, sadness, anxiety, anger, confusion, and countless other mixed emotions. Why the hatred? Why the name-calling? Why the ignorance?

Now, what I’m saying here is nothing new—social media comment sections are known to exhibit the…less than pleasant…qualities of humanity. “Just stop reading the comment sections!” you say. And honestly, I should, because feeling disgust, horror, sadness, anxiety, anger and confusion daily is not good for my mental or spiritual health. I’ll stop, or I’ll limit my comment reading, but first, I would like to voice 3 general responses to some of the comments I have read on social media concerning feminism.

1. You don’t have to call yourself a feminist to be one.

Many people have an aversion to labels. That’s okay! You can still be a feminist without wearing a nametag proclaiming the fact to everyone. Do you think women should have the same social, political, and economical power as men? Do you think your mother, sister, girlfriend, female friends, female colleagues, and the entire female sex deserves the same opportunities and respect as any man? Are you appalled at the violence and discrimination women and girls still experience throughout the world? Yes? Then you are a feminist. Welcome to the club you were already part of! Nametags are not required.

2. Feminism and the Pro-Life Movement are not at odds with each other.

The pro-life movement does not believe that a child in the womb is more precious than the mother’s life or well being, but that both lives are of equal and immense value. Pro-life individuals are not woman-haters, or simply pro-birth. People who are pro-life are generally supportive of mothers and children at all stages of development and life—for both individuals. Conversely, pro-choice individuals are not inherently evil baby-killers. Both movements have the best interest of women in mind, but different approaches to the issue. How about instead of arguing and name-calling, we have a human conversation that is based upon kindness and compassion?

3. Feminism IS necessary

Especially in western countries, women have made huge strides to acquire the equality we deserve. However, we cannot deny that females still face obstacles that men do not. We can debate about the wage gap issue. Go ahead and throw around statistics arguing each side of that. We can talk about females in the work place, catcalling and stay at home moms. But to those naysayers, who think that feminism is no longer necessary, think again, because the world is bigger than America. There are still countries where women are not allowed or given the opportunity to receive an education simply because they are female. There are places where women cannot vote. There are places with no laws against husbands beating their wives. The list goes on and on. We can have the conversation about sexism in first world countries, and whether or not it is as much of a problem as we feminists say it is. (Conclusion: yes it is.) But until women across the globe receive the same opportunities as men, then yes, feminism is necessary.

So when we’re on F-book, talking about the F-word, let’s not be rude and unkind and use the other F-word. We are all human beings who deserve equal opportunities, respect and compassion. Let’s stop arguing about whether or not feminism is necessary, and make the world a place where it’s not.