“THIS PICTURE WILL NOT CHANGE THE WORLD, BUT I STILL NEED FEMINISM AND I’M GOING TO REALLY, REALLY TELL आप WHY”:
-Because I got called a whore for wearing a short plaid स्कर्ट when I was 10
-and because when Nujood Ali from Yemen was 10 she got divorced
-Because black girls’ names became my classmates’ प्रिय “joke” when I was 11
-and because when an 11-year-old girl in Texas was raped द्वारा 18 men the New York Times wrote of how the girl “dressed older than her age”
-Because I started counting calories when I was 14
-and because when Malala Yousafzai was 14 she was shot in the head for trying to go to school
-Because I heard a boy greet a girl with “hey slut” today at age 16
-and because when a 16-year-old girl in Steubenville, Ohio was filmed being raped द्वारा two boys at a party while unconscious the CNN reporters talked about how tragic it was because the rapists had such bright futures as athletes
-Because I will have to watch my drink at all bars and parties when I am 22
-and because when CeCe McDonald was 22 she was sentenced to 41 months in prison for defending herself against a man who screamed transphobic, racist insults at her and then slashed her face with a bottle
-Because no matter what age I am the biggest threat to men will still be दिल disease, and the biggest threat to women will still be men.
-Because it is not just about me, because it is not just about anger, because it is not just a JOKE, because it is not just about “hating men,” because it is not just about girls with vaginas, because it is not just about ending “slut”, because it is not just about white straight girls in Rookie magazine, because it is not just about लेखन on backs, because it is not just about the fact that gay men are “fags” but लेज़्बीयन are “hot,” because it is not just about pictures of thin white girls being the only गूगल image results for the खोजिए phrase “beautiful women”, because it is not just about लेखन signs, because it is not just about what she was wearing या how many times she कहा yes before she changed her answer to no, because misogyny is not just about one thing and feminism is not just about one thing and it is not just “a trend” and it will not “happen” in just one way.
-And because yes. It is about equality for EVERYONE, but first and foremost it needs to be about equality for girls, because they are not treated equally to men, in every single sense, and आप are not going to take feminism away from me and call me bossy/hostile/aggressive and make this about yourself या make it into a joke, because truth be told, I’m not joking and I’m tired of explaining. If आप want to call yourself a feminist, आप work hard to spread feminism, आप do not turn this into a contest of whose struggle is greater and constantly demand to know what आप can get out of feminism personally. Feminism is not just about you, या me, it is about everyone. If you’re male and you’re tired of men being stereotyped as hyper-masculine, soulless, sexist, inherent leader-tyrant creatures, then go out and prove the patriarchy wrong and fight for girls, like someone with a soul who believes in equality would. Then, yes, feminism will be about everyone.
