This past summer, “The Odyssey Online” published an article titled, “I Am A Female And I Am So Over Feminists.” It has been shared nearly 200,000 times.
The popularity of this article should not be taken lightly.
Author Gina Davis claims that women in the U.S. are doing just fine. She called the idea that society is unfair to women “a load of bull” and wrote, “Relax, feminists. We’re OK.”
With all due respect to Gina Davis, that’s a load of bull.
Modern American society is far from “fair.” Look no further than our college community to see that. Promiscuous men are admired as “players,” while women are chastised as “sluts.” Folks ask, “what were you wearing?” to rape victims, instead of “what are we teaching young men?” A woman CEO is “bossy,” while a man CEO is just “doing his job.” And time after time, through abuse and harassment, we are told, “boys will be boys.”
I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time feeling like any of this is “OK.” Instead of the equal society that Davis portrays, I see women caught in a cycle of shaming and objectification—criticized when we try to live up to societal standards but ostracized when we break from those norms.
On top of this, women of color, LGBT women, and women of size are pushed to the margins of society, stripped of opportunities in a maxim-model-worshipping world. Whether we like it or not, women face a painful gap between human potential and societal possibilities.
But the sexism that permeates our society isn’t just impacting women. All people are limited from achieving their goals when gender rules our perceptions and interactions. To this day, gender continues to separate and confine us, rather than helping us live our most authentic lives.
That’s why we all need feminism. It’s not about “girl domination.” It’s about breaking the barriers of gender so that everyone can feel free in their skin.
Whether you identify as a man, woman, agender, transgender—you deserve to be treated as a human being. Gender is a beautiful form of self-identification, but it is abused by our society to divide and disempower people.
I refuse to be a slave to my society, I refuse to be a slave to my gender, and I refuse to let people like Gina Davis convince me that feminists need to “stop the complaining” about the real and serious challenges women face every day. An attitude of complacency never got women anywhere, and it certainly won’t progress us toward a just and equal future.
It’s time we take feminism seriously. This isn’t a worthless fight. Feminism is a movement of inspired, passionate individuals aiming to create a world that works for everyone. So thank you, feminists—I am so not over you.
This article is adapted from the May 10, 2016 article, “Why I’m So Not Over Feminists,” originally published on theodysseyonline.com.
