Marshall 1 Justice Marshall Professor Adrienne Cassel English Composition II Thursday March 27th 2014 Who Wears the

Pants in Feminism?

There seems to be a new recurring character in TV shows and movies. She goes by different names, but always has the same traits. Unshaved armpits, anger towards

Marshall 2 men, extremely pessimistic, became a lesbian to avoid males in general otherwise known as the stereotypical feminist. What they dont show you are all the other types of feminists. Not all feminists stop shaving their armpits and hate men that is not saying that those types of feminists are wrong, but it is becoming an archetype for all women who claim to be feminists to follow that mold of womanhood . Feminists, in reality, are anyone, male or female, that think women should be equal to men. Bring this definition up to a group of non-feminists and theyll flatly say that women are equal. Equality to them is a woman wearing a short dress and men telling her she is asking to be raped , equality to them is a woman getting paid 77cents to every dollar that a man makes, equality to them is a man voicing his opinion and being called a leader and a woman doing the same and being called a bitch. Equality to them is not the equality that feminists are striving to achieve. Feminists think equality is getting paid the same amount of money for the amount same work, feminists think equality is a woman being able to wear what she wants and not being cat-called on her way home, feminists think equality is a woman being a leader and not having to worry about being called insults just because she is a woman in a position of power. That is the equality that real feminists want. Feminism is important and necessary because women are humans just like men, and they require the same level of respect and dignity that a man does .

Marshall 3 Feminism is still important. In an ideal world, women would be treated as humans and not sex objects, and we wouldnt have to fight for our rights like we do now. But until society actually reaches such a point, feminism is very much relevant and important, (Khurram.) Women have being fighting for their right to be considered human for almost as long as there have been humans on the Earth . Women seem to be confused with sex dolls most of the time, being put on Earth to fulfill and obey men, while simultaneously not complaining about their submissive roles. But what most feminists want is simple. Today, [feminism] is at work in the countless local, state, and federal bills that attempt to codify the seemingly no-duh stance that gender should not be a factor in education, employment, housing, or anything else, (Fudge.)

Rape seems to be a huge womens issue currently. Most rape victims are questioned after the incident to gather information. However, certain questions (What were you wearing? Were you drunk? Did you ask for sex and then change your mind?) are unneccesary and degrading. Some universities have even changed the policies about rape so that most of the time it is considered delinquency as opposed to a lawbreaking offense (Khurram.) Rape is not taking seriously when the victims were wearing short dresses or were at a bar at the time. They were said to be asking for it, writing off

Marshall 4 their traumatic incident as their fault and therefore not a valid crime.

I need feminism because, Im not interested should be just as powerful as, I have a boyfriend, (Jha.) Many women feel as though they cannot help change the stigma against rape victims. However, there are options to help. Some organizations have started the Rape is Rape campaign. This campaign gives away rape screening kits to use DNA left by the rapists to identify them and put them into prison, (Feminist Majority Foundation.) This campaign has been effective in legally changing the definition of rape to make it more specific so defense attorneys cannot argue that the rapists did not act within the definition of rape. As Biden [USAs vice president] put it, "Look folks - rape is rape is rape, (Feminist Majority Foundation.)

If you talk to most women nowadays, they can all speak about at least one time when they felt like being a woman brought them down below men. Wherever I worked, I had to work four times as hard to be considered half as good as any of my male coworkers, (Personal Interview.) Women are frequently victims to being forced to work with men and, even if they do more work than their male counterparts, make less money regardless. This is called the wage-gap. This is a recurring issue that feminists are trying to end and fix. The larger problems are pay both how much women make comparable to men in the same field, and how much women-dominated industries make

Marshall 5 compared to male dominated industries, (Femisnist.com.) Women generally make .77 for every dollar a man makes. For the same amount of work, that is unethically and unfair. Some men like to argue that women get paid less because they take time off to have children or get pregnant. However, what happens to their argument when some women cannot or do not want to have children? Men take paternity leave and they still get paid more why is that? It seems people trying to rationalize the wage-gap only illustrate how little sense the practice actually makes. The amount of money someone makes should not be based on their genitalia. Getting paid should be based on the quality of the amount of work that someone completes. Feminism is still necessary and important because women should be considered humans that are equal to and worthy of the same things men are. But feminism is not just a womans issue. Most importantly, men need feminism because it is the revolutionary tool that we as individual men can use to redefine masculinity and fight sexist oppression on cultural, institutional, and individual levels. Why care? Why help fight sexism? Because all of us have women in our lives that we deeply care about on some level Mothers, sisters, grandmothers, godmothers, daughters, aunts, girlfriends, wives, friends, etc, (Urbina.) Men are just as affected by the gender inequality as women. When men do not live up to societys expectations of what a man sho uld be, they are called girls. As if being a woman is the biggest insult to anyone ever. This is why feminism is important to everyone, not just women. The fight for equality is still alive and well today. Women and men everywhere are joining together to reclaim the title of feminism and help change the world into an accepting and understanding environment for everyone, no matter what gender they

Marshall 6 identify as. Although it would be easier to just assume we are all equal, there are enough facts to argue otherwise. Feminism is the radical notion that women are humans, and thats a radical notion everyone should agree with.

Works Cited "Feminist.com." Feminist.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.

"Feminist Majority Foundation - Breaking News, Feminism from Affirmative Action to Sexual Harassment to Women's Sports." Feminist Majority Foundation,. N.p., n.d. Web.

Fudge, Rachel. "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Feminism But Were Afraid to Ask." Bitch Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.

Khurram, Shanzeh. "Feminism: What It Is and Why It's Still Important | SPARK

Marshall 7 Movement." SPARK Movement RSS. Spark, n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.

Jha, Rega. "BuzzFeed." BuzzFeed. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.

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Mar. 2014.

Urbina, Michael. "On the Importance of Feminism in Mens Lives." Michael Urbina. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.

"Why Feminism Is Important to Me." Personal interview. 15 Mar. 2014.