The F-word and why it's not a dirty word

The F-word - you're all probably thinking 'f*&k' or some other typical swear word - nope, I'm talking about Feminism. 

Before I start, if you're a troll or you're just going to be one of the keyboard warriors then please do not waste your time reading this or even bothering to comment. They'll just be ignored and deleted. This is not a hateful post, this is me as a blogger expressing my thoughts and feelings about Feminism and why I - the owner of this blog - believe we still need it today. 

Firstly, contrary to popular belief, Feminism is not about men haters who burn our bras in protest all the time! It's actually about equality for both women and men across the board of society. If you check out the Oxford English Dictionary - you'll see the definition there too.

Image from www.quotesvalley.com

This post has come about because I was in my Women's Writing & Feminist Theory class the other day and I just went into a deep thought about the struggle for equality throughout the centuries and the inequalities we face still today. It was pretty emotional, my mind was just mind blown. I've always known that as women we have been disadvantaged because of our gender but I've not actually  thought about how disadvantaged we actually were and are.

Arguably, we have made great progress with the idea that we have access to education, voting, birth control etc. But then in other parts of the world in the 21st Century there are countries where women are even more disadvantaged purely because of their gender. It's actually quite upsetting to think that we have these basic human privileges and there are still young girls and women who don't have access to them. It just makes me sit and wonder - what if I was in their shoes? How would I cope? Would I try and break the mould or would I just accept that it's just 'how it is'? Honestly, I really don't know - until I'm in their position I can't comment on the situations, I can only wonder.

People will say things like ''Feminism isn't needed'' or ''Who even cares about this stuff anymore?''

When in actual fact, Feminism is most definitely needed and people do care. Think about all the women of history who have fought long and hard for the privileges we have today - the vote is a prime example and in some countries they still don't have the vote.

The ongoing discussions of FGM, arranged marriages, trafficking in young girls and women (this also happens for young boys and men), unequal pay, unequal maternity/paternity leave, the list could go on. Rape is something else entirely - the stigma with rape, how people go years without saying anything because of the rape culture that exists today - how a woman dresses or looks "Oh she deserved it, she was asking for it" - No. No she wasn't and no she does not deserve it. People need to learn the word NO and the definition of consent. Same goes for women who rape men - there is a particular stigma around that too which needs dealing with because rape is rape and entirely unacceptable in every possible aspect.
These are all just examples as to why we still need Feminism. 

Another thing as well - people are afraid to outright say : ''Hey, I'm a Feminist!'' - I was one of those people. It wasn't until I came to uni and was actually educated on Feminism and equality that I was like yeah ok, I'm a Feminist! I think the word Feminism brings in a lot of negativity from social media and it shouldn't. The amount of times I see posts like "Oh, Feminists are all bra burning, men hating lesbians" Well... I'm a Feminist. I don't hate men, I don't burn bras and I'm in a long term heterosexual relationship!

Something I want to know is why are people so afraid of equality for men and women? Like why is that such a scary concept for people? Don't you want to be treated the same? Don't you want equal pay? The same rights that men have? If you do then you are a Feminist.

I asked a few people what they think Feminism is and this is what they had to say:

First up is my housemate and best friend Jade. She stands up for what she believes in, she says it how it is. Jade commented on a blog post I did a couple months ago about clothing sizes in retail - you can check that post out here. Jade pretty much hits the nail on the head with her comments about Feminism because she's right - we don't hate men, we want equality for both women and men!

Next is Jessie Bartholomew, who also commented on one of my previous posts surround clothing sizes in retail. Jessie is the Women's Officer for University of Lincoln, so I was dying to get her comments because I knew Jessie would have so much to say as she is super passionate!

Now, I really struggled to find any males willing to make any comments or contribution to this post, I knew it would've been difficult because of the stigma attached to Feminism but I didn't think it would be THAT tough. Thankfully - Rob was lovely enough to help me out. Rob pinpoints everything wrong with society and says it so brilliantly, I'm in awe of him. 

I asked a couple bloggers what they think and first up is Izzy McLeod! Her Twitter name is: @muccycloud and here is a link to her blog: http://www.muccycloud.com I have only very recently discovered Izzy through her kindly helping me out with this post and I absolutely love her blog, its flawless. I look forward to every new post she does and I'm glad that I've found her blog. I definitely recommend you check her blog out - I'm sure you'll fall in love just as quick as I did!

Next is Laura, you can find her Twitter account here:@laurabutcher91 and her blog is: http://lifebylaurax.com Again, like Izzy - I didn't discover Laura until she wanted to comment on my blog and again I'm glad she did. I really enjoy her blog, Laura blogs mostly about lifestyle with makeup routines, travelling and more. She recently did a blog post about the Suffragette movie that's just been released here in the UK - you can check that out here - it's a really good read and I'm sure it won't disappoint. 

Last but not least, we have Lindsey. Her Twitter is: @SparrowsBlog You can find her blog here: http://sparrowsblog.co.uk Lindsey has the cutest puppy called Dexter, her blog seems to centre around lifestyle, food and photography. Her blog is flawless and her pictures are brilliant.

As you can see from the comments, everyone's saying similar things - so yes we do need Feminism, yes we still face inequalities today, yes we have come a long way but there are still so many more disadvantaged. No, we don't hate men. No, we don't burn our bras. If there are any Feminists out there who do behave that way - then they are what I would call 'Radical Feminists' just like you get radicals in every social group, race and religion. Something I think that is definitely helping is the amount of Celebrities speaking up and saying that they are a Feminist. There are so many campaigns going on promoting equality - we need this change. It would be just wonderful if one morning we woke up to a world declaration of equality. The sad reality is that we have such a long way to go and at this rate I may not even see equality be a thing. This is why we need to campaign for our rights. If the women in the history books did it, why can't we?

That's it for today! I hope you enjoyed the read. Like I said at the start of this post - any trolls or keyboard warriors please don't waste your time. Make sure you follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Bloglovin for updates on the blog and daily life. Thanks again as always for reading, thank you to all the people who helped me out in this post, I really appreciate it, your comments help tremendously and every little helps. I'll post again soon,