The Inherent Need for Feminism

       Yesterday's post was heavy, right? Hard stuff. Strong words. I probably said a bunch of things that made a bunch of people upset. I'd apologize, but the people I upset are most likely the ones I was speaking out against, so what's the point? I love my country. I love what my country stands for. And I believe that the people in it can be and will be better. That said, let's talk about another big issue: feminism.
       I have said in previous posts that I am a feminist, and I stand by that statement. I am 100% a feminist. I believe it is something that the world sorely needs. That being said, there are a lot of people these days speaking out against it saying that egalitarianism is the better option. But by shutting down feminism and saying something else is better, aren't you really proving that feminism is still something that is needed? Telling women that their fight for equality is wrong and that they should be fighting for egalitarianism seems a little hypocritical. Egalitarianism, for those who don't know, is the idea that all peoples should be equal. Kinda seems like feminism is one of those steps towards an egalitarian society. Yet tons of self-proclaimed egalitarians are shutting feminists down, which is exactly why I still label myself as a feminist. I want a society where everyone is truly equal, and I believe feminism is one of the steps towards achieving that. From what I have experienced, most egalitarians are using their beliefs to tell women that they don't have it that bad in comparison to some other people so they should just quit their bitchin'. Intentional word choice is super intentional. The thing is, feminists are fighting towards equal rights for everyone, where it seems that egalitarians (the ones that I have met mostly white males from North America (I know personal experiences are anecdotal at best, but it's all I have)) are basically just saying everyone has it bad, so what does it matter? I am a white male-type person, I know that I have it easier than other people. I've seen it first hand, and it bothers me!
        It truly baffles me how people claiming to want equal rights for everyone can hate on a group that is also fighting for equal rights! I had a person try to mansplain egalitarianism to me in a truly demeaning way that was supposed to question my intelligence! There was one problem (there were a bunch, but), he misspelled egalitarianism every time he said it. Worse, it was a different mistake every time. Suffice to say, my intelligence was not greatly shaken.
        I say this again and again, but the fact that so many people take offense to, and argue against, feminism shows exactly why we still need it. People decry it and say that the information being put forward is false. I am unashamedly a feminist, not an egalitarian. I want equal rights for all people. I want people to paid the same as each other for the same job and experience. I want people to be treated the same while on the job, be they male or female! Feminism is the first of many steps before true equality. Egalitarianism is trying to fight an entire war at once instead of one battle at a time. Feminism is one battle. If we focus on one battle we can win. If we focus on the entire war and not the individual battles we will lose. We can only fight on so many fronts at once.  

I am a feminist

    Remember when I said that my next blog was going to be an important one, then I didn't even write one? And when I did, it was just an apology? No? None of you remember that? Thank goodness.
     Well, the time has come. This is it. The foretold important one. Usually when I do this, I say something really lame and unimportant after it... maybe I shouldn't be building this up so much.
     I am a feminist. I believe that all humans, man, woman, and everyone else (myself being part of the else, calm down) deserve to and should be treated with equality. I realize that I appear very masculine, and I know I may draw a lot of flak for that reason by talking about this, but it's a chance I'm willing to take.
     Feminism is an important topic and issue, that everyone should be talking about. That being said, it is beyond ridiculous that it is still an issue! As Prime Minister Trudeau said when asked why his cabinet was equal, it's 2015. We shouldn't be worried that people are being paid less just because of their gender, we shouldn't be worried that there's a second class of citizen because of their gender. We live in a civilized world where we can watch our favourite teen dramas online whenever we want, but we can't have equality? Instead we have people arguing that feminism is stupid, that the facts behind inequality are wrong, and we have rampant sexism "mansplaining" things to us lower beings who believe it!
     The mansplainers don't just target women either, they go after the male feminists too! It's like they can't believe that a man could want equality! It's happened to me! I used to think mansplaining was one of those things that happened to other people but would never happen to me. Boy, was I wrong.
     I'm off topic.
     I felt that it was important that I come out as feminist. I'm pretty sure no one thought that I wasn't, but it's much better to actually just straight up say that I am.
    I believe, possibly controversially, that it is very important for males who believe in equality to label themselves as feminist. If we could have every person who believes in equality stand up and declare themselves a feminist, what are the mansplainers going to do? Mansplain to all of us why we're wrong? Actually, they probably would take the time and at least attempt to do just that...
     Equality shouldn't be something that we need to fight for. It's something that should be automatic. More and more people are coming to realize this, but the people against it (wtf people?) are getting more and more vocal. I know there are a lot of males out there who support the movement, but won't come out in vocal support in fear of their peers calling them names and personally attacking them! That's what the enemies of feminism have in their arsenal: name calling. That's extent of their armoury. And they think they have a point! They don't see how backward and damaging their thinking is to the world. The sad thing is, these are the people who are super vocal about the "evils of Islam", and as more ignorant people agree with them on that, they'll start agreeing that feminism is wrong too! They'll start using terms like "feminazi" whenever a woman speaks out, they'll start making the sexist jokes that they've always secretly believed, and we will stay exactly where we are.
     I am feminist. I believe in equality for the entire human race. I've spoken out against racists and Islamophobes, but I haven't publicly spoken out against sexism, and by not doing that I'm enabling them. I don't want to enable them. They are wrong. They need to spoken against. I need to be more outspoken in my stance on feminism. My support needs to be more visible.
      Feminism isn't some evil plot by women to take over the world. It's a fight against an outdated, sexist, racist, and xenophobic system that needs to be torn down. The fact that people take offence to term, shows exactly how much it is still needed in our world.
     I am a feminist. I hope you are too.