Personal Narrative: The Silhouette Of Young Women

I am not a repressed housewife. I am not a sweet dormouse that fears making waves. I am a millennial, and I am loud. I am a person who believes in America, and its policy of justice for all. Feminism is a huge aspect of our society. It's hard to scroll through social media without seeing a post about infringement on women's rights. I've never considered myself to be a feminist, and I still don't. However, one incident changed the way that I looked at the world, and how safe I felt within it. This incident showed me who I want to be in the world. My mom and I had just stopped at a Hardee's not too far from my small hometown. We were returning from a college tour downstate, and were starving by the time we reached Manistique. We could smell

A famous actor once stated “But I learned that there’s a certain character that can be built from embarrassing yourself endlessly. If you can sit happy with embarrassment, there's not much else that can really get to ya.” However, I did not quite agree with the man when I was embarrassed directly in front of my friends and adults. That day I will never forget, I had made the biggest fool out of myself, and I had just given proof to the stories about women being terrible drivers.

For me there is no one setting in which I am surrounded by people whose beliefs differ from mine. As an intersectional feminist I believe that all women should be able to live and walk through the world unaffected by prejudice, or fear of being attacked the same way that men do. This includes women of color, lesbian and transgender women. I am the gay son of two Mexican born parents so I think that I have faced my share of bias. Consequently, to me, this thing about women is simple. Easy to understand and agree with. However, in a very short amount of time I have come to find that there is no shortage of people all around me that disagree with these simple facts. In my experience, school contains the biggest supply of such people. No big deal, only the place that I stay in for eight hours a day to learn and work in.

Generations, both younger and older, can teach us many different things. My 2nd grade teacher taught me a lesson I will probably never forget. As a little kid, I did not behave very well, at school or at home. But my 2nd grade helper teacher, Ms. Brosnan, knew I was capable of more than that. After what she taught me here, I have behaved ever since.

My best friend's name is Hailey Nesci. We met here at the University of Kentucky on the second day of school. It turns out that her cousin is one of my best guy friends at home- a suburb outside of Chicago. Days before leaving for school, Max (Hailey's cousin), told me to look out for his cousin because she was going to be rushing a sorority at UK just like me. In no way did I ever think I would actually meet her, let alone be best friends with her to this day, but when the first day of school came around we got assigned to the same "rush group" for our sorority. We all introduced ourselves and said where we were from. On the second day, we were walking around campus with our group and I asked her where in Chicago she was from, because she

The lyrics ran through my head as I scrolled through my Instagram feed. In a time where a small waist and big butt were in fashion, it came more naturally than I anticipated for women to encourage each other to ‘improve their looks’. The more I scrolled, the more I realized that women validated themselves by their physical appearance, finding more worth in the curve of their hips rather than the flexibility of their thoughts.

Just as Hasselstrom describes, I have felt resentful, vulnerable, and angry; due to society's twisted perspective of women.

This past weekend, my best friend Jalisa drove from Ohio to Washington D.C. to participate in the Women’s March. I was very excited to see her because I had not seen her in five months. We both arrived at the march, but because of the crowds and the weak cell phone reception, I started to become worried. We texted each other back and forth, sending our locations to one another. Every time I attempted to map a route to her on my phone, it would not work. Then my phone rang, it was Jalisa. When I answered, she said, “My phone keeps on dying. I’m on 14th”. I replied, “14th street is a part of the march route, when we get there look for my sign it says ‘Support the Power of Women, Use the Power of Man’”. Our plan was set, but things did not go

My upbringing, up until college had a large impact on how I viewed gender. I believed strongly in the two gender binary, however, I was raised to be respectful and kind to people, so that lead to me being indifferent about people who strayed from the gender binary. However, after being enlightened through USEMs and WGS classes, I realized ‘indifferentness’ is not positive ways to view something different. The feeling of being indifferent can translate to ignoring or not addressing and that translates to oppression. The good person I am does not want to make others feel oppressed or make anyone feel anything but love. Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to find out more about gender, sexuality and other issues. I believe I am at a good place

Egg white walls with memory sharers everywhere. I see everything because she has me high up and watches me every day. “She loves me the best.” Shouted the entertainment box. “She carries me everywhere like her life depends on it”. “She throws us everywhere, but she uses us every day.” Loudly whines the band T-shirts behind the shuttered closet doors. “I am above all.” Boomed the body rester, “She absolutely adores me.” Everyone loves their person even though she uses others more than most, they understand she is busy and has crazy monster siblings to take care of but they wish everyone got equal attention like they used to during summer.

I saw it on this feminist page and it was something like don’t be that girl that pressures guys because erections aren’t consent and it’s rape… I don’t even know why that made me think of you but I think the whole message came more from my head than anything. I just haven’t been doing too well lately, it’s more accurate to say I’m not in a good place at all actually. I have a great social life and the lowest grade I have in my five classes is an 80% so I don’t understand why I hurt so much, but I’ve been finding it harder and harder to keep going. What always held me back before was my family but home is so bad right now that I might just be doing them a favor. So right now it’s knowing my cat depends on me and the fear of the afterlife that

When I was in middle school the only thing that was on my mind was High School. I began to glorify the idea of it. The possibility of becoming popular, going to parties, and having the time of my life swarmed my thoughts. Little did I know the stark reality of becoming a young adult. As my naive freshman self walked through the front doors, reality came hurdling towards me. I was terrified of the Seniors that seemed like they were celebrities, I forced myself to wear absurd amounts of makeup every day, and became obsessed with what was the latest gossip in fear of being behind on the hottest news. pretty soon, I became self conscience of absolutely everything that I did. I was constantly worrying over what others thought of me and of what

When I was in elementary school, I was tall—my last year, I was just shy of my current height and weight now at 17. I was always bigger, faster, and stronger than all the other kids, and when the others went to play and chase each other across the playground, I almost never joined in. I could dominate any game, so I didn’t play because I was embarrassed. Girls are supposed to be dainty, right? Girls are not supposed to be proud of their prowess. I didn’t fit the ideal image already seared into my brain by countless children’s stories. I wished desperately to be smaller.

Lady B I will call her to protect her identity is a friend of mind. Her behavior with me was more a social group even though it was only the two of us. She shared with me a closer physical relationship than she did with her female or other male friends. It was as if she did not trust her other friends. However, with me, she broke down the space barrier and allowed the playful lean on me after a joke type contact. I thought her demeanor display something more an being friendly. In addition, we barely made eye contact her and I developed an emotional attraction. I believe the eye contact would have taken it to another level for me anyway. We would greet one another with a big smile from there it was none stop

The next thing I remember is, waking up with a feeling as if I had had a terrible red glare, crossed with thick black bars. I heard voices, too, speaking with a hollow sound, and as if muffled by a rush of wind or water: agitation, uncertainty, and an all-predominating sense of terror confused my faculties. Ere long, I became aware that some one was handling me; lifting me up and supporting me in a sitting posture, and that more tenderly than I had ever been raised or upheld before. I rested my head against a pillow or an arm, and felt