We Should All Be Feminist

To women physically strong and adventuresome it means freedom to enter all kinds of athletic contests and games, to compete with men in aviation, to drive racing cares... to enter dangerous trades, etc. To most of all it means economic freedom.” (Eastman, Pg.509). The topics she thinks most feminists will agree with is the stride toward political equality. However, she may create tension among herself and other feminists by suggesting that all women must know the joys of motherhood to be an ideal feminist. Some women may not want children. I feel as though Crystal Eastman is trying to persuade other feminists to come together and support each other and redefine feminism.

The same idea works the other way around. Traits such as submission and domesticity are celebrated in women when it comes to being perfect wives and mothers, but if the same traits are present in a man, the reaction generally isn’t the same. Adichie talks about the inequality that is created from the divide between genders. Because people have subconscious assumptions on gender—like men are better suited to be leaders—they subscribe and feed into a polar view of gender expression.

Ever since birth, children have been raised into societies view of their sex. Boys are taught to be aggressive, while girls are shown subservience, and passivity. Girls are taught how to act, how to be 'feminine' and told who their superiors are, that is the male population. It is through these prerequisites of behaviour that radical feminists quote the threat and the action of rape and physical violence as a means of maintaining this superior/inferior status of men and women.

In the year 1848 America held the first gathering dedicated to women’s rights; after decades of fighting for women’s equality, the 1920’s national election was the first for women to cast their presidential vote. The feminist movement, as a unisex advocacy, has had some successes other than voting rights, such as discrimination related to equal pay, having credit cards in their own names, terminating pregnancy, purchasing contraception or “the pill”, attending prestigious schools, becoming an astronaut or supreme court justice, and many more that have now been fixed due to this movement. So the question remains: do we still need feminism? After all, there have been many successes and several women claim they “don’t need feminism anymore”; however,

Gay starts by explaining that when we talk about feminism today we only refer to a small sliver of the entire feminist population, the essential feminist. To fit into the essential feminist category there are many “feminist ideals” you must live up to in order to be “doing feminism right” (Gay). The standards assumed are “anger, humorlessness, militancy, hate sex, white, heterosexual, career driven, beautiful” and so on (Gay). Gay stops to point out one of the many flaws in this definition; if beauty is an essential part of being a feminist and your worth is determined in part by your beauty, isn't that entirely contradictory to the very thing feminism is fighting against? Because of this narrow and stereotypical image of feminism at center stage in the

3. When LaFramboise writes, “Girls are victims of circumstance and boys are masters of their own fate. Girls are moulded and manipulated by the social pressures; boys make conscious choices. Girls get to blame everyone but themselves; everyone gets to blame boys. Wasn't feminism supposed to be about abolishing double standards? She is connoting at the clear double standards that have been placed on males. Stating that girls are not held responsible for their own decisions and faults, rather an external source of control is to blame. However, males are solely responsible for their own flaws.

Another interesting statement I would like to bring to the surface is Alvarez writes in her book that “boys are born men but girls turn into women” (72). This made me think of the BBC YouTube clip we watched in class. Within this video a mother, father, and daughter are getting prepared for their daughters sweet fifteen. One of the first things I recognized in this film was that the father a male was speaking about and for the females when they were in the same room as them listening to what he had to say. This is a problem in itself as the male voices his and silences the women, in addition, he is speaking on a subject that he does not even fully understand, women. For arguments sake a women would never speak about a man and what it means to be one. This power dynamic within this family is troubling and shows the dominance of one gender over

In this day and age it’s all about feminism and how women are in second place. When in fact, the feminist views are misguiding and causing a huge impact on the education systems that favors girls rather than boys. In “The War Against Boys,” Christina Hoff Sommers supports her belief that it’s the boys who need help, since their underachievement is worsening and continuing by the year.

During these last thirteen weeks, I have discovered a lot about myself, not only as a student, but as a feminist. Before taking this class, I knew that I wanted to be a feminist. I believed that women should stand up and exercise their rights to be equal to men on every level. Be that as it may, I lacked the education required to develop my own sense of feminism--my feminist manifesto, if you will. When approaching the topic of feminism, every person needs to ask themselves a list of questions: Who am I? Who do I want to be? What has influenced me as a person? How can I help? These are the beckoning questions we, as developing and purposeful human beings, ask ourselves every day, and these are the questions that will lead each and every person

In the transcript, “We should all be feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the author explores several stories in her life that contain gender issues about sexuality, gender inequality and double standard, which show that the idea of feminists is still needed in present-day. Over time the gender issue has cause a grave injustice. This essay wills examines the conception of norms about double standard, gender inequality, and sexuality from Adichie life. It wills portrayal norms issues about gender to realize certain matter a long history that are not important anymore to bring a positive change.

Writer Ngozi Adichie says a feminist is a “person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes,” meaning both sexes are treated equally. “Cinderella” does not portray women as equal to men, rather it suggests that a woman’s value highly depends on a man and teaches girls to become patient victims. For instance, it places attention on a woman’s chastity, beauty, passiveness, as the story accepts abuse, discourages powerful women, and insists on a double standard.

behavior and a cry for the recognition of women's rights ( ). Instead its theme

Today, women have more rights than ever before, but the belief of male has resulted in a never ending convention toward women. This leads to predetermined thought from younger girls that they must become inferior. Clifford states in her article, “Children look first to their own parents for examples and inspiration, therefore when a child see their mother living a life of inequality, the cycle often continues as girls feel there is no alternative for themselves.” When younger girls see their mother or any woman submitting to the standard, they feel they must do the same. An effect on men is that they have to live up to the

It is difficult to imagine living in a world without the patriarchal roles that are present in society and have been throughout history. In the article “Feminist Criticism,” by Lois Tyson, the idea of feminism and how society has affected feminism is the focus. These ideas are seen because men have more of a voice in nearly everything and the oppression of women is very common; a society set up like this can be described with the term patriarchy which is “any culture that privileges men by promoting traditional gender roles,” where men are cast as “rational, strong, protective, and decisive,” and women are cast “as emotional, weak, nurturing, and submissive” (Tyson, 1). This thought that men are strong and women weak is not uncommon in

Through the use of empathetic language rather than anger,the well known-award winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was able to capture and represent her personal ideas to those who haven 't been exposed to feminism and to those who constantly slanders it.In her twenty-first century short essay,We Should All Be Feminists,Adiche addresses feminism and sexism as unsettling issues that all of humanity should be majorily concerned and aware with.She prosposes a solution to the detrimental and negative cyclical persectives that society has imposed on of feminists and women in general based on her previous experiences.By narrowing in on her very own life experiences and her deep understanding of the often covered up realities of the treatment of women and their reputations,she zeros in on what it means to be a woman in the present day, exposes the injustices they frequently ecounter and ultimately explains why we should all be feminists.She focuses on the idea the everyone including both men and women are both the problem and solution to the controverisal and sensetive topic of what is called feminism.By taking these necessary steps and raising our children to understand these steps , Adichie proposes this can finally end the cyclical problem.