Taking Back Feminism

Because the world needs it.

Once again, we’re being lulled into the lovely, false idea that we’ve out grown our need for feminism. Heck, we’re tired and social revolution is hard… can’t we just give it a rest now and enjoy being equal at last? Except we’re not. The Equal Rights Amendment still hasn’t been added to the constitution. Women are still barred from the front lines of combat, still making 77 cents to the man’s dollar, traditional bias still exists, preventing women from being promoted. Insurance companies still refuse to cover procedures that women need to stay healthy, because being a woman is a “pre-existing condition.” Our reproductive rights are being questioned and slowly taken away. We can be legally violated by our doctors because at one point we consented to have sex. Women can be banned from speaking on their own behalf for saying the word “vagina.” Because vagina is a dirty word. Because we’re dirty and they want to make sure we remember it.

And yet the movement continues to fade away.

The last time we let the feminist movement die, the result was the problem that had no name: the feminine mystique that cost thousands of women their livelihoods, happiness and even their lives. It’s happening again, and it’s going to be worse. So it’s time to take back feminism, and seize what it really stands for. Not man-hating, not bra burning, but the unapologetic challenging of patriarchy and prejudice until men and women can truly be equal.