Anti Feminism.....really?

So there is this campaign going on at the moment. It’s all over tumblr, occasionally pops up on my Facebook feed and has reared its head on Twitter as well.


Anti Feminism.


Hmmmmmm, I’m not quite sure where to start on this one. 


When I first read it, and looked at all the pictures I didn’t quite know what to think. I kind of understood where some of these women (or in some cases young girls) were coming from. I don’t hate men either, I don’t think I am weak and I do like the odd car door opened for me.


What I didn’t like was the majority of these women and their complete misunderstanding of what 21st century feminism is.


I am a feminist. Not a bra burning, marching the streets, shouting anti male slogans feminist. 


But I am a feminist. And this is why....


I am a feminist because on the 14th of April 2014, 200 girls were marched out of their dormitory beds, abducted, and sold…..like cattle.


I am a feminist because on September 12th, 2013, in Pakistan, Muslim men stormed the home of three Christian women, beat them, stripped them naked and tortured them, and then paraded them in the nude in a village in the Kasur district.


I am a feminist because in more than half the countries where female circumcision is still practiced, the majority of girls are circumcised before they even turn 5 years old.


I am a feminist because there is still a Wicked camper driving around that says, “Inside every little princess is a slut that just wants to try it,” and my 11 year old daughter can read it.


Rebecca West, the famous British author and journalist once said, “I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat."


I am not a feminist because I hate men. Nor am I feminist because I think I am a victim.


I am a feminist because I am lucky enough to live in a country where I don’t encounter many sexist issues anymore. I have choice and I have a voice when so many do not.


That is why I am a feminist.

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