A Rant

WARNING: Feminism rant ahead. If you don't like it, I suggest you kindly move on.

(general disclaimer: I realize there are many MANY other populations of people who have been equally oppressed. I am not saying that the struggle that women face is better/worse than theirs. I am simply ranting based on the population that I myself belong to and have the most knowledge of, and even then I am by NO MEANS an expert.)

So over the past few months as I've been browsing the feminist circles of the internet, I have been disgusted by the amount of hate I am seeing (from both sides, to be completely honest). I want to clear something up right now for everyone.

Feminism does NOT EQUAL MAN-HATING.

There. I said it.

Now I will admit...there are some women who call themselves feminists who DO subscribe to this "man hating" philosophy and feel that women should become better than men and that we don't "need men" and look down on those of us who like men, date men, marry men, etc. But to that I have this to ask...how does that make us better? Reversing the situation so that men become the oppressed group of people is NOT the solution. That makes us just as bad, if not worse. Just because we've been oppressed for centuries doesn't mean we get the right to oppress right back the moment we get a chance.

But the sad fact, is that women HAVE been oppressed for centuries. You can come at me with all of your arguments detailing why they haven't been or how we've made progress...but I look at news stories every day about different states limiting women's healthcare choices and making decisions about women's bodies that women should be able to make for themselves. If a woman wants to use birth control, why is it someone else's place to tell her she can't? For one, not all women use it as birth control. Sometimes we need it so that we can live a normal life where we don't have to curl in a ball of pain for a week (or more). And do you know what else? Planned Parenthood provides more services than you would think/the republican pro-life majority would seem to let you think. Cancer screenings, STI testing, affordable healthcare for women who would otherwise not have it.

And don't even get me started on slut shaming.

Or blatant sexism in the media/pop culture.

The sad fact about the world these days is that a woman can lobby to have Jane Austin's face put on money in England and then have men sending her rape threats on twitter/social media.

Is this really the world we live in? A world where we pride ourselves on our strides towards equality?

Because it sure doesn't look like it.