Why I am an Feminist

It took me a whole 5 seconds to decide to write this post, it took me 5 hours to research it and 10 hours to actually compose a piece of writing that made sense. While I hope it is not offensive I am still going to be honest about my feelings of this topic. 
In truth, if you would have asked me two years ago what a feminist was I would have given you the basic assumed answer. A woman who stands up for women's rights and hates on men. I hadn't actually taken the time until now to look up what the word feminist means. So for all intensive purposes here is the U.S. Definition.  

Feminist: (fem-uh-nist)  1. adj- Advocating in social, political, legal and economic rights for women equal to those of men. 2. noun- An advocate of such rights. 

Over the past year feminism has become more apparent in my life. There are more stories being shown in the news, more articles being published in papers, and more people coming out to the world saying that they believed in this huge concept of feminism. Then you have people who disagree with the term, or completely misunderstand the term. 
Take Shailene Woodley for example (because I am going to name drop like that), in her interview featured in Time Magazine, her interviewer asks simply, are you a feminist? 
She replies with "No because I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance."
NEWS FLASH! Feminists do not want to take all of the power away from men, nor do we hate them. I mean there may be a few groups that do, but not all feminists are built the same.  

I believe in equality. I believe that women and men should be paid fairly for the position that they are in. If two people are doing the same job and have the same qualifications, why should one be paid more than the other? I should not have to worry about a male being hired in at a higher salary for the same job that I have been doing 5+ years, because I am a female.

Love is equal too. I believe that all love should be treated equally, because in the end who cares about who is in love with whom. We should all have the right to marry and create lives with whomever we see fit. Whether a person loves men, women, or men and women should not matter. Love should not be defined by law.

I believe in choice. No one has the right to tell me what I can and can't do to my body, especially not a group of 50 year old senators (both male and female) or any one in a religious entity. Others beliefs are important, but so is the right to choose. Should a person not believe in abortion, or the use of contraceptives, and chooses abstinence until marriage, that is their choice to make. Only you can decide to do that, no one can tell you otherwise. But let's be real by saying I have no major religious barriers and am an adult who does not practice abstinence, so it is my choice to make sure I have options to make those decisions about my body. In the end we should be able to choose what we as individuals can do to our bodies. 

No always means no. In any situation, no always means no.  Not maybe, or you didn't stop it so you must have wanted something. It still means no if I didn't knowingly and in right mind say yes. Ladies don't think that it is only about you, because 1 out of 33 men has been a victim of a form of rape. And if you have a problem figuring if a person is giving you consent, maybe take some advise from here. 

I am not a piece of meat. I should be allowed to wear the clothes I want and not be told that it is inappropriate because someone may get the wrong thought. No one tells men that they can't wear muscle shirts, wife beater tank tops, or their pants that sag below their ass because it will cause woman to have "impure thoughts". So why is it that I have to make sure none of my clothes are too form fitting or show too much skin because it looks like I asking for it? I'm not saying that we should all walk around in bikini's and not expect some reaction, but I should not feel like a piece of steak in front of a lion should I choose to do so. No one person should have to feel scared to walk to their car at night or to be in a house by themselves. 

I can do anything you can do. And sometimes I can even do it better! It sucks being a girl to go and get the oil changed in your car. Why? Because girls are treated differently because of the stereotypes placed on women's knowledge of cars. Little does that mechanic know, I know the $200 they are trying to charge me to change my brakes is a rip off, because I can change them myself for $40, and I do. Women can work in warehouses; we can lift things, and build things just like the best of the boys. Just like men can sew, wash, and cook like the girls. Politics is still going to be politics no matter who is in charge. Guess what we all can do things equally; we may or may not want to, but we can. 

Women don't want to take away power; we just want a piece of the power too. I know that some of this may seem a little vague and more toward the egalitarian /humanism side of the spectrum, but really if you can't support feminism, how can you support the others?   

  

Are you a feminist or no? Why?