A Healthy Life

I am a feminist.

As long as women’s natural body hair is called disgusting and inappropriate while men’s isn’t, I am a feminist.

As long as I can’t watch an episode of a popular sitcom without having to sit through multiple sexist comments or “jokes”, I am a feminist.

As long as women have to face the rational fear of being sexually assaulted every time they walk home past dark while men don’t, I am a feminist.

As long as misogyny exists in any country in this world, I am a feminist.

As long as women are being raped, then stoned to death or forced to marry their rapist, I am a feminist.

As long as companies promote men to manager when there are women who are equally as or better qualified, because they find that men look more authoritative, I am a feminist.

As long as women (her choice of clothes, her friendly nature, her weakness, her choice to drink alcohol) get blamed when men rape them, I am a feminist.

As long women’s opinions on online social networks are dismissed with phrases like “tits or gtfo”, “get back to the kitchen”, “are you pms’ing?”, I am a feminist.

As long as dressing like a women is degrading for men and as long as men are insulted with phrases like “you throw like a woman”, clearly implying that being like a woman is shameful, I am a feminist.

As long as both men are women are expected to work, but taking care of children and the household are still largely considered a woman’s job, I am a feminist.

As long as boys and girls are treated differently, expected to act differently, and surrounded by different toys and colours from the day they are born, I am a feminist.

As long as topless women aren’t allowed in public unless they’re one the cover of a men’s magazine, I am a feminist.

As long as women who have sex frequently are generally told they are “sluts”, “lacking self-respect” and “lacking morals” by both men and women, while men who frequently have sex are “just being men” and it’s “natural for them”, I am a feminist.

As long as there are places where women have to pay more for health insurance than men, I am a feminist.

As long as men experience situations with equal gender representation as female-dominated, and don’t consider a group discussion equal unless there are significantly more men then women participants (as has been proven), I am a feminist.

As long as there are men who think it’s their wife or girlfriend’s duty to have sex with him whenever he wants, I am a feminist.

As long as the word feminism (“the movement aimed at equal rights for women”) has a negative connotation, I am a feminist.

As long as misogynist people exist, I am a feminist.