You might be a feminist if...

(*disclaimer: I read this on someone's blog... I only mostly agree with it)


A funny thing happens to girls in junior high schools across America. It doesn't happen to every girl, and it doesn't happen all at once. But it is widespread and well-documented. Girls change. They change from passionate, playful, competitive and intelligent girls into uncertain, self-loathing, depressed adolescents.

To put it another way: Girls start acting dumb. They trade their math books for "Seventeen," starve themselves, and quit the basketball team to become cheerleaders. Some of them do it enthusiastically, but others enter adolescence reluctantly, longing for the days when they could be... well, themselves.

And while almost everyone accepts this as just a way of life, some people see it as a tragedy.

This phenomenon is discussed in several articles and books, the most prominent of which is probably Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher, PhD. It has no single cause, it is a byproduct of patriarchal culture, just like unequal pay, double standards, stereotypes, sexist assumptions, and contradictory rules for females.

A young woman once told me that she'd never be a feminist because she'd never experienced sexism. But sexism is still present in America - in fact, it's everywhere. If anything, it's just become more subtle.

My bet is that every woman (and probably every man) has experienced at least a few, and probably hundreds, of patriarchal injustices.

And anyone who opposes an injustice based on gender - whether they're male or female - is a feminist, or at least, they can be said to hold some feminist views. Despite what backlash has claimed, feminism is nothing more than the powerful notion that women and men deserve to be treated equally.

If you're tired of being defined by who you date and having your accomplishments marginalized or ignored, if you're sick of being "the woman behind the man," you might be a feminist.

If you got angry because your health teacher told you, "A guy who has sex has nothing to lose, but a girl has her reputation", you might be a feminist. (I didn't make that up, a teacher really told my 8th grade class that. It was 1998.)

If you've ever been legitimately angry and been accused of "just PMSing," you might be a feminist.

If you think it's unfair for a rape victim to be asked if she's a virgin at her rapist's trial, you might be a feminist.

If you got mad when you realized your guidance counselor was discouraging all the girls in your school from taking upper level science courses, regardless of their skill levels, you might be a feminist.

If the female members of your Homecoming and Prom Court were all cheerleaders, while you were on the volleyball team. If you've noticed a female sports star has to be an Anna-Kournikova-sex-symbol to get on a Wheaties box, while plenty of famous male athletes are about as appealing as John Kruk... you might be a feminist.

If you want to be paid the same wage as a man who does the same work as you... Who are you kidding? You're a feminist.

If you want to be offered an opportunity for career advancement, instead of having your boss assume that you'll be leaving in three years to have a baby, then face it - you're a feminist.

If you are pro-contraception, wake up - you're a feminist. If you don't think it's fair you have to pay $50 a month for your birth control while your insurance provider covers prescriptions for Viagra, you're a feminist.

If you would like to see the wealthy nations of the world fight against global female genocide and female genital mutilation, honor killings, bride burnings, and other atrocities against women - you might as well be a card-carrying feminist.

If you are not a feminist, at least in this most broad definition of the word, you're either a chauvinist, a misogynist or a doormat.

If you think I'm misrepresenting feminism, you can look it up in any dictionary or encyclopedia. You can do research on sites such as National Organization for Women or Feminist Majority Foundation. Or, check out these great feminist books: The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir, The Women's Room by Marilyn French, and Feminism is for Everybody by Bell Hooks.

It's important to note that not all feminists are activists. Feminism is both a frame of mind and a movement.

But if you are a member of America's Silent Majority... whenever you're ready to start acting up, the rest of us could really use your help.