Chesna Kern

Mrs. Hudson

English 3

2/22/15

Everyone Should be a Feminist

One in four seven-year-old girls have tried to lose weight at least once (Fatgirlphd, 2013).

One major reason for this, is the way that women are portrayed in the media, which is skinny. If

models are not skinny enough, then they are photoshopped. This shows that feminism is still

necessary in our society. Urban Dictionarys definition of feminism is, The belief that women

are and should be treated as potential intellectual equals and social equals to men. These people

can be either male or female human beings, although the ideology is commonly (and perhaps

falsely) associated mainly with women. Examples of problems that feminists hope to solve

include closing the wage gap, body shaming and victim blaming. Some people believe that

feminism is not needed anymore because women appear to have the same rights as men. On

paper, this is true, but in actual practice, there are many goals still to be accomplished for

women. One major goal is closing the wage gap.

The wage gap is just one problem of many that feminists hope to solve and persists in

many occupations. Although the idea that women earn 78 to a mans dollar may not actually be

correct, according to CNN, the wage gap is still present. The 78 to a mans dollar figure doesnt

account for the fact that men usually occupy higher level jobs that offer greater pay (CNN,

2015). Female teachers earn about 87 for every dollar that male teachers earn (CNN, 2015).

Female technical directors earn about $97,817 annually, while male technical directors earn

nearly $40,000 more (CNN, 2015). To put this in straightforward terms, if the workforce is a
team, does it make sense to handicap half of it? This problem starts early and compounds over

time. One year after graduation, there is a seven percent wage gap between female and male

college graduates (Today, 2012). This is part of the reason that the average annual salary for

women is $35,296 compared to $42,918 for men (Today, 2012). This happens partly because, in

general, women dont like to ask for more money, and this is changing very slowly. Founded by

Caroline Ghosn, Levo is a womens rights group that is trying, through education, to close the

wage gap between men and women. They believe that by educating women about the wage gap,

it will close. To do this, they have many articles with career advice publicised by their Twitter

and Instagram accounts. Article topics include how to land your dream job, tips from successful

people, and tips on how to ace an interview. Some of the advice given includes how to make

yourself sound better in a job interview, to use an example, not telling the truth about your

greatest weakness. Other topics include what questions you might be asked in a job interview,

for instance, What motivates you? Women can lose $1 million to $1.5 million in their lives

and some women have an even harder road to equal pay (NPR, 2011). Black women earn 64 to

a white mans dollar in the US and Latina women earn 56 to a white mans dollar (CNN, 2015).

CNN also says that mothers, especially single mothers, also earn less. That is hardly fair, seeing

as women that need a greater income earn less. The wage gap is just one issue that feminists are

fighting. Another issue, that affects children and teenagers more, is body shaming.

Body shaming is encouraged by the media, but it is also present in everyday interactions.

You do not have to look very far to find examples of body shaming in the media. One example

to this is Donald Trumps statement about Carly Fiorina Look at that face! Would anyone vote

for that?! Also, I mean shes a woman, and Im not sposedta say bad things, but, really folks,

come on! Are we serious? (Huffington Post, 2015) Summer critiques of celebrity bikini bodies
also encourage body shaming in our culture. These exclamations over the amazing bodies of

celebrities such as Kate Hudson, encourage women to lose unhealthy amounts of weight or

exercise obsessively so that they can look just like her. At the same time, they encourage

celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan to cover up. This can be detrimental for the self-esteem of

girls and women. Eighty-one percent of ten year olds are afraid of getting fat, and 30 million

Americans have eating disorders (Huffington Post, 2015). Do you still think body shaming is not

a big problem? In My Diary Unlocked 16-year-old Elise wrote, I feel like a complete failure.

Seriously, I'm not pretty enough, smart enough, sweet enough, happy enough or good enough for

anyone. The image of myself has been changed from beautiful to lost and broken-hearted. That

may not be weight related, but that sounds like some serious self-confidence issues to me. The

media are not the only ones to blame. We buy into this by taking criticisms of celebrities

seriously and adding our voices to that of the writers that say that Kourtney Kardashian needs to

lose weight, then turning our judgements on our friends. The diet industry profits hugely from

this with pills, books, and special diets. Magazines also profit from articles on how to lose

weight and the aforementioned celebrity critiques. By objectifying celebrities, we teach children

to do the same, which leads to weight obsessions. The media wants to make a profit, so if we

change what appeals to us, they will evolve to be most profitable. Madonna touched on this

subject in an interview with Neha Gandhi. When she was asked what the next issue we need to

tackle as a society is and she responded by saying Well, I think that we still live in an incredibly

sexist society, even though it seems like women have made a lot of strides. A woman is still put

in a category, still put in boxes. You can be sexy, but you cant be smart. You can be smart, but

you cant be sexy. You can be sexy, but you cant be 50. Body shaming can be blamed on the

media, but victim blaming is up to us, (Refinery29, 2015).

 Victim blaming is when the victim, rather than the perpetrator, is blamed for a crime such

as rape. Why does victim blaming still occur? One reason is that rape culture is thought to be

acceptable. What is rape culture? Coined by American feminists in the 1970s, the term

describes how society blames victims of sexual assault and normalizes sexual violence from men

(WAVAW, 2015). Examples include the trivialization of sexual assault, harassment of women,

and inflation of false report statistics (Southernct, 2015). Alternet.org says that sexual assault is

trivialized when people say boys will be boys and calling rape personal injury or domestic

disputes. Harassment can be comments, name-calling, intrusive questions, or unwanted neck or

back massages. No one can agree on how many reports are actually fake. Some feminists say

two percent, other groups say 25 percent, and still others say 40 percent (Bloomberg View,

2014). According to Bloomberg View the two percent figure was for a single area of New York,

so not to be taken seriously. Bloomberg View also says that the 41 percent figure was researched

more thoroughly, but it was only one city and is 20 years old. So, no one actually knows how

many reports are false and that is partially because victims become afraid, question themselves,

and recant. We need to treat every rape accusation seriously, but remember that there are two

sides to every story. Another reason this happens is that victims are scrutinized. How are they

scrutinized? Women are taught not to be raped rather than teaching men that sexual assault is an

unacceptable offense, many refuse to take accusations from victims seriously, and many assume

that he/she asked for it. Yes, knowledge of self defense is important, but should we really ask

rape victims, Why didnt you defend yourself? instead of supporting them? We need to take

all accusations seriously and investigate them thoroughly. The victim did not ask for it, no

matter what they wear or how they act. Anabigail.com supports this by saying, 34% believe

women who flirt can be blamed if they are raped and 26% say if a woman is in sexy clothing she
is partly to blame. Anabagail goes on to say that most sexual attacks (55-61%) were

premeditated and fewer rapists said that their crimes were impulsive (15-22%) or opportunistic

(22-24%). Does victim blaming actually happen? According to Vitamin W, 50% of perpetrators

blame their victims. Laura Bates, from the Women Under Siege Project, has recorded many

heartbreaking stories on this topic. One such story says, I was raped at a party after being

drugged. When I had the courage to tell what happened I was blamed by everyone. I had to do a

lot of tests, including HIV and no one supported me. My family and friends abandoned me

saying it was all my fault If you agree that these all need to change, then you can consider

yourself a feminist.

Anyone with morals should believe that the wage gap, body shaming, and victim blaming

should not exist. Closing the wage gap requires the support of everyone. Body shaming affects

everyone in our society and it is very unhealthy. Rape victims need support from everyone, not

criticism. Anyone can be a feminist because in the words of Hillary Clinton, Womens rights

are human rights. After hearing all of this, can you honestly say that there is no longer a need

for feminism? So, let us all agree that this is unacceptable and work for change by not

participating in misogyny, woman-hating, and by speaking up for womens rights.

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