My Views On Feminism Part 1

Feminism has become incredibly important in my life in this past year. For a long time, the fact that I was a female never really meant all that much. It wasn't until about half of the way through middle school that I realized what was expected of me and the other girls my age now that my peers and I were past the childish egalitarianism of our pre-pubescent stage. I was expected to be thin. I was expected to be tall. I was expected to have a certain breast size. I was expected to show these things off to men. And, worst of all, I was expected to accept that "that's just the way it is".

     As highlighted by Naomi Wolf in her devastatingly wonderful book "The Beauty Myth", young girls go through their most important stage of development, the stage in which they are meant to find themselves intellectually and sexually, continuously thinking about how appealing their looks are to the opposite sex. This is not the fault of men, but the fault of capitalistic evil that pounces on young womens' insecurities. Women are overwhelmingly bombarded with a steady onslaught of female objectification that makes them feel as though they are insignificant in comparison. Once young girls hit this very confusing stage in their lives, they no longer think that the woman on that magazine in the grocery store is pretty. They despise her because she is the "ideal" and they are not. These young girls now understand that this is supposedly what appeals to men and if they do not look like this, they have failed. This is what leads these girls to believe that they need to buy the products that this woman uses because if they do, they will be that much closer . Advertisers are manipulating these innocent young women because of their sickening profit motive.

     It's completely heartbreaking that this time, so integral to a girls' thorough development as a person, is spent hating, envying and wanting. Where is the time for happiness and contentment when the stress and worry of not being good enough takes precedence? Girls are being cheated out of their happiness and intelligence because of the external pressures put on them by society to look a certain way.

     I should be able to eat ice cream whenever I want to and not feel guilty about it. I should be able to exercise daily because I like it, not because of how I want my body to look. I should be able to admire my fellow women and rejoice in their beauty and excellence without feeling even a hint of jealousy. This society is not built for women to be seen as equals but that doesn't mean it can't be.