This past weekend Kate and I got the chance to attend a screening of She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry at a film festival in our area. The film, directed by Mary Dore, is a documentary that focuses on the woman’s liberation movement of the late 1960’s-early 1970s, as well as modern day movements. In case you didn’t know, Kate and I are hardcore feminists, and before some of you freak out and decide to call us things like “feminazis,” we would like to provide the accurate definition of the word feminism:
Feminism is all about equality for all. For us, it is not man-hating, it is about respect and equal opportunity. We strongly believe that men face many inequalities as well, but that those will continue to exist until society fixes the way it looks at women.
This idea is something that came up in the documentary often. The women of the time had basically no fundamental human rights. They were expected to get married young, raise children, stay home, and take care of the home. God forbid the wife didn’t have a home-cooked meal on the table when her husband got home from work. The only jobs available were secretarial jobs, with ads looking for “sexy secretaries”. They were seen as sex objects, yet birth control was not readily available and/or had extreme side effects, there were no daycare options for children and abortion was illegal. Women were too emotional to have positions of power. etc. etc…
As we watched the film, we recognized many things have changed for the better throughout time, but that we still face many of the same problems that women have been fighting against for more than 45 years. The film was incredibly good at pointing out the problems that still exist, like inequalities in the workplace, in politics, and society in general. As we watched the old footage, we were surprised to how relevant what they were fighting for is. It’s the disrespect and expectations that Kate and I face regularly. Whether it’s someone asking Kate if she picked her major to get a better version of the “MRS degree” or if it’s somebody I’ve never talked to asking me out because I have “big boobs and a nice ass” and then when I kindly reject I “friend zoned” him and should “give him a chance”. Rape culture and sexual assault on college campuses are issues that are just now coming into the spotlight, even though they’ve been problems for years. As college students, we’ve seen this culture first hand and are working hard to change it, although there’s a shocking amount of resistance.
Kate and I want to graduate college and be able to have equal pay as a man in the same job with the same degree. Both of us do well in school, yet we’re likely to make less than our male counterparts who had C averages.
And then of course there are still political disagreements about if women should have control of their bodies or not. The list goes on and on.
The film got us thinking, as the current generation, what can we do to continue the fight that women started in the early 1900s? Until women stop being objectified and seen as overly emotional weaklings and men stop having to be macho and emotionless, the fight won’t be over. Equality makes life easier for everyone. You can freely be yourself and express yourself without being judged by the opposite sex, or your own.
If a man wants to be a teacher, a nurse, a business man, or a stay-at-home Dad, GREAT! If a woman wants to be a designer, a CEO, the president, a stay-at-home Mom, GREAT! Be who you want to be, not what society tells you to be.
I apologize for the long post, but it is something that we are both truly passionate about. PLEASE check out the movie if you have a chance, it is very informative for all! Furthermore, if you have an issue with women’s rights, gay rights, trans rights, civil rights, HUMAN rights, please kindly unfollow our blog.
Thank you all very much for your time,
Xoxo Tay “Kate and I could rant about feminism all day, no joke”
FUCK YEAH FEMINISM!!!
xoxo,
Kate “NOW I WANT A CINNAMON ROLL ALSO I AM FIRED UP RN CAN YOU TELL??!!”
Off Campus 101 