She lost all her innocence. She said, "I am not a feminist"
Saying "I don't need feminism" is like saying "I don't need wheels." You probably don't NEED them, but your life is a lot easier. Just today, I've moved some heavy stuff on a dolly cart, pushed a grocery cart and rolled my desk chair back. Later, I will get on a bus. I could have managed to carry the heavy things, pulled the chair out fairly easily, and walked the couple miles to where I'm going, but wheels have and will made those things easier.
People who say they don't need feminism haven't thought about what it's like not to have the systems in place that often happened before they were born.
Were you able to vote yesterday? Have you been allowed to have any formal education? Are you reading this on a computer or a phone that you know how to use? Have you gotten through all of your job interviews without someone informing you that they'd rather hire a man because a pretty girl like you is just going to up and get married and leave them in the lurch? Do you have credit in your own name? Can you, finances willing, buy a house in your own name some day, or have your name on the deed of a house you buy with someone else? If you are sexually harassed at work (and I don't mean the strawman of "If I say a chick has a nice blouse, I can get fired?" I mean the kind of daily assessment of your body and possible sexual activity that makes the idea of going to work on days that That Guy is present a depressing, nauseating chore.), are there channels in place to deal with the situation when he inevitably ignores your wish that he stop?
All of those things are feminism. Most were in place before I was born (though my mom went through the job interview thing and I went through the sexual harassment thing). Like wheels, they're not something I have to think about, but something that benefits me constantly. It is ungrateful and ridiculous to say "I don't need wheels." while using them in many ways every day.
People who say they don't need feminism haven't thought about what it's like not to have the systems in place that often happened before they were born.
Were you able to vote yesterday? Have you been allowed to have any formal education? Are you reading this on a computer or a phone that you know how to use? Have you gotten through all of your job interviews without someone informing you that they'd rather hire a man because a pretty girl like you is just going to up and get married and leave them in the lurch? Do you have credit in your own name? Can you, finances willing, buy a house in your own name some day, or have your name on the deed of a house you buy with someone else? If you are sexually harassed at work (and I don't mean the strawman of "If I say a chick has a nice blouse, I can get fired?" I mean the kind of daily assessment of your body and possible sexual activity that makes the idea of going to work on days that That Guy is present a depressing, nauseating chore.), are there channels in place to deal with the situation when he inevitably ignores your wish that he stop?
All of those things are feminism. Most were in place before I was born (though my mom went through the job interview thing and I went through the sexual harassment thing). Like wheels, they're not something I have to think about, but something that benefits me constantly. It is ungrateful and ridiculous to say "I don't need wheels." while using them in many ways every day.