From the blog: from two to one

Welcome to Day 1 of Feminisms Fest! Today we are linking up at J.R. Goudeau’s blog,loveiswhatyoudo.com to write about these questions: What is your experience with feminism? What’s a story or a memory or a person that you associate with that word? Why does it have negative or positive connotations for you? How do you define the term, either academically or personally? What writers have you read whose definitions you want to bring out? Or, if you don’t have a definition, what are some big questions you have? Be sure to use the hashtag #femfest when sharing your posts.

I wanted to contribute to this conversation as well.

My first memory of feminism was on my elementary school playground. Power Rangers were all the rage and I was playing with a group of friends, mostly guys. I declared that I was the Red Ranger and was immediately told that I couldn't be the Red Ranger because he was a boy. I was told that I could be the Pink Ranger instead. I went along with it because I wanted to play but it always stuck in the back of my mind as unfair. (Racist/sexist assigning of the colors aside)

Being a feminist is extremely important to me because it means everyone, regardless of sexuality, race, class, gender, ability, etc deserves a fair shake in life.

I got tired of being told that I was stupid because I was blond. I got tired of being put in some special category because I was a girl. I got tired of people underestimating me because I am female. I'm still tired.

I'm tired of having my boundaries disrespected. I'm tired of having a known misogynist host an awards show and be a complete fucking asshole, all the while being told that I'm uptight and a prude and god, where's your sense of humor. I'm tired of people calling a nine year old girl a cunt. I'm tired of people thinking blackface is still the cool thing to do in fashion. I want to stop being tired and furious because I'm something other than a cisgendered able bodied white male.

I want stories like this to be more widely read. I want more understanding, compassion and yes, love. Feminism, to me, is about being a decent human being not because people are giving you cookies for it, but because it's the right thing to do. To be a compassionate person.