On Feminism

I recently stumbled across this delightful blog called the Seventeen Magazine Project, written by a whip-smart high school senior. The premise is this: she uses the most recent issue of Seventeen as her life guide. She follows the fashion advice, hair and makeup tips, diets, and cuts out any pictures of Seventeen-approved hotties and hangs them up on her wall.

I absolutely love this blog, but here's the thing. I came across this post, and it got me thinkin' about good ol' feminism. In that particular post, our teenaged revolutionary talks about the implied "tribal trend" in Seventeen, and is offended by it.

Look, I am very sensitive to equality for all (unless I'm giving birth, but I still want to punch everyone in the face equally), and I think that this "tribal trend" being racist is a stretch. Unless it's got swastikas all over it, I think being offended by a print on some fabric is pretty ridiculous. If clothes are in a tribal style, then why not call them tribal? I hardly find the garments as visually offensive as I do a tribal tattoo on a douchebag, so what's the big deal?

I've noticed recently that more and more women prefer not to call themselves feminists, and I believe ideas like the above are a good indication why this is happening. Feminism has become a term that, in the most stereotypical sense, indicates a tendency to get offended about anything and everything and how dare you comment on my ovaries, damnit! Feminists are seen as being hypersensitive man-hatin' non-breeders.

Sure, there are feminists who fit that description, and that's ok. I thought an episode of Six Feet Under summed it up best when Ruth stated "being a feminist means being happy with who you are."

So ladies, don't be afraid to call yourself a feminist. We should all be able to live the lives that we want to without judgement, especially from each other.