Feminism takes on personal meaning

Gabriela Reed
December 18, 2009
Filed under Commentary

I don’t remember when I realized that, to many, the word “feminist” is closer to an insult than a compliment. But I do know that I was worried. Moreover, I was concerned that, in spite of calling myself a feminist, I was unsure of exactly how to elucidate the term.

Only now, with the calm afforded by a blank computer screen, I think I can explain myself.

I have always wondered how the simple fact of being a female could be the source of so much pride and simultaneously so much insecurity. I have struggled to balance a desire to express myself through all things stereotypically feminine, from make-up to shaving my legs to donning jewelry galore, with the inescapable feeling that these desires are only a response to what society tells me is sexy.

I have been moved to the edge of tears, hearing my mother tell me of her perfect LSAT score, but then how the responsibility of motherhood led her to perhaps a less ambitious career in banking. I have pondered why promiscuous women are branded as sluts and whores, while equally promiscuous men evade all similar titles, and instead often gain status through their sexual conquests.

And through all of this, I have come no closer to resolving the turmoil which makes me proud to flaunt my body and my mind even while I am plagued by insecurities about both—turmoil that, at its root, comes from nothing more or less than genitalia.

While I don’t necessarily want to attend a single-sex school, understanding the impact of such an education is crucial to dispelling the stigma that surrounds the term “women’s college.” Such an unusual environment creates women who are stronger, more independent, and surer of themselves. These are people who will shape the world, because in this time when female empowerment is an ever more pressing issue, graduates of a women’s college have a fuller understanding of just what it means to be a woman.

This understanding of womanhood is what feminism implies. Feminism is knowing about genital mutilation and the glass ceiling, not as justification to criticize men, but as motivation to fight on behalf of women. Feminism is the realization that my gender does not define me, nor does it limit me. Feminism is the simple ability to take pride in being a woman, with all the intricacy that this entails.