“LA FEMINISME OU LA MORT!” Why am I am feminist? It has never made sense to be anything else. Sort of like why am I an optimist? It has never made sense to be anything else. For those of you who do not speak French (because God knows even after a year of it and a personal tutor, I don't) "la Feminisme ou la Mort" means "feminism or death." Women everywhere, of all races, religions, social and economic standings are suffering from the same oppressions. Some are law enforced, others are followed by culture standards, and there are also those we inflict upon ourselves. When will women stop hating ourselves and our bodies and learn to love what we have had from the beginning? Our bodies are the only ones we will be with night and day from the time we are born until the moment we die. And who wants to live with someone they hate? If you don't like who you are CHANGE YOUR MIND. It seems that this knowledge has been esoteric as of late, but it should not be. Here is something to say to your self everyday, "I am me, and that is okay." You are the only person who can tell you "You can't." And you don't have to listen. Women are told every day by every medium that they are not good enough. WHY AM I A FEMINIST? Women are restricted in the way we think, act, talk, even move. We are told from the time we are in elementary school "Act like a lady" when we run in the hall or yell across the room to a friend. We have to decide between a family and a career. Even business suits for women are fashion statements that are completely impractical. They lack pockets, are tight and restrict movement, which is often needed in pitches or demonstrations. What is the percentage of women in political office who make headline news? Less than 1%. We are BOMBARDED with images and suggestions in every form of advertisement of beautiful, tall, thin, HAPPY, half naked women. People argue sexual education has no place in our high schools. They are teaching their children abstinence. These are the same people who take their children into Wal-Mart and the local grocery store. These places are filled with four times the sexual subtleties as any primetime television show. Not only do they traspire their children through the magazine aisle and past all the posters and ads that cover the walls, they ACTUALLY BUY these magazines for their sons magazines that show impossibly (airbrushed) perfect women, and their daughters magazines that have "LOSE WEIGHT" ads and the same damn impossible perfect women on every page! GOD FORBID your child should learn how to protect him or herself from STDs or pregnancy! I really hate to break it to you, but you can tell your kid "Don't have sex. No, no!" all you want. But if your child decides he or she wants to fuck, he or she is GOING TO FUCK. Why not at least provide them with the education they need to make intelligent decisions by themselves? WHY AM I A FEMINIST? The money women make is less ($11,000 less in my college town, on the average) even with equal qualifications, and we have lower status employment rates. What we do with our bodies is decided by the government. How would you feel about people in an office who have never met you, deciding what health care you can or can not have? What you will or will not do with your body. And when some one violates your body, attacks you, rapes you, beats you, do you know what your legal defenses are? You can get a PFA (protection from abuse) ONLY if you were or are in a relationship with that person. And what are the punishments if your offender breaks that PFA and beats the shit out of you just for getting the PFA in the first place? Your offender MAY get a fine. Or they MAY get jail time. In most cases nothing happens at all. WHY AM I A FEMINIST? Because my body is MY OWN! Your body is yours, his is his, and hers is hers. Who the hell am I to take advantage of you? I have no right to violate you to get what I want. WHY AM I A FEMINIST? I didn't think it was a question that even needed asked. It simply does not make sense to be anything else.

-kln-

THE WAY IT IS
"Gazing in the mirror at my emaciated body, I observed a woman held up by her culture as the physical ideal because she was starving, self-obsessed and powerless, a woman called beautiful because she threatened no one except herself." -Abra Fortune Chernik
INSTEAD IT SHOULD BE
"The trappings of feminity could be used to make a sexual statement that is powerful, rather than passive." -Karp & Stoller