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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

10 random reasons I am a feminist

Today, being the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, is a good time to introspect and think about why I am a feminist. I don't know whether I should be happy or sad about this - it was really easy to come up with 10 reasons for why I am, and should be, a feminist.

For those who are exasperated with my feminism, in short - I am a feminist because I believe men and women should have equal rights, because I am angry at the everyday discrimination women face all over the world and because I want to rescue feminism from what it has been made out to be by anti-feminists.

(c) Jay Morrison

1. Every time I walk on the streets alone after dark, I walk in fear of being raped.

2. Whenever I go in to get technical help, I have to stop geeks from treating me like a dunce by clarifying that being a woman does not automatically mean I am technologically challenged.

3. For most men (at least those involved in media production), a typical woman is one who PMSes, hatches plots to get her boyfriend back from other women and is, more generally, a low IQ human being - apolitical and glossy.

4. Sexual harassment is euphemistically called 'eve teasing' in India.

5.  I am still the 'bad one' in the relationship if I refuse to take on more than my fair share of housework.

6. People appear surprised when it comes to their knowledge that I, a 'self-proclaimed' feminist can cook, clean and keep a house!

7. I am considered to be a 'kill-joy' if I refuse to laugh at everyday sexist jokes.

8. It's still considered absolutely normal and not at all wrong that I may, at some point in life, lose my job as a consequence of getting pregnant.

9. I am angry that more than 100 million women are missing from this world.

10. I still happen to know a lot of people who flinch every time I use the 'F' word, it's just so much fun to make people flinch!

4 comments:

  1. I love this piece! These really are ten excellent reasons to be feminist!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much, Areej! Glad you took the time to go through the blog, really appreciate it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wrote something similar today!
    :)
    do have a look!
    Gung ho Feminists!

    ReplyDelete