“I don’t paint pictures with my period blood, if that’s what you mean,” said senior Beth Belle-Isle when asked if she was a feminist. Pause and reflect on that statement.I am a feminist and I do not paint with my period blood for three reasons. One, I am artistically challenged. Two, it is somewhat grotesque and three, not all feminists do that. However, the stereotype is that they do. The word and the movement have far too many negative conations and stereotypes. Feminism is actually a positive movement.

Before you start twitching, let me explain. I believe in the universal idea of equality among all men and women. I believe that we should celebrate womanhood, that the double standards should be burned, and that the image of both men and women should no longer be Ken and Barbie. I believe in the Lifetime Channel but most of all, I believe in myself as woman. I am a feminist.

Fact is that you are a feminist too. Feminism is the active belief in women’s rights and interests. If you have a viewpoint on the role of women in society, then you are a feminist. Even the most seemingly non-feminist notion that women belong in the kitchen is a form of feminism called romantic feminism.

However, either most people think that they have to have an extremely radical voice to be a feminist or they fear that if feminism comes up in conversation that some crazy lesbian is going to karate chop kick them in the face and force them to the dark side. The word ‘feminism’ is usually paralleled with lesbianism; however, this is simply not the case.

In fact, a vast majority of the founding mothers of feminism, back in 1848, were married women advocating access to the patriarchal world, i.e. voting rights. In 1919, women were granted voting privileges in the United States but feminism did not stop there.

The second wave of feminism took place primarily in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. They advocated to for equality in society, i.e. equal pay, equal standards, reproductive rights, etc. The classic idea” “I can do anything you can do only better,” was coined as a feminist slogan, an ideology. Out of this wave many feminists spoke out against the marginalization of women in a strictly patricidal society.

Some fantastic advancements where made such as rape centers, shelters for abused women, reproductive rights, and birth control but overall it was not as successful as the women of this generation hoped for. For instance, today, in 2007, statistics show that women make 71 cents on the dollar to men in the work force.

Today’s feminists are primarily concerned with ending stereotypes created throughout history and focusing on global issues, asking questions like “Why are women stereotyped as nurturers and men as bread-winners?” Personally, I’d prefer to bring home the bacon, have my husband fry it in the cooking pan while I kick my legs up on the sofa, but that’s just me.

In the span of nine paragraphs, I used the word feminist at least 28 times and I bet each time you got a little bit nervous, why is that? Why is it that a word so innocent and feminine is so dreadfully upsetting? You would think that seeing how it is about women, that the word would not be feared because is it not another stereotype that women are weak, less than, inferior?

‘It should not be feared,” said first-year CCE student Esta Broderick, a radical feminist. “The dominant structure used (the word) as a negative connation towards women. It was attached to them because if you want to vote then you must obviously hate men.”

Feminists, however, do not hate men. “Go out and hate men” is not a slogan within the feminist community because by male bashing, you are reinforcing gender roles and feminism is about undoing them.

In conclusion, I want to leave you with this food for thought: Whenever a woman is oppressed think about how that affects you, turn it inside out and look at the effects of oppression.