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Man or Woman, Why Calling Yourself a Feminist is a Good Thing

And How Sometimes, Extremism Gets Mistakingly Associated With This Word

By Grace EvelynPublished 4 years ago 7 min read
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Almost two years ago I was a Londoner hooked to social media, and very aware of what was going on in the world, particularly in the U.S and the U.K; I felt energised every time there was a win for humanity such as the #metoo movement, but unlike other Londoners, I did not go out much, instead, I invested my time leaving comments and writing blogs about some of the things I went throughout my life, those experiences I felt could help others; but all that stopped in the moment I moved back to my home country.

At the time I was also going through a renewal process, and since I was craving for change, I decided to reinvent myself by starting to let go of all of those things, I felt shouldn't be part of the new me; for example, I changed my image, I closed some social media accounts, I ended toxic relationships, and I also did many other things, that were truly symbolic in the energetic and spiritual sense.

Overall, I noticed that what affected me the most was the social media subject —unfortunately I ended up having to close all of my accounts because of a hacker— nowadays I live without many of those things that used to be characteristics of my previous lifestyle, and although my quality of life has improved greatly, I admit that I do miss being that connected sometimes.

The reason why I mentioned all of the above, is because these days, I'm surprised about how some of my opinions have changed since; perhaps because I haven't got access to my social media feeds anymore, and thus, my influences are coming from other sources, especially, when it comes to subjects like Feminism. Today I feel like writing about it because believe it or not, there is a revolution going on in Spain, where women are finally the main characters.

See, at the time I moved away from the U.K, exciting things were happening for women in London; we were hearing about how a female Journalist got infiltrated in a very exclusive gentlemen's only annual party, eventually reporting all sexual harassment that only female Hosts received that night by most guests, as a normal part of the job. This became a big scandal that resulted in the permanent ending of the event, as well as the public shame for all members and Organisers.

Aditionally, we also had the chance to celebrate the controversial decision taken by Formula One's new owner, who announced that the company would not hire anymore Grid Girls; he thought that using female Models at opening ceremonies for the Grand Prix was innapropiate practise, so instead they decided to honour children involved with youth racing, during ceremonies.

That said, imagine my shock transitioning from that reality to Spain's, especially, because at the same moment there was a shocking event taking place, and it was definitely the antithesis of what I just mentioned.

It all started with a group of men called "La Manada" (The Pack), deciding to drug and rape a young girl, and the Judges during trial giving the minimum sentence, since the victim did not defend herself against them —one of the Judges stated that he only saw amusement and recelry, therefore in their opinion, the crime could not be classified as rape, but sexual abuse—

Understandably after such unfortunate verdict, plus all of the attacks that followed against the victim —some websites revealed her identity and full contact details, while some people posted videos and photos showing the agression— Spain got flooded with women's demos in every major city.

It was the first time since democracy got approved that so many women chose to fight, not just for that victim's dignity and rights but to make a statement; the first and the biggest statement in Spain's history coming from women for women.

I remember feeling profound disgust towards the whole trial process; it was unbelievable how this group of all-male Judges, obviously inexperienced in sexual violence, had treated and labelled the victim who was only a teen when that happened —their words and actions made her look like an irresponsible party girl, who suddenly enjoyed being drugged and become a sex doll for that group of older men; the same one that later stole her phone and left her thrown on an entrance's floor like garbage—

Luckily those demos plus the general public's outrage, helped the system to reconsider, and a while after the verdict they added Judges who were actually experienced in that type of cases, and whose decisions brought balance, eventually hardening the previous sentence, as well as finally dictating that it was rape not abuse.

The most significant point however, is that this was not one more sexual violence case for Spanish women, but a huge eye opener and reality check, as well as the beginning of a revolution; interestingly enough, the Manada's case had just become the Spanish #metoo.

So that is how the ball started to roll, followed by the initiative of the new government, when they chose a majority of female cabinet ministers, in order to reflect what was going on in the country —and by doing so, becoming the country with the highest number of female ministers in the world— while at the same time, the media was experiencing its own evolving process, when they suddenly started to call off all sexists and derogatory behaviour towards women, that had been normalised until that point.

Can you believe that two years after that first event, we enjoy a national TV with literally 0 tolerance to the slightest sexist behaviour? I'm telling you, if I was in shock when I first moved back, thinking in complete horror about the amount of work us women living in Spain had ahead of us, I'm in shock again —this time in the positive sense— at the rate of improvement we have experienced since.

This has been an incredible thing to witness, as it has definitely caused an impact making me realise that, while in the past I was strongly reluctant to label myself as a feminist, I can openly say now that I'm not afraid to do so anymore.

See, the process that this country went and is still going through has been a wake-up call for everyone, in my case, it taught me that being a feminist does not involve being an extremist, or thinking that we are better than men —individuals who are radical feminists, are like any other person choosing a prefered activity, that eventually will reflect the person's state of mind, such as extreme vegans or exercise fanatics for example; therefore the problem is not in the ideology/activity but in the individual's personal story—

I feel that nowadays we are feminists because the times require it so; in my opinion Feminism today is direct equivalent to Equalism, as there is an obvious gap at every level of society, that needs to be compensated in order for humanity to reach a healthy balance.

Only by changing and unlearning the old patriarchy mentality, and by replacing that with healthier ways, we will start considering and treating all genders equally, not just in paper but in practise; hence the reason why it is helpful for everybody to call themselves feminists, at least until that balance is reached, the concept gets assimilated, and thus, normalised by all generations. Once that goal is achieved there probably will not be need to label anyone as feminist anymore.

Who knows maybe from that point onwards, the world will urgently need to start focusing on fighting something equally important, as race inequality for example; and so in the future that subject will have the same impact that Feminism has in today's society —it is easy to imagine that in order to achieve race equality in the future, we all start calling and defining ourselves as pro-racial or pro-diverse—

That said, until that happens we need men and women to identify themselves as feminists, and we need that to happen now, within all type of environments. For many of us women"feminist" is a powerful word that screams a thousand, "I AM A FEMINIST" is not just a phrase but a universal expression, as well as the most direct statement we can make in order to highlight an existing, and very real need for equality.

That said, I don't know what this same word means to you guys, so I'll finish here by telling you what I do know, that is: for a man to say and consider himself a feminist, it is kind of BADASS.. Just saying!

feminism
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About the Creator

Grace Evelyn

I came to the conclusion that this is my life purpose.. To get inspired and inspire others finding my joy and wisdom and sharing them with the world, as that is how I as an Artist contribute to the greater good.

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