It’s no secret that "feminism" is something of a dirty word to a lot of people, to the point that “feminist” can be considered an insult (Waugh 2015). But where does this come from? Is the movement that started with women getting the right to vote (Ruiz) and progressed into fighting against environmental destruction (We Rise; Kapoor 2015; Ruiz), capitalist oppression (We Rise; Red Letter Press 2007; Kapoor 2015; Ruiz), and racism (We Rise; IWDA 2018) really such a terrible thing?

So for those that don't know, I am an Ismaili Muslim and, like the Christian concept of Sunday school, we have religious education on Saturdays. Now the teachers are expected to go through training to ensure that we teach the students facts and accurate information, rather than opinions or perspectives. However, when I went into this training I realized that there was a fault in the training itself. Within teaching the facts, we somehow twisted the perspective based on emotional bias. When I was pitted against the trainer and the other teachers trying to explain my perspective, I felt something inside of me shift. The perspective you teach the students, regardless of the intent, does impact their view and emotional outlook on life because your emotional outlook on life will end up showing.

Growing up I never gave much thought to the word feminism or the works of feminists. Instead, I believed that feminism wasn’t needed since women in contemporary Western societies had more freedom now than at any other times in history. My beliefs about feminism were informed by the readily available stereotypes circulating in society that characterize feminists as angry women, man haters, ugly women, outspoken women, and many other negative descriptive words. Listening to the connotations surrounding feminism, I was convinced that I wasn’t a feminist, for ‘I didn’t hate men, I wasn’t angry, I wasn’t ugly; I was contented.' All this further confirmed what I already knew: that I wasn’t a feminist. Moreover, none of the people I surrounded myself with claimed to be feminists, so labelling myself as a non-feminist made perfect sense.

I grew up very blind to the injustices of the world, or maybe I was pointed in the wrong direction.

Have you ever Googled "What do women want?" I have. It's a little disconcerting. Because, despite the fact that I didn't put the words "in a man" in my search, the first page of results came up with articles with titles like "What do women want in a man?" and "10 Things Men Wish Women Knew About Sex" (Guess what, we probably already know them. In fact, there are probably more than 10 things WOMEN wish men knew about sex).

While most people don't think of Major Kira when they think of feminism, I honestly think she should be one of the first examples. It's almost as if her brand of feminism is too quiet, too earned, too perfect. Her lack of struggles in this area make it seem like maybe her society is just the same as every other. With the deeply problematic history of Star Trek, in terms of the sexualization of women and even their mistreatment in some scenes, it also isn't surprising that Star Trek is not the first place that people look for feminist messages. So, why do I make this argument? Well, read on to find out more.

I don’t talk about true crime extensively on this blog, but I’d like to. It’s an important topic that can honestly say a lot more about the audience and fanbase than the crimes and criminals themselves. And I think this post about why I take interest in this unsavory topic in the first place is a good way to open the door for future conversation.

There are so many Disney movie reviews and theories out there that we all think we know what our favorite stories are truly about. But looking at it in an empowering perspective, may teach us lessons for our daily lives and how to over come struggles we face. So starts are DISNEY PRINCESSES IN THE LIGHT OF QUEENS series. Let's start off with one of the first ever Disney Princess movies—Snow White.

It just riles me up when people seem to get the idea that femininity means a lack of feminism, like when people take a look at the girl in the pants and the girl in the ballgown and says the one in pants is more feminist and empowering than the one in the dress. The whole point of one of the many aspects of feminism is that as women, we have the right to choose to be and wear whatever we want. A woman in a dress is just as feminist as a woman in a burqa, and they’re both just as feminist as a woman in a suit or a woman in a bikini. And beyond clothing, a woman who’s married and in love is just as feminist as a woman who’s single. Here’s where Disney comes in: No one princess is a better more feminist role model than another. It’s important to have more than one type of role model yes, but just because one girl likes to fight and another girl likes to sew, it doesn’t mean that one is a better role model. All the princesses and other Disney ladies have good values to teach us and our kids in different ways, and I’m gonna go through them with you. Oh, and just for good measure, I always include trans women in my feminism, so terfs, this post isn’t for you.

Women’s rights have been a topic of discussion for years and some progress has been made. However, in today’s society, women still face inequality in the following categories: media, education, and the labor system. Men and women receive two different educations because of the way each gender is treated in the education system. Following the education they received, these men and women enter the workforce under the impression that they’re under equal standards. Yet, the gender pay gap still highly exists today. Finally, our media focuses on women in such a negative way, leading to mental health problems that we see in the women’s population today.

Feminism is seen as such a dirty word nowadays.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"—ain't that the truth. But have you ever wondered why women hold other women more accountable for their behaviour than they do men?