Are you a feminist ?
I think that no matter what your gender is , people should be treated as equal . If that falls into the category of being a feminist , then I am a feminist . For me , I haven ’ t been involved in significant feminist actions , but this is the thing that requires attention .
When did you realize that girls were not equal to boys ?
When I was younger , I liked to play games with all the kids in the neighborhood . Guys were always angry about me whenever I won the game . One time I was playing basketball with my friends in Putney , and someone who was playing had a question . I told him that move was illegal , but he then asked another guy who also played basketball the same question again and got the same answer . So I started to question : “ Why does it have to be male to confirm things ?”.
How does the idea of feminism personally influence you ?
When I was in middle school , guys in my grade were all saying ignorant things . There was a girl who came to my school , and people all started to joke about her because she was a feminist . I started to question these behaviors because she was just speaking her mind and standing up for what she believed . If any men push me to do something like washing dishes , I will stand up and say that ’ s not ok because he ’ s perpetuating stereotypes .
What challenges do you
“ To me , being a feminist is having pride in being a woman .”
Shyra Jainuddin ‘ 19
19 encounter when you present your feminist ideas ?
People like to distort the word feminism , and they think feminists believe in getting better treatment than men , but that ’ s not what it means . A lot of my friends don ’ t realize they are wrong and they are stubborn about it . Being a feminist , everyone will invalidate what I am doing . Girls and guys in my middle school will describe feminists with words like ‘ crazy ’ and ‘ obnoxious .’ They are discouraging my feminist passion , but they don ’ t recognize the importance of the drive to stand up . When people try to tear me down , it becomes harder because that ’ s exactly what I am trying to battle . Men in this society have certain privileges , so they need to realize that all of us coexist on this planet and understand what prejudice women go through , so we need to reshape the society and change people ’ s mindsets .