not a feminist
Introductions are such silly things sometimes. As a child, I was given the impression that they would be as easy as a “Hi, my name is Mercedes. It’s a pleasure to meet you” plus a relevant fact or two about myself. Growing up, however, has proven to me that they are anything but.
I don’t know what it is about the word ‘feminist’ but it seems to conjure up the image of an all-mighty ball-breaker for a lot of people. Far too often when mentioning that I’m a feminist I am forced to face the awfully disgruntled face of a man who looks like his masculinity was just stolen from him. Or (possibly worse), the irritated face of somebody who clearly does not know what feminism is. Now, that’s not to say all men and women react that way to the concept of feminism. But for those who force me to create an elaborately drawn egoistic suicide plan: this one is for you.
I believe I first (metaphorically) signed up to join the feminist bandwagon when I told my step-father to shove the household gender roles he so preferred up his ass. However, in signing up for feminism, I did not, in fact, enlist myself to help plot the murder of billions of men around the world — though, apparently, that’s what some people think I did. Feminism is not about man-hating. But talk to a few people here and there and one will realize that there seems to be a lot of confusion when it comes to defining the actual movement of feminism.
Feminism is not about hating every single being with a penis. If you do happen to hate men, feminism is actually not for you, since it’s a movement about equality (not one gender being better than the other). So to all the men who seem to think that they are being targeted by feminists, who feel that feminists hate them or feel that they have even met a feminist who hated them, think about this: there are about seven billion people on this planet. It’s quite hard to keep track of everybody who calls themselves a feminist. So if there are women out there who in the name of feminist espouse horrible things about guys, just know that we (the real feminists) can’t control what they say or do. We can’t just shut them down. But know that those of us who are actually feminists don’t support them or what they are saying/doing.
Don’t be afraid of feminists like myself. I invite conversations with strangers and am actually pretty friendly. Contrary to popular belief, I come in peace.
