Madeline+K’s+Final+AmEx+2014+Speech

=Title of Speech= Feminism is for everyone

=Text of Speech= Until last year, I wouldn’t have considered myself a feminist. Not because I didn’t believe in equality, but because I, like many others, didn’t understand what being a feminist actually meant. Over this past year, I’ve realized that feminism isn’t some man-hating, armpit hair growing, bra burning club, but it’s simply, as bell hooks puts it, “a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.”

Feminism has been so criminalized by society and mainstream media that it made me feel reluctant to identify with the movement. I thought that if I labeled myself as a feminist, people would instantly judge me and think I was some radical feminazi.

It’s exactly words like feminazi that create the negative connotations surrounding feminism. Exaggerating or misinterpreting feminist ideals makes it easier to dismiss them as too radical and causes people to take them less seriously. Feminism is simply about equality regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, or religion. Feminism is an all inclusive group that does not discriminate. It is only society that forces stereotypes onto it because they are uncomfortable with disrupting their misogynistic norm. Feminism shouldn’t be considered so radical because really, what’s so radical about wanting equal rights and opportunities for all?

What should be considered radical and shocking is the way that society normalizes sexism and misogyny through pop culture. Why was robin thickes song about, yes blurring the lines between consent and rape allowed to become so popular while Rihanna's song about enjoying sex was banned in 11 countries? Because people are more uncomfortable with women embracing their sexuality than they are with a man making rape comments.

Recently, many female celebrities when asked about the topic, have been distancing themselves from feminism. Whether it has been because they don’t understand feminism or are trying to distance themselves from it in order to be more appealing to their fan base, celebrities have a lot of influence over what people think and when they misinterpret feminism on a large scale, a lot of people pick up their belief. For example this quote by Shailene Woodley “No [I don’t consider myself a feminist] because I love men. And I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance.” She obviously doesn’t understand what feminism is. And not because she doesn’t support it, but because her reasoning behind not supporting it is that she loves men, so therefore she cannot be a feminist. She isn’t aware that, men too, can be feminists. And she also isn’t aware that feminism isn’t about “stealing” power and creating something along the lines of reverse sexism, but it’s about trying to create an equal playing field, and not just that, but becoming conscious of our own sexist thinking, whether it’s slut shaming, body shaming, sexual judgments, etc. Many celebrities also disregard feminism because they are privileged and do not necessarily face some of the challenges that other women do. Lana Del Rey recently said when asked about feminism, "Whenever people bring up feminism, I’m like, god. I’m just not really that interested.” Lana del Rey can afford to be bored with feminism because she is wealthy and privileged and doesn't face most of the challenges that many women deal with every day. She may not need feminism as much as a women who constantly face gender based wage discrimination, sexual abuse, and harassment, but completely dismissing feminism as uninteresting is inconsiderate and ignorant. I'm not criticizing these two women for not considering themselves feminists, but rather criticizing their explanation for their stance on the topic for reaffirming the misconceptions people already have about feminism, which isn’t just a belief that these wealthy women have, but a belief that I’m sure many of the people in this room do as well..

In the America I want to grow up in, people will not judge feminism before they know what it means and what it stands for. People will not be embarrassed to call themselves feminists out of worry that they will be made fun of or stereotyped. I want people to be educated and not form opinions about things that they know nothing about. I want to grow up in a place where

those who aren’t directly affected by race, sex, or class discrimination can still be able to understand and support those who are, and in response, stand in solidarity with them, rather than dismissing them.

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