the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist

Today in my Religion & the Civil Rights Movement class, we were talking about women in the Black Power and nonviolence movements. My professor told us that in an interview with Stokely Carmichael, he was asked what the position of women was in SNCC. He replied, "The position of women in SNCC is prone."

Sometimes it feels like feminism never happened, and nothing's ever going to change. Things like the Man Law or whatever it's called on Facebook, with rules like, "Don't spend more time on the phone with a girl than you're going to spend having sex with her," and, "Girls are in charge of making and serving food and refilling drinks, unless they can't keep up with the speed at which you're drinking." It's disgusting, even to joke about.

Sexism runs so deep in the world that most people don't even realize when they say something misogynistic. Phrases like "man up", throwing/catching/running/hitting "like a girl" are all subtle little ways of reinforcing gender stereotypes. Can we, as a nation, move on from this without feminists being attacked for "taking things to seriously" or being "angry bitches"?

Women, if you believe you are equal to men, you are a feminist. Case closed. This is not a matter of burning bras or hating men, this is a matter of equal rights. What does it say about the country that after over fifty years in front of Congress, they couldn't pass the Equal Rights Amendment? The election of Barack Obama has heralded joyous cries that racism and racial barriers in America have been defeated, and while this statement is rather dangerously presumptuous, this has not happened for women. Please, America. Do not judge women differently based on our gender. One day it might just get you in trouble


In conclusion,
"Because women's work is never done and is underpaid or unpaid or boring or repetitious and we're the first to get fired and what we look like is more important than what we do and if we get raped it's our fault and if we get beaten we must have provoked it and if we raise our voices we're nagging bitches and if we enjoy sex we're nymphos and if we don't we're frigid and if we love women it's because we can't get a "real" man and if we ask our doctor too many questions we're neurotic and/or pushy and if we expect childcare we're selfish and if we stand up for our rights we're aggressive and "unfeminine" and if we don't we're typical weak females and if we want to get married we're out to trap a man and if we don't we're unnatural and because we still can't get an adequate safe contraceptive but men can walk on the moon and if we can't cope or don't want a pregnancy we're made to feel guilty about abortion and...for lots of other reasons we are part of the women's liberation movement."