Lowkey feminist 

        In Modern day society Generation Z is starting to make a change in all aspects of the world; We have spoken up about this left in the dark, and we continue to look up to those who inspire us. A big topic for Gen Z is women’s rights; there are endless numbers of people paving the path for young feminists like myself. A big inspiration for me is Emma Watson; she once said, "...there's a willingness now to be like, ‘Fine. Call me a ‘diva,' call me a ‘feminazi,' call me ‘difficult,' call me a "First World feminist,' call me whatever you want, and it’s not going to stop me from trying to do the right thing and make sure that the right thing happens.” A big part of why so many of us have a hard time stating that we are feminists is because of those who judge us yet don’t know the real meaning of Feminism.

                                         So what is Feminism? 

        According to Wikipedia, Feminism “is a range of social movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the sexes’ political, economic, personal, and social equality. Feminism incorporates the position that societies prioritize the male point of view, and that women are treated unjustly within those societies.” If people were to ask me two years ago if I knew what Feminism meant, I would have said no because honesty this definition gives does nothing but confuse people.

           As a little kid, I would always be so upset when I was simply denied opportunities simply because I am a girl. I would often hear things like, “ no, you can’t do that. It is for boys only” an excellent example of this is during Year 3, the school decided to form a unisex rugby team as soon as I heard I was over the moon and took a permission slip to give to my parents to sign only to learn that they would quickly deny this request and gave me the simple “ you can’t play sports are for boys” my eight years old self-started to beg and beg until I finally gave up and ended up crying myself to sleep, that was when it all started it was that day I decide that anything a boy could do I could feel even better. I watched the following days as boys and girls began to train for rugby matches against other schools. It sparked something inside me, a type of feeling of Irritation that I couldn’t be on that field training simply because I was a girl. I hated that feeling. I hated it more than anything. This anger and question started forming in my head of why I was simply denied an opportunity just because I am a girl. Fast forward two years, I ended up in a new school and new country, and that was when it started again, the school began to form a girl soccer team once again, I was over the moon, and once again, I was denied the chance to play because “soccer was for boys” once again I felt that anger that feeling I once did when I was eight years old. In grade 7, my parents finally allowed me to join the school soccer team a year later. And that’s when it hit me that if I was denied the opportunities to join a sports team simply because I was a girl, how many more options in my life would I be rejected? 

            Ever since grade 7, I have been on the school sports team ever since and that feeling of anger kind of died down instead of me. In school, I was never taught what feminism was, and I had to figure it out myself only in the 9th grade when I started to be more open about being a feminist cause I finally knew what it meant. I finally figured out that feeling of anger when I was eight and because I was denied the opportunity to play rugby merely of the word ‘’feminism’’,   At the age of 14 was when I started to speak up more, it was when I began using every chance I was given to advocate for women rights, and I realized that I no longer wanted to be a lowkey feminist; I wanted to be that one girl that everyone in the class might hate because she never shuts up about woman’s rights, the more I grow up, the more I realize that people view feminism and feminist in such a negative aspect. For example, I once had a friend introduce me to his other friend and he said “ she is a feminist by the way” everything from the way he said that statement p*ssed me off he made it sound like being a feminist was terrible but nothing surprised me more then what the other guy replied “ to be honest with you I hate people that are feminist” I proceed to ask him why and he said “ because you guys think that by dragging us men down to the same level as you is equality you try to devalue us thinking it would give woman equal rights” to say I was shocked is an understatement I was p*ssed off but I than realize this guy had absolutely no idea what a feminist is or what feminism even is, I later spend my whole night explaining to this guy what feminism is and what the goal of every feminist is and it isn’t to drag down man it is to fight for equality and respect we deserve just as many rights as men and I often like to say that I know what it is like to have my rights oppress so I would never try to go around tryinf to degrade someone simply because of their gender and thats when it hits me so many people have such negativr opion on feminism because they dont even know what itmeans they don’t even understand the goals of a feminist and that just spark an anger in me. This conversation made me advocate feminism even more, and I had people judge me, saying I was wrong for defending a girl who was murdered walking home alone. Still, I realized that I wasn’t mistaken I was just speaking up about a situation that would rarely happen to a man. I was surprised and the number of friends I lost along the way when I no longer hid my options about this topic and when I started posting more and more on my social media about women’s rights and am thankful that I am no longer in contact with those people cause they were afraid of me speaking up for my owns right they would make me sound like I was out to get every man that walks this earth. I realize that these people were uneducated, but they also refused to listen to me trying to explain my points to them, and that’s when it hit me they simply just did not like the idea that women could be on the same level as them.

Fast-forward to the present. I am currently in 10th grade, and at the age of 15, I have realized that I should not be scared to speak up ad I have finally found the courage to correct and speak back to the sexiest comments made by those around me; I am no longer afraid to tell people am a feminist nor am seconding guessing myself everything I turned a school project into a way to advocate about woman’s right or every time I posted on social media about feminism I realize that I no longer wanted to be a lowkey feminist. Still, I wanted to be that girl who would never shut up about how unique, beautiful, and powerful women are. We deserve every opportunity without people doubting if we can handle it simply because of our gender. The more people I talk to about how I envision my future, the more comments I get back saying, “ But you are a girl, you are not a boy,” and not once did those people question my ability; they question my gender. I realize that I will not sit back and allow this cycle of sexism to continue, and I will always speak up about it. I finally realized I no longer wanted to be a lowkey feminist. 

Every woman/girl’s experience with gender equality is different, feminism means other things for different people, but no matter what it may mean to each person, we all have the same goal. The main inspiration is to start conversations. Starting a conversation about feminism allows more awareness to spread and miseducate those informed about women’s rights. Starting conversations to understand the more light we bring to this issue, the better it is to break that toxic cycle of gender equality passed on from one generation to another.