"Feminism isn't about making women stronger. Women are already strong, it's about changing the way the world perceives that strength."- G.D. Anderson

I remember waking up on June 24th, 2022 going about my normal day. That was until I saw the news about Roe v Wade getting overturned. As a 15 year old at the time, this news affected me just as much as any other woman in America because it was another step taken to make women struggle to have self autotomy. “We are going backwards in time” was the sentence going around on social media. A sentence that was not wrong.

But this oppression has not started from Roe v Wade itself because this oppression of women has been around forever, just out of mind. 

We start with not being able to vote. It took women more than 7 decades to get the basic right of voting all because of gender. What people fail to understand is that your gender does not define what your opinions are, how good your skills are, how you communicate, etc. This stereotype of women being weaker and needing a man as a savior has been lodged into our minds as a child.

How so? Disney movies. Think back to the most known movies/stories that you know and that children now know. Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, you name it. We see that in all of the movies, the female character needs to be saved by a man. In Sleeping Beauty, a man comes to her rescue and with no consent, kisses her, which is also seen in Snow White. We see that in Cinderella, she has to change her appearance to make the prince fall in love with her.

To change stereotypes of women, we shouldn’t let these disney movies teach children at such a young age that consent does not matter and that women are fragile/weak. Not even that, women should not have to grow up thinking that they need to change themselves in any way for anyone else. Disney movies have changed majorly over the years and have been more inclusive with genders, but we cannot ignore that the most prominent and known stories to all, are still being embedded into a child's mind. But the stereotypes of women have bled further into appearance.

We see in Aladdin, she has a slim waist, bigger eyes, perfectly styled hair and makeup on all the time. Not only with Aladdin, but we see that with every Disney princess movie where they are unrealistically skinny. It makes younger girls believe that if they don’t look like that, they aren’t a “princess” or pretty.

Even now, Disney has failed to be more body inclusive. 

But stepping away from movies influencing us, we see in society today, women have been oppressed with the Pink Tax and unequal pay. Pink Tax is the most prominent way in my opinion, that has shown the unequal steps women and men stand on. We see that the travel kits, that hold the same products, are more expensive for women. We have seen the same with earplugs which is a more prominent way to show Pink Tax because the women’s earplugs, which hold less plugs than the normal one, are still more expensive. But we get worse with product abuse from companies.

Women’s menstrual cycle has been abused by companies to earn more. Alejandra De llano, Staff Writer for CAVSConnect, says, “Items such as pads and tampons are being priced at high values when they should be given out freely, just as condoms are to men.” Sanitary pads and tampons can cost women $10-$60. Jeanne Mah states, “Women spend more than $18,000 due to menstruation over the course of their lives.” With inflation and the prices of these products already being expensive, we are making it a life-expense. To put it into perspective, you could’ve bought a car with the amount of money you spend for your menstruation, something you can’t control. 

But this unequal ground has reached into pay. 

Census.gov states that, “...women earned 82 cents for every dollar a man earns according to 2020 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”Even after decades of women trying to stand at an equal ground as men, we always fall behind due to politics and stereotypes.

Women have been oppressed in every aspect. Roe v Wade was the biggest change and biggest heartbreak women have received. Slowly losing control over your own life decisions is frightening, especially knowing it was from your own US Supreme Court, the one thing made to protect us. But we will not back down. This is a fight we are in until we win.

Like G.D. Anderson claimed, feminism has never, is not, and will never be about becoming stronger. We have always been strong and this fight is to break the oppression.

Roe v Wade was never the start to this oppression, it was another action taken against women. Maybe Disney movies are a small effect, but this is not. Women are losing their autonomy all because we are seen as inferior. But no more. I have a voice, you have a voice, we all have one. Let’s use it to end this fight.