From a young age, I learned the importance of standing up for myself and others. I was brought into the world by a single teenage mom who found herself in one abusive relationship after another. I’ve seen what happens when someone has so much fear surrounding them that it silences them, and I always told myself, “That will never be me.”
For myself, my mom, my sisters, my friends, the girl sitting at the bar alone crying, the girl on the street being harassed, I choose to have a voice. I’ve learned that you can’t wait for someone else to take action or stand up for what’s right because people often disappoint you.
I’ve seen a lot of women sharing why “they don’t need feminism,” and one thing I have to say to these women is this; Just because you don’t need it doesn’t mean that someone else doesn’t. Just because you have a voice you choose not to use doesn’t mean that someone who doesn’t have an agent doesn’t need one.
Hundreds of thousands of millions of women don’t have the rights we do. Some women are mutilated, raped, tortured, and killed daily; there’s nothing they can do about it. But you’re mistaken if you think that is a reason to sit, be quiet, and stop. Do you think these women want life to be that way for them? Or do you feel they wish they could stop it, that someone would help them? I choose the latter.
I use my voice daily, if not for myself, but for someone else who needs it. FEMINISM IS NOT A SELFISH AGENDA. If you need it, it’s there. If you choose to ignore it, it’s still there. The changes being protested now will not devastatingly affect me if they go through, but that doesn’t mean they won’t affect other women to that extent.
I’m tired of hearing women even act like feminism is something to be against. If you choose not to use your voice, that’s fine. But if you have a problem with other women using their voices just because you do not need them, that’s selfish. As women, we would get much further together, supporting each other and standing up for our rights, loudly or silently.
