What is a feminist?  The word carries some bizarre and incorrect connotations.  I have been asked “Why do we need feminism?” or even more surprisingly “Are you a feminist?”  Since being a feminist means that you believe women should be equal to men and should not be held back because of their gender, why do more people not define themselves as feminists?  And why do we still need feminism in today’s world? 

‘Strong female characters’ are in the spotlight in young adult fiction at the moment, but why is it noteworthy that a character is strong as well as female?  Harry Potter is not defined as a ‘strong male’ because we assume that as the protagonist he will be strong.  So why is Katniss Everdeen labelled as ‘strong’?  Why do we not just assume that Katniss, as the protagonist, will be strong?

If a woman stays at home to look after her family she is anti-feminist because she relies on her partner.  If a woman has a full-time job and a nanny looks after her children, shouldn’t she instead be at home being there for them?  So a woman is expected to do both, giving her twice the amount of work that her male partner has.
In shops, everything is split into ‘Boys’ and ‘Girls’; the boys’ section is full of dark colours, footballs, train sets and sports equipment and the girls’ section is full of pink, sparkles, Barbie dolls and princesses.  We have boys’ clothes and girls’ clothes, boys’ toys and girls’ toys, cards for him and card for her.  Since when did we separate things like these?  Since when do we tell children which section they need to be buying items from?  Are clothes not just clothes?  I’ve needed feminism since the moment I realised it felt like a minor achievement to buy a birthday card for a female friend from the boys’ section. 

Sometimes we need feminism because of the actions of feminists.  A woman wearing low or tight fitting clothes is called anti-feminist.  A woman wearing a hijab is called anti-feminist.  There is a very tight window of clothes that are acceptable for feminists to wear.  Women are telling other women how to dress and behave; does this not sound like patriarchy?

We need feminism because it is sometimes impossible for a girl to walk down a street without been whistled at or shouted at. This not only undermines the confidence of girls, but it objectifies us.  And, you can be told to “take it as a compliment”.  It is in fact just frightening and sickening.  

We need feminism because we have been told, at school, that if you wear a short skirt you are “objectifying yourself”.  It is impossible to objectify yourself!  Society teaches girls to wear longer skirts, to cover up, to not go out alone at night but when are we going to start teaching boys to not objectify girls in the first place?    

We need feminism because of the effect that gender discrimination has on boys and men as well; sexism affects all of us.  Boys are told that they need to be masculine; they should be the breadwinner, they should be strong, they can’t be vulnerable because that makes them ‘like a girl’.  A boy who is hurt by a girl and does not fight back is pathetic.

I need feminism because to say that you do something ‘like a girl’ is an insult.  This is nonsense; to insult someone, you have to call them something bad.  Since when was doing something like a girl would do such a bad thing? 

I need feminism because to say ‘You run like a girl’ is an insult.  I need feminism because a menu in a restaurant labels portion sizes as ‘Ladies’’’ and ‘Gentlemen’s’’.  But more basically than that, I need feminism because I want to be treated as equal. Simple.