How To Be A Feminist In The Twenty-First Century
1. Sleep around, or don’t.
Feel empowered to make your own choices and to not feel like you have to defend them. You don’t. You have every right to your privacy and the conviction of knowing what’s right for you personally. Also, respect other women’s decisions to make their own choices. Don’t care about other women’s clothing or their choice of sexual partners. Believe that every woman has the right to make her own decisions and not be criticized for them.
2. Educate yourself and learn about the world.
Understand how your body works. Watch porn, if you feel like it. Buy a vibrator. Be open minded to other perspectives, even if they clash with your ideas about monogamy or being classy or gender roles. Don’t criticize other women for their choices. Learn about other ways to live and respect that yours isn’t the only way. Understand every woman’s right to choose what’s right for her. Also, understand that you can be whatever you want. Literally. Learn to be aggressive in business. Learn to be assertive in general. Learn to be comfortable with what you want and what you have to do to get it.
3. Don’t care about what people are saying about feminism.
Yes, people will think that you’re a man-hater, that you’re too aggressive, that you’re disrupting a perfectly happy system, that you’re making something out of nothing. Don’t care what they say. You have every right to the same respect as anyone else. Don’t succumb to the stereotypes that they claim are healthy. Question every “get skinny” article, every slut-shaming comment, and every time that someone tells you that only certain women can wear crop top shirts. And don’t care about the criticism you receive when you point this stuff out.
To summarize, do what you feel is right for you, be knowledgeable about your body and your needs, and don’t care what people think about your feminism. People tend to hate feminism. It’s stupid. You have every right to do what’s right for you. And you don’t have to do that loudly to be a feminist. You don’t have to picket, but if you want to, go for it. You just have to do you, not give up that right, and respect other women’s agency to achieve their goals. Welcome to feminism.