A space for women and girls to share their experiences and perspectives
What is your mission statement as a feminist?
Hello everyone! I'm glad to be a part of this growing community!
Everyone is a feminist for a different reason, and everyone has a different mission as one. Everyone also has different ways of representing themselves as feminists/owning that title. I will share mine, and I would love to read yours! Sharing stories and experiences is an awesome way to bask in the sisterhood!
When I was 12, I saw a meme on my dads computer. It was of an angry and wild looking women with the caption "don't trust anything that can bleed for 7 days and survive." I was heart broken. I suddenly felt ashamed of my newly developing body. This is the moment I was enlightened to the barriers women face simply for being women. Learning about civil rights and feminism suddenly had a new personal resonance. Now a student in college, I've been standing up for my rights and bringing up challenging discussions. Being an activist has meant a lot to me.
My mission statement as a feminist is as follows: To spread awareness of the female experience, and work towards improving it through awareness and activism. These can look like many things, from speaking on inequalities to acting outside of traditional gender rolls. I believe that by working to end sexism, we are also working to end racism and all forms of discrimination. I believe that unity is key, and that requires everyone taking responsibility for what they bring and present, and working to improve themselves.
One way I represent my feminism is my armpit hair. I haven't shaved it in years, and is a bright turquoise atm.




My big defining moment as a feminist happened when I was in my late teens. I was sitting with a group of women friends around my age. There were maybe five or six of us there, and I had a moment where I looked around and realized with a jolt that out of all of us, I was the only one who had never been sexually assaulted.
There were other moments. Expressing strong opinions in class and hearing a man mutter under his breath, "Remind me never to date you." Being called "bossy" or "feisty" whenever I expressed my thoughts without sugarcoating them, while people just nodded at boys who did the same. Being told that my husband probably wants children, so I should "take one for the team." They pile up... But that moment, sitting with my friends, was the one that shocked my perspective of the world into focus.
I don't have a mission statement, but I do have a hell of a lot of fuel moving me forward.
What a great question. I'd like to say that blatant sexism in the home, or the fact that I was getting catcalled when I was 13 years old, or the fact that, from as young as 10, my body just seemed wrong to me. But my feminist awakening didn't actually happen until I was at University. And grew when I entered the workforce.
I think for me the thing that bothers me the most is that women are just perceived to have less worth. This perception exists in some very obvious and also such subtle ways that you hardly notice it - but it's always there. And I contributed to it too. I used to be one of those women who said "I'm not one of those girly girls, I get on better with men" or found that I tended to value a man's opinion more because it seemed more objective and rational. Despite the fact that I have to fight against this at work all the time. I could see in meetings women speak and everyone look impatient but when men speak everyone zeroed in and agreed what a great idea it was.
And in the last five years, I have realised how privileged I am as a white, cis woman and to not be defensive and instead listen to our trans sisters, our sisters of colour and our LBITQ sisters.
I should also say that as a mother, I now see how people are channelled down gendered roles when the baby comes along. Mother after mother after mother will tell you the exact same thing "It's not a sexist thing, it's just that my husband earns more than me so it makes sense for me to work in a part time role." And... "I couldn't find a high level / good role part time so I took this admin role / do part time consulting / stepped down into a junior role". As if this has nothing to do with gender and is just one of those things. I have seen husbands tell their wives that they simply can't pick the kids up, can't work standard hours, can't be home in time for tea. I know husbands who have told their wives to work less or to stop work, my husband encourages me all the time to negotiate for a 4 day week. Even though I've never indicated I wanted to or that it would be possible.
Let me tell you it's FUCKING BULLSHIT. Women make the sacrifice but men won't. For myriad reasons that is worth discussing but fathers don't even want to discuss it. Who owns the discussions about the wage gap, cost of childcare, parenting etc etc? Feminists.
I'm mostly a feminist by default because I try not to be a colossal jackass at all times.
i'm a trans woman, and many of my friends are also trans women. my goal is for all of us to live into our old age in relatively good health. i've already had one friend die due to emergency room staff not treating her, and several others attempt suicide or be physically assaulted.
Losing friends is incredibly hard. The Trans perspective is another experience feminism advocates for. I lost my first partner to suicide in high school. The world is filled with harshness, violence, and terror... but it also filled with grace and a potential for joy and peace and love. Doctor lacking on patient care because of their life style is a serious issue! Keep speaking up about issues and your experience. Thank you for sharing.