I am not afraid

I realize you have been in power for centuries, you have ruled the world with your fists and your guns and your words and your standards. You have grown accustomed, intoxicated even, to being in charge. You have made people into possessions, created ownership when there should have been freedom, and ignored the needs of the women who helped make you strong.

But I am not afraid of you. I will look you in the eye and tell you I am an equal. I will point out the hypocrisy, pointlessness, and danger of the patriarchy every chance I can. I will not worry about people not liking me. I will shout when I have to.

If I am a true feminist, if I am not to be a hypocrite, I need to stand up for women's injustice in every corner, and that begins at home. No longer can I remain silent. I have no delusions that I will change everyone's mind. But I must try. If I don't try, I cannot live with myself. What others want to do with that information is up to them.

When women become empowered, societies change. This is my research and my passion. This is my life. It's the goal I work toward, that I think about constantly, because I know that is how the world will change. And I believe the most beautiful living thing on earth is a strong woman. So many subtle and not-so-subtle ways the patriarchy rears its ugly head. And sometimes we have to look deep within ourselves to see how differently we see men and women.

I am not asking anyone to do something that I don't do myself. For a while, I didn't acknowledge gender inequality and I didn't think about how being a woman had affected me growing up. Through working at rape crisis centers, becoming educated about women, reading, watching my own mother pick up the pieces after a divorce and witnessing how people treated her, I began to learn. I realized how many ways women are kept down and how much they can accomplish when they are empowered.

I stand tall and proud as a woman. And I am not afraid.