My public declaration that I had become a feminist – better yet, that I had always been a feminist and finally understood and accepted the descriptor – was met with quite a bit of shock. Actually, I received quite the backlash from a number of balkers.

I do not fit the mold of feminist preconceptions established by the radical feminists of the second wave.  I’m an evangelical pro-lifer. I practice and preach abstinence. And I wear a bra. I was met with surprise from almost everyone when I came out as a feminist. On one hand, my friends that don’t share my values were shocked that a churchy girl could be a feminist. On the other end of the spectrum, friends and family that subscribe to my spiritual and moral views no doubt thought I was was about to start reenacting scenes from Sex and the City under the pretense of feminism.

Most people don’t understand what it means to be a feminist.  In actuality, I think everyone should be a feminist.  Professor and theologian John G. Stackhouse offers a great working definition of the word feminist:

The noun feminist can mean several things, but this is what I mean by it: someone who champions the dignity, rights, responsibilities, and glories of women as equal in importance to those of men and who therefore refuses discrimination against women. (Finally Feminist, 17)

How can you argue with that?  I definitely couldn’t.

Compared to previous generations, I think young women have a remarkable amount of freedom to do and be whatever they can dream up.  Women are doctors and lawyers and judges and CEO’s. But just because women are reaching higher heights than ever before, it doesn’t mean that they haven’t had a few doors slammed firmly in their faces; many successful women have had to climb through a number of windows on their way to the top.  I happen to believe that as more of the older generation retire, a lot of these issues will be worked out.

However, I think there are still many pressing concerns that we all must concern ourselves about.  The objectification of women continues at an alarming rate. My generation was force fed the faux-feminism of the Spice Girls and Britney Spears, which taught us that girl power lay in a great rack, a belly shirt, and the ability to shake ones ass to second-rate pop music.  Ten years later, is it any wonder that seven-year-olds are finding their worth and value in those same poorly constructed values?  (see video below)

No. Girls are still taught that their value lies in their ability to attract men and to become possessions.

Another issue I find particularly concerning is the derogatory way in which “women’s work” is regarded.  Cooking, cleaning, child-rearing, and a plethora of other tasks generally performed by women, are some how seen as less important contributions to society than “real” careers. I see it in the way people look at my mum when they hear she stayed home to raise my brother and I; there’s no respect for the 24  long, hard years she devoted to supporting our family.    If a man takes up too much of the burden of cooking, cleaning, or child-rearing, his masculinity and sexuality is questioned, as if he’s somehow less of a man for “lowering” himself to do a woman’s work. Women can never win; if a woman does build a career and excel in the work place, she is guilted for “abandoning her family” or “being a bad mother.”  Women are held to impossible standards.

I have always been a feminist.  I’ve been a feminist since the first time anger boiled in the pit of my stomach when my softball coach told me that I “throw like a girl.”  I’ve been a feminist since the first time I shot daggers at a guy for suggesting I “go into the kitchen and get him a sandwich.”  But I’m a new breed of feminist.

I use my rolling pin to put up pictures when I can’t find a hammer.  I bake a fantastic batch of cookies for my male coworkers, and then match their career strides.  I nurture and love the children put in my care, but I don’t let my love and compassion cloud my logic.  And I don’t let the fact I’m a woman dictate limits to who I can be or what I can achieve.

And I’m strong enough to shake it off when your preconceived notions of what a “feminist” is and believes and wants to achieve make you think poorly of me because you wont try to see beyond yourself to understand another person’s point of view.