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Hello!

We're all (I assume!) feminists here because we believe men and women should be equal to each other in all kinds of aspects in life.

However, I wanted to make this thread to ask if there was any particular moment in your life that made you say, 'I NEED to speak up about inequality and how awful it is'?

For me, it wasn't just one particular moment but several where I've seen how people treat and talk about women.

'Oh, you don't feel embarrassed a girl's got her driver's license before you?'
'Girls are weak'
'Girls belong in the kitchen'

I've heard these three things and many other things since my childhood. It is not okay for people to talk about women this way. It is unfair that women get paid less in today's society compared to men, despite doing the EXACT same jobs. All these things added together made me want to speak up about these issues.

What moment(s) in your life made you want to speak up?

Namaste Ardit _/\_ .. I am Adarsh from India..a feminist like you..and yes even for me it wasn't just a one moment that made me stand up for equality ..I too have heard such comments :- women belong in the kitchen , oh are you a girl..boys don't cry (heard this one from girls!) , oh it is a girl she can't drive , after she get married she won't get to work..and many more....I felt like if I don't speak up ..I'll be shut down like the rest of them..I'm a rebel If I don't like the way things are in our society ..I'm going to change it and that's how I became a feminist .

I did not become, I always have been, in my thoughts and my actions.

It upsets me when my sister wait for her man to do something (like moving furniture or to up it. And everytime I go at her home I'm like : "come on, I'll do it for you ! Look, don't need him to do it, you could have wait a long time" And I move all her furniture ^^

The society made some women dependant on men, and I would love to change the mind of some of them.
My husband and I don't have driving license and he hates going to Ikea. So when we needed a table, I went on my own : bus, metro, walk... It takes me 45 min to go there. The table was so heavy and it was raining so my fingers was always slipping. People was looking at me and I was like "Yes, I can do it".
And I did it, and i was so proud of myself. But why was I proud ? I should feel normal about it. No it is not extraordinary. I am a woman, of course I can hold a table. Here we are, everytime we do something, we feel like it was a feat because we used to tell women they can't do anything.

So this how I try to spread the message to my cercle, by doing little things by myself. I up the furniture, and my husband cooks ;)

Hi all! how are you? this club is a great idea, because we can talk about feminism, this issue is very important. I read some comments from you and what they say are interesting actually have to take an interest in this topic

I think I was always a feminist, I just had to learn what the word meant.

Hey, I'am Sebastian from the uk(Iam transgender and identity as female my pronouns are she/her). I believe that everyone should have equal eights, and I quess haven't not really not been a feminist, I have been really moved by the HeforShe movement and the speeches.

I really like the term gender equality rather than feminism just cause it involves everyone; from my uni module on feminism I love to see how the movement has grown and changed. I love the idea of this group and look forward to discussing stuff with you and getting to know you. :)

I would like to answer with when:
- when I became a mother
- when I read Sally Armstrong's book "Uprising"

I don't think I ever became a feminist, more that I became aware as I was growing up that feminism was a thing and that I identified. I grew up in an all girls household and went to an all female school. Nobody ever made me feel as though there were things I was incapable of because of my gender.

Obviously, as I became older, I encountered everyday misogyny, both in my own life and in reading and investigating the world. As a white woman from Australia, I am readily able to admit that I have privileges that many women don't. I believe that equality won't happen until those of us who have this privilege accept that intersectional feminism is absolutely essential.

Hi Laura. My name is Josh and I'm 26 and from Idaho, originally from Southern California.

I've never recognized myself as a feminist because I felt it had a negative connotation behind it, that connotation being that only women could be Feminists and that those that were Feminists saw more equality issues than were actually there.

I've grown up never seeing race nor sex as something that makes a person unequal to another. Maybe it was the way I was raised, but it wasn't until late middle school that I learned about people being racist. As for equality between a man and women, this was something that I didn't expect the world had a problem with until High School. In High School I dated this beautiful girl who later became the salutatorian for our school. Maybe it was because I saw such potential and greatness from her that I never even considered an equality difference between men and women. I knew she was going to rise in the world higher than other students because she knew what she wanted and how to get there.

After understanding what Feminism was I thought to myself that, I've always been a Feminist because I've never seen that line between what a man or women could do. I wonder to myself though as to why this line has never been apparent to me. Is it because both my parents worked while I was growing up. Is it because I had a little sister who I believed would aspire to having a great job and life? Is it because most girls I met early on in life had a strong will and passion that made me never even consider them to have less of an ability than men in anything that they do?

I feel a lot of the same issues that derive from gender equality are similar to that of race equality as well. Humanity has a past where differences in equality were more recognized between race, sex, religion, culture, and more. I understand that its hard for people to move past how they've been taught or raised, but I'm finding now that those that recognize gender equality as an issue may not change those that won't leave that way of thinking behind, but they may help kids while they grow to understand that there is no difference between what a man or woman can do.

I just hope in the future the word feminist isn't even used anymore due to the fact that people don't see a difference between what a woman or man can do.

I m a born feminist...every moment I experienced in life made me more n more feminist...

I don't recall ever 'becoming' a feminist, I just think I've always been one.

Hi I'm Briana, a 24 year old American living in Amsterdam. The things that make me speak up most I find is in my dating life. I often encounter guys who don't even realize how anti-feminist they really are. "Oh babe, aren't you going to cook us something for dinner tonight" well I worked all day too, why don't you? Or the guy I'm currently dating believes that a woman makes the home and the man is just meant to live there. Needless to say, we've gotten in many heated arguments about the state of feminism and why it is important which therefore makes me want to spread the word even more!

Because feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings. And I love it!

Hi my name is Courtney. I am 18 years old and from Australia. I definitely started using the word "feminist" to describe myself after Emma Watson's speech at the UN conference. Emma eliminated any doubt of what feminism means and what it means to be a feminist. I am a feminist because I believe in the equality of men and women. I am now not afraid to stand up to other people and invite them to think and discuss equality.

Hi I'm Maragrite from Moscow. Like most of you who commented, I feel that I was born a feminist. There wasn't a point in my life when I start to be one.
I guess the crucial point for me was when young girls started to feel ashamed to be one, or became the targets of young boys and even more shamefully - girls. For me this only proved that I had to stand up for what I believed in and not hide.
I'm proud to be a feminist from the very start!

When I discovered Tumblr, I think that's the first time I really got confronted with feminism. I've always been a feminist by definition of 'feminism' but never saw myself as one. Posts on Tumblr made me realize a lot about gender inequality in our society. Unfortunately, many Tumblr users go completely over the top with that subject, so it's not a great source for feminist content.

When I got to Uni I was in a left winged group who discussed and read feminist texts and issues. What surprised me there was that when I brought up issues that are included in my understanding of feminism/ equalism, e.g. men getting raped by women, it was dismissed by the male leaders of that group kinda immediately because "it wasn't really of importance". We also have a feminist group at Uni who, at the beginning of every semester, invites everyone, except those who identify themselves as male, to have breakfast together. I've never gone, because that's not what feminism is about. I was doing an arts degree at that time, there we also gout around to reading lots of interesting feminist content.

Emma Watson has always been a role model to me, and I loved her speech in front of the UN. Lately I've read a lot of hateful comments regarding this bookclub on Facebook, only because articles about it contained the word 'feminism'. I always wonder where this kind of outright hatred, especially displayed on the internet comes from.

Im really excited for this bookclub & thank you Emma for always being such an amazing down-to-earth person!

Hi, I'm Baheya. I'm from Egypt and live in a particularly patriarchal society. Being a woman in such a society pushed me towards gender equality from a younger age, especially when I learned how much our legal system favors men.

I am not a feminist. I don't know, I might be.
But there was no such moment in my life that I "discovered" feminism.
When a guy talks to me like I am just a cooking machine, I don't tell him he's a dumb idiot. I might be thinking he is, but..I do not tell him this way. I do not tell him that this is the age of feminism and we all should be equal.
The reason is quite simple. Yes, we should be equal. But I don't like being labelled a feminist. Being labelled means you have a different opinion than other people in other groups with different labels. And let's face it. Is equality just an opinion? No. It is the right thing to do and you don't need to be labelled for doing the right things.

Hi, I'm Melanie, 27, from Germany. I also think there was no specific moment when I started being a feminist.
When I was growing up, I was experiencing my stay-at-home mum telling me that I had to learn to cook so I could later "find and care for a man", I was supposed to learn about all the housework, learn sewing etc. while my brother and dad didn't have to help with any "household tasks" because "that's just how the roles are".
I don't blame her because she just never got to broaden her horizon and just meant the best but even as a young girl, I refused being pushed into a role I didn't want and women (and men!) not being able to pursue what they really want to do because of stereotypes.
Like some of you mentioned, I have also shied away from the word "feminist" because of it having a negative connotation but I'm starting to get more comfortable with it because that's really what I am!

I became a feminist because i beilive no one, not women or men should feel like they are only accetped if they play the right roles.

Emma's HeForShe Q&A on Facebook for International Women's Day last March really made it clear about the word 'Feminist'. She said it best, "If you stand for equality, then you're a feminist." Because far too many folks twist and confuse the word these days, connecting it to man-hating. Saying if you're a feminist you are ONLY supporting women. It's truly sad to read that all over the place, because we are ALL in this together and it couldn't be further away from the truth. We all deserve to be treated fairly and as equals. That is why I stand with Emma & each and every one of you in this fight for equality.

I've become a Feminist because i strongly believe that without woman we cannot make progress in anything ..i was always a feminist but after your UN speech i officially started to support Feminism

Hello there! I’m Francesca and I come from Italy.
You know, when I was six years old, I read Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott and it was my first novel ever. I suppose that was also the very first time I heard about genre inequality and all the things girls were supposed to not do. Girls shouldn’t run, they shouldn’t whistle, they shouldn’t get an education, they shouldn’t even work, because that would be inappropriate. That was completely out of the blue for me. I have a brother almost the same age as I am and our parents always treated us in the same way. He used to like playing with dolls, and I didn’t, and nobody thought us weird. When my mum ordered me to tidy my room up or to help her with her chores, she did the same for my brother�� So I’ve always felt the sense of injustice about genre inequality, just as Jo March and her sisters felt it.
As growing up, I obviously discovered more ways to be discriminated.
My grandmother wanted to divorce my grandfather but she couldn’t, because at that time according to the law she couldn’t have shared custody equally. When she was a teenager, my mum wasn’t allowed to go out with friends or to wear nail polish or big earrings. And now women are still not supposed to sleep around, or smoke, or drink beer, or swear, or stay out too late��
My best friends are all men and I still am judged for hanging out with them without the presence of another woman. I still am judged for not being taken and I am just 22!
Once I got the highest grade in an exam and a guy told me that was because I am pretty and the professor was a man.
Do you know Samantha Cristoforetti? The first Italian woman in space? A brilliant pilot and engineer, who holds the record for the longest uninterrupted spaceflight of a European astronaut? Would you believe me if I told you that all Italy could say about her was that a woman should never stay that long (199 days and 16 hours) away from her man and her (supposed) children?
�� And it’s too much, it’s too much. How can I not be a feminist? How can the entire world not be feminist? Although, of course that’s ridiculous: if all the world believed in equality, we wouldn’t need the label feminist.

I became a feminist after getting pregnant at a young age (I wrote about it in my introduction). I suddenly opened my eyes to the inequality around me, much like Neo woke up in the human "farm" in the Matrix. It was terrifying and infuriating at the same time. I am a human being, I thought, why am I being treated differently?

I also think that feminism should not be associated only with the root of the word. It is about all of humanity. We are all unique, but the point is to respect, if not embrace, the right of a human being to be unique, to be himself/herself without getting mistreated because of their uniqueness.

Which is a very tricky topic: we cannot force the views of feminism upon other people, sadly. But by being the way we are, we may encourage them to see the world through our eyes, to understand where we're coming from. It is the mirror of empathy that is the almighty steering wheel of people's souls and their beliefs.

Okay, this sounds like a propaganda booklet. I need to stop now. But, in short, I am a dreamer. I wish one day, when we send another missive into space, it won't be only white male and white female outlines on a metal plate. It will be a full continuous spectrum of humanity. And there, each and every one of them will be depicted with their hand raised (or with an according cultural way of greeting), with the message saying: "Hello, we are humans."

Why did I become a Feminist? I've become a Feminist because I strongly belive in women and I think men and women have to work together to share equality. Both sexes can't excist without each other. I firmly support HeforShe and gender equality because I think this is the future and we are here to improve and enhance this future to create a better world, better generations and perhaps change minds about women's rights.

Hi, im Lana. Russian living in Germany.
When i ws younge ri dodnt uderstabd the meaning of feminism. In Russian patriarchal society people still think that feminism is something you shoud be ashamed about. Most of people just do not understand the true idea behind this word. We was never taught about equality. All i heard in a school and in everyday life is that women belong to kitchen and they should be housewives, while men (want they or not) should earn money and be protectors. As i grew older i realised that not all women wants to become cooking machines and not all men want to be strong and protecting. I started to read more information about being a feminist, and at that point i understood that feminism is actually just a common sense. We all should be equal, no matter of race, gender etc. We should all be feminists.

I suppose that, since the definition of the word is someone who believes all genders are equal, I've always been a feminist, even if I had never heard the word as a child.

I don't remember when I first learnt about the word, or when I first came to realise that not all genders were treated equally. As I got older I just learnt more and more about the issues we still face and as a result would consider myself a feminist even more. It just makes sense.

Hey , i'm Sara . Moroccan .
Why did i become a feminist?
i would love to say that i was born with it , but i clearly can't say .
The truth is , when i was a kid ,maybe 7 or 8 , my sister would take me out with her . At first , i adored going out , i was thrilled to find this new world , full of opportunities for a kid like me . And then, i hated it . You might ask : why did you hate it ?
the truth is , i never understood how catcalling works . My sister and i would just walk by , and some men would have no respect for her , starting to call her names or try hitting on her .
It took me some time , to start going out with her again. One day , while we were walking , a dude came to us and clearly made us stop telling my sister that he wanted to talk to her , and in my moment i went : he needs to back off .
so I spoke up , thinking that he would acknowledge that it's an actual human being talking to him , but all he did was spit on me and continue hitting on my sister .
On that day , i swore that this had to stop .
Feminism is the way for it .

I think for me, it was realizing how arbitrary the differences between men and women are and how in fact we're actually so alike. We're all conceived female, it's only when the male hormone kicks in during gestation that we develop male genitalia. One hormone separates men and women, a bias towards testosterone and Estrogen separates us. It's not actually much. Most of the obvious differences between men and women are artificial - created by society. There was a time when men AND women wore clothes resembling dresses. There were points in history when MEN were more likely to wear makeup than women in some parts of western society. High heels were invented by the Persians, so the heel could slot into a stirrup and allow them to fight on horseback more effectively. Men have subjugated women throughout history largely because they could. If anything, I would say society would perhaps be more peaceful and cohesive if positions of power were dominated by women. When you think about the biological functions of testosterone and estrogen, and how they influence human actions and personalities, you can see why males became the dominant gender, but also that if females dominated society, we'd perhaps live in a better a world. Of course we should be striving for equality, but to get equality we need to promote women and try to create a balance in the positions of authority in society.

Hi. I'm so glad to be part of Emma Watson's book club. My name is Ram, 21, from California.

To answer the question why I became a feminist, I think I have always been a feminist but I just never knew what the word meant until a few years ago. Growing up, I thought feminism was about only for women; It's about women being greater than men. Feminism was such a taboo before because I think that's what mostly everyone thought about feminism. But thanks to Emma's speech and the amount of feminism posts on the Internet, I was able to fully understand it and why I am actually a feminist.

Like I said, I think I have always been a feminist. Growing up as a guy, you are always told not to cry, not to be caring, to not show emotions, to not be soft, to not like art because that's a girl thing, to not bake because that's a girl thing. And then there are some choices you have that people question like, "why do you like cats? That's a girl's pet?" "Why don't you hook up? You're a guy. You can get away with it." Those things, for a while, I did not question. They were somewhat basic rules in the society that has been implanted on you since birth that people don't question it. Becoming a feminist, you question those things. And questioning things is a wonderful thing because people who questions things are usually the people who change something about the world.

It's important to be a feminist because our thoughts and opinions are what's going to change the course of the future. In the future, I would like my children to grow up that there isn't really much difference about men and women except physical features. I would like my son in the future to grow up to not think that crying makes you gay. And I would not like my daughter to grow up thinking she's always going to earn less than a man even though she works hard. Feminism is such a wonderful thing that we should not be avoiding.

For me it was my parents' relationship, how unequal it was. And my piano teacher who was a feminist. Also the believe that men and women are really the same. They might behave slightly differently but that's just society which makes us into men and women.

Todd here. Raised and living in the state of Idaho, in the United States. I suppose I'm a Feminist because my mum is and my sister is and basically all of the women in my life who had a large impact on me are/were Feminists. To this day that pattern has continued. I can't think of ever having one defining moment, or even a series of defining moments, that led me to the "I am a Feminist" conclusion. It has always simply been part of who I am.

Hi, I'm Simone,19 ,from China. I can not say exactly when i become a feminist.10 years ago?maybe. Born in China even in 1990s, Still there are a large number of people values boys over girls. A lot of family chose to have a second kid just because their first is a girl, even giving birth to a second kid might cost a fortune since it might be illegal.Parents treat boys and girls differently. Well,lucky my parents aren't one of them.but i have seen how unfair this world did to girls,women. Just cause we may give birth to a baby,there are a lot of companys don't want to hire us.And even in same position women make less money than men.People are suggesting women should not work when they are married but stay home or girls don't need go to a college cause they will get married,they don't need a higher etucation！All of that are what i can't stand,things i want to change. So i become a feminist.

I think EVERYBODY is born a feminist.
Just as I think NOBODY is born a racist.

When I was 16 I had a friend, and he just couldn’t get his head around me. He used to refer to me as "dude in a dress" because there were days I loved to put on make up and a nice outfit and do my hair (there were as many days that I was quite happy in trackies and an old t-shirt) and on occasion I would stand there in my dress and make-up and argue with our sports teacher over why he wouldn’t run girls rugby lessons. I used phrases like “take a slash�� and “piss off dick head��, which according to him were unladylike. I drank pints in dropped waist dresses and kicked my off high heels at a house party to climb a tree. I would stand in our 6th Form common room and yell bloody murder at the tv when an England player made a piss poor pass. And he just couldn’t handle this. Every time I did something that felt naturally me, dressed in a way I wanted to dress or said something without careful choice of words, he felt the need to comment on it. To exclaim about it. And for a while I started to alter my behaviour around him to avoid these comments. Then it dawned on me that I was letting someone else, and their opinion of gender, drive my behaviour. I saw it all over the place, men and women changing their behaviour to fit someone else’s prescription of gender. And I realised how stupid that was.

When I read Emma Watson's He for She speech and understood and had gone through and thought many of things she talked about. I realized I'd been a feminist for several years. And at last I could help fight for what's right.

This is an incredible idea and outlet to discuss openly, without callace or judgement, the segregation, inequality, and ignorance between men and women. I have always been a feminist. Conversely, in today's culture, "feminist", and "feminism" has adopted a negative conotation, thus ensuing a negative response to the powerful statement: "I am a feminist". I am proud of being a woman and deserve equal treatment in every facet of my life to my counterparts. Certainly because I advocate for women equality does not guarantee that I am a "man-hater". We need the men to take the platform side by side with women to support in equality economically, professionally, educationally, and socially. This phenomena creates disrespect, ignorance, and misconceptions of women, furthering the segregation between men and women. Furthermore, I am strongly against gender profiling and stereotypes, which is a contributing factor to this ideology that women are damsels in distress. We are strong, independent, and intelligent people; PEOPLE. I intend to continue my quest in helping the HE for SHE campaign, and advocate for myself, and women in my circle, and women from all walks of life. Thank you Emma for paving the way for the rest of us. You built the platform, we must conjure up the courage to step forward and take a stand for women equality.

As a child, I was a feminist even before I knew that feminism was an actual thing. I've always been a feminist.

I remember watching Mary Poppins when I was really little and loving the song "Sister Suffragettes" but never knowing what a suffragette was. I searched it up online, and was led to a page about feminism. I remember sitting there and realising I'd always been a feminist, I'd just never known the name for it - equality has always felt like common sense to me. x

Hi, I'm Jessica from Canada. There was no one moment that made me realize I was a feminist. From a young age I learned independence, after father left and growing up with my mother and two sisters, it was left up to us to be the "man" of the house, we would do all the lawn work and small repair. I never thought once this is a man's job. I am more than capable of mowing the lawn myself. Now that I'm older I see the stereotypes. However I am happy to report that my significant other is a feminist and doesn't know it. He doesn't read alot, but is a very loving and caring soul who doesn't know the difference between what men and women should or shouldn't do. He will cook, clean, and do the laundry all without complaint on how its "womens job". Unfortunately, he puts me to shame in the cleaning department. But we believe we are an equal partnership, and share our responsibilities.

My parents, who grew up in another era, always split the work around the house. This showed me the way things should be not only inside the house, but outside--in the yard, the workplace, our religions, our politics and the arts. Anything else seems like lunacy.

Malcolm

I'm Kayla from Houston, Texas, I didn't become one either. It's common sense to treat someone equally regardless of gender, race, or religion. My mom enforced the "love thy neighbor, as thy self" considering I was practically born in a church, and my dad was more along the lines of "let them throw the first punch, at that point it's self defense". I feel I was raised pretty well lol

Hi, I'm Sanjana I'm 16 from Australia and I believe I'm really lucky to come from a family of feminists who want me to reach my full potential and be successful - especially my parents who have made it very clear that they want me to be independent and successful in my later life. I am really lucky to have not experienced any anti feminist attitudes from anyone important/close to me throughout my life. However I think I learnt the word feminism very late and the true definition/concept of feminism even later for that reason - I used to believe being a feminist was bad and that it meant hating men). Even though I had a feminist mindset I didn't really know much about it as a concept or the definition of a feminist.

As I got older I started becoming more aware of the horrible things happening to women around the world in the past and the present. For example I would hear it read stories about people killing their female newborns just for being female or forcing abortions on women if their child happened to be female. I also recently read a story of a woman being forced to be married as a child due to a male member of their family committing a crime. My family is extremely important to me and is a very significant part of my life. It horrified me to think that something like that could have happened to a member of my family.

As well as that, I go to an all girl's school meant that I am constantly exposed to feminism as a whole and to other things like gender inequality in the wider world such as the workplace (the wage gap and unequal employment in senior positions etc) as well as being taught the history of women's right (voting, societal expectations, gender roles in history etc.)

They were all influences to why I became a feminist.

Hi! I am Darina from Ukraine.
Though I am a teenager i am already the feminist. Why did I become a feminist? Well it is not a very long story. All my life people at schools and other placeses underestimated women. I was really abused by this fact. Last summer I visited ''Eurecamp''(in my country), where we had a lot of various discussions about how humans are interlased and there were a topic about gender equality which made to broaden my outlook. By the way, last winter I had writen the science work on gender differences in Ukrainian and English languaches. All these researches made me interested in this topic.
So this is my story)

I first had feminist feelings, you might call them, as a child. I grew up in a tumultuous household. In addition to being abusive, my father would spew really problematic ideas about women constantly. Things implying my lack of worth like, "men will only ever want you for one thing" to reinforcing gender norms like, "boys have short hair and girls have long hair." As an adult, I've realized that he hated women. And as a child, I first realized that I wasn't okay with it. "It wasn't fair."

In high school, I went to a private school. I was becoming quite educated while still being exposed to some similar ideas to those that upset me as a kid - women shouldn't be "allowed" to take birth control or to control what happens to their bodies, for example. Women weren't "allowed" to be ordained ministers in the church. So many ideas that seemed to be born out of fear or hatred of women. I think this period is when I first identified as a feminist.

In college, I worked for a Center for Women, did domestic violence and sexual assault awareness and prevention work, and took Women and Gender Studies classes. These really solidified the feminist ideas that I had as a child and reinforced my position as a feminist.

Today, I can't imagine not being a feminist. I wanted to do feminist work as a career for a very long time, and I've gotten away from that a bit. I'm excited to read some new feminist books and to reread some of the classics that made me so excited about these ideas in the first place! Happy this exists and to be in such good company.

Hi ! I'm Alexandra. I'm French, I live in Bordeaux.

I think I always have been a feminist. When I was younger I was a tomboy, I was playing with the boy's toys and I was playing with them, we played soccer and I really liked that. They accepted me and it was great. It was simple and boy's clothes were less expensive. Sometimes, when I was hanging out with girls it was funny too. I liked playing with both, I liked people in general.
With my family, when we had to do some work, I always helped my father, my grandpa, my uncles...etc. As my father always say I was doing "men's work", but it wasn't because I wanted to be a boy but because I knew that I wasn't so different, I could do what they were doing and I was equal to them. I was a girl, so what ? Years passed and I accepted more and more my femininity, I started to dress more like girls and I noticed that I needn't have to dress like boys to do what they were doing. I could be me.
Today, I'm trying my best to show women and men that we are equal. We are human beings first before being distinguished.
I'm really tired to see that women are still considered as sexual objects. We are not here to please men. And men should show more respect to women, after all, they are born thanks to their mothers... We are not only here to do the cooking, the dishes, the ironing... Time shows us that men can do it.
Feminism is not about saying that women are better than men but they are their equals and should be respected. We saw it in the past, we see it in the present and we will see it in the future. Women can write, women can do science, math, women can sing, women can drive cars, bus, planes, women can read...etc Women just can. That is all.
You know, fashion, makeup, waxing...etc don't belong to women only and cars, planes, motorcycle...etc don't belong to men only. Stop prejudices. For instance, a razor should not cost less for men than women. It should be the same price.
If I do the same job as a man, I really would like our salaries to be the same. It is unfair that because women are not men should be less paid. It doesn't make any sense... We are in the 21st century and it's time things change. And issues concerning women only such as abortion or period must be handled by women for the most part.
Anyway, thank you to all the men who are feminists. And thank you to all (men and women) who fought, still fight and will fight for equal human rights.
Love yourself, love people. Accept yourself, accept how different people are. Differences are beautiful. Peace. Love. Respect. Tolerance.

-@xeladu33 (Twitter)

Ps : Sorry my English isn't very good.

I'm not sure how many men are here in this group, but I have been a feminist since before I knew what that was. In all honesty, I grew up in a house where women were the bosses.
I never knew my grandfather and my grandmother was a very tough cookie. My mother was a single mother working three jobs, my aunt was an incredible student and amazing artist, and my other aunt was a mother of two running a one woman cleaning business.
So, when I first heard that "women aren't treated as equal" I was VERY confused. I had seen women be powerful, unapologetic, firm, and strong since I could walk.
I don't think there was a MOMENT where I wanted to a loud male advocate for equality. I think I always was. I didn't believe, I KNEW that women could do amazing things and that their influence in the world is a force without parallel.
On the flip side, as a man, and I suppose a gay man, I was always aware of the extreme height of expectation for men. How sensitive masculinity was. The tom boys were ok. Being tough and strong (male) was a good thing. But if you weren't good at sports, preferred reading, enjoyed cooking, etc. it was degrading or shameful (female). I hated it. I saw the issue with equality there.
Doing things that are considered feminine is degrading because the thought is that being female is degrading. I didn't buy it then and I don't buy it now. As a feminist man I believe women are at the same height as men and men can come down off their tippy toes and not feel so threatened

Hi! My name is Gabi and I'm a 21 year old university student from New Jersey (USA).

Before I was a feminist, I was a feminist. By this, I mean that before I knew what the word meant, or that it even existed, I have always identified as an incredibly strong and driven girl-woman, and I have always been passionate about equality for women and those that identify as non-binary. Growing up, I was empowered by my mother to be whoever I wanted to be, do whatever I wanted to do, no matter what it was. Typically, I went for the "feminine" activities and clothing, but I was always the only girl in my class when I was much younger that saw the new Star Wars movie as soon as it came out, loved math and science, insects, animals, getting dirty, etc., you know, things that only boys are meant to do. ;)

However, when people said things to me about how strange it was that I wore dresses and constantly did "boy things", I was never intimidated. I knew I was ~fabulous~ and I knew all the other girls were too, and that they could do anything they wanted to as well if only they would just ignore what silly people said about what girls can or cannot do.

In addition to these silly things, I was sexually assaulted at seven years old by a relative; this has made me hesitant towards expressing my sexuality as a woman. However, over time, I have embraced the experience as an opportunity to connect with others who are victims of abuse and to understand assault and rape as more than just the crime that it is.

As a woman now, I am more cognizant to the difficulties women face daily. I am fortunate to have received an education at a great university, where I was allowed and encouraged to express my ideas and be the hard-working and well-rounded woman I always wanted to be, and to learn about what it truly means to be a woman. I am so lucky to be surrounded by strong and passionate women every day, and this group is only further encouragement to keep going, keep learning, and keep meeting other awesome feminists.

These are only a few of the reasons I became a feminist. I always was one, I just didn't use the word until I was exposed to it my first year of undergrad. And I am so proud to be a part of this group where I can meet amazing people every day who feel the same as I do.

The earliest moment? When I joined my first lessons in science class. It was sometimes really humiliating, that was a very hard three years for me. It was my high school, math/computer/physics class.

No one should tell me which subjects are good or bad for me because I'm a woman. No more!