I feel compelled to put my thoughts somewhere, and this seems a good a place as any. Feminism seems to be the topic of conversation right now, from Emma Watson's incredible speech to the UN, to that Tinder experiment and all the way to the Chanel runway at Paris Fashion Week. Feminism is the current topic for debate, but why should equal rights be questioned or discussed? It should just be.
For anyone reading this, particularly men, who think this is all a load of crap, continue reading or do some research to try and understand what it's like to be a woman just for a day. Take a few minutes to watch this or this. These are both fairly light hearted, but it touches the surface of what women have to face every day. Just last week my friend Chloe and I were walking down the street a group of guys shouted to us 'are you married?' - a) why would anyone think this ok and b) why would anyone think this would get them anywhere, so why bother?
'Rape is one of the most terrible crimes on earth and it happens every few minutes. The problem with groups who deal with rape is that they try to educate women about how to defend themselves. What really needs to be done is teaching men not to rape. Go to the source and start there.' - Kurt Cobain
This moves me onto the Tinder experiment. For anyone who hasn't seen it, watch this, it's basically a social experiment to see how people react when a pretty girl turns up on a Tinder date in a fat suit. All bar one of the guys acts appallingly and although I get where they are coming from as they were expecting the girl in the pictures, it is no excuse to ask a woman if she is pregnant, look so uncomfortable and not even try to hide it, then leave just because she is fat.
The experiment was then reversed with a man dressing up in the fat suit, and guess what? All the ladies were a little surprised and made a subtle comment when they arrived, but none were rude, none left and some even organised second dates.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-men or saying women can do no wrong, just pointing out the facts. Which brings me onto Emma Watson's speech launching the He for She campaign. The aim of this is to end gender inequality by uniting both men and women to stop the 'man hating' and fight the issue together. I think that's an important point, men should be supporting the cause. If men respect the women they work with, why should they get paid more than women for the same job? If men respect women at all, why is it ok to shout obscenities at them whilst they walk down the street? Or blame the way women are dressed for getting sexually harassed and abused? The answer is, it's not. None of these things are ok, but a lot of it relies on men changing their behaviour and attitude towards women.
'Feminism is not a dirty word. It does not mean you hate men, it does not mean you hate girls that have nice legs and a tan, and it does not mean you are a bitch or a dyke, it means that you believe in equality' - Kate Nash
Whilst I'm not sure what will change and when, I do think it's important that the message gets across to everyone and the more people that support gender equality, the more chance we have of changes actually being made. Just follow in Karl Lagerfeld's footsteps and stage the worlds best dressed feminist march. This man does nothing by halves.
'A girl should be two things: who and what she wants' - Coco Chanel
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