Feminism: A movement to end sexist oppression

After reading “ Feminism: A movement to end sexist oppression" I gained a much better understanding about what feminism really is, and also how other people perceive it to be. I shockingly came to realize that most people see “feminism” as something that has a negative connotation to it. I believe that this is true because I feel as if some people don’t even realize what feminist’s beliefs are. “Feminism is the struggle to end sexist oppression” (26). It is not the goal to have power over men or to get special treatment, it is the desire to have equality and to not be looked at or treated differently just because we are women. It is not a lifestyle, nor is it an identity or role. It is a belief. Unfortunately, some women are afraid of associating themselves with the belief in feminism. It was written that “the term ‘feminist’ makes many bright, ambitious, intelligent women embarrassed and uncomfortable. They simply don’t want to be associated with it” (23). These women shouldn’t be afraid of being a feminist. I personally believe that the women who are uncomfortable with feminism just do not fully understand feminism and what it is all about. Another thing that I found very interesting was that some women who are “from oppressed ethnic groups dismiss the term because they do not wish to be perceived as supporting a racist movement; feminism is often equated with white women’s rights effort” (23). I had no idea that some people saw feminism as something that had to do with the color of your skin. When tying in the theme of feminism with music, I still see that sexism is very much still existent. The rap genre is predominately male artists. Nicki Minaj, a very popular artist, is one of the very few woman rappers. I think she is just as an amazing rapper and any other male rappers, but it had come to my attention that any time I had talked about Nicki Minaj around my male friends, they all seemed to have the same response. They would make a comment about how she’s “awful” and “she’s a girl, she shouldn’t rap”. Any gender should be allowed to sing any genre without being reprimanded. There is no rule saying that only men can rap, or only woman can sing love songs. These sexist thoughts need to be eliminated and this world needs to stop judging people by their gender, but instead by the person that they are inside.