I think its pretty commonly known that almost all feminists are pro-choice. Being pro-life would mean supporting women not having the right to control their own bodies, which just isn’t something a feminist in 2015 really agrees with.

Today I want to talk about a new hashtag that has appeared on twitter, #shoutyourabortion. Here are a few examples of what people are posting:

Many people, specifically women, are using this hashtag in support of the group, Planned Parenthood, which is a group that specializes in sexual health, as well as supporting the rights of women to have control of their bodies.

Like I do in all of my posts, I want to make sure that you know my stance on this topic: I am pro-choice. I will never hide that or be ashamed to admit it. But I also want to make sure you know that no one is ever “pro-abortion”. No one wakes up thinking, “Wow, I can’t wait to get pregnant so I can get an abortion!” That’s literally never how it works. People have abortions because they need to. To reduce any misunderstandings, here are some reasons I’ve found that people have gotten abortions:

1. Birth control failure
   • Although the pill is 99% effective and condoms are 98% effective IF used correctly, things happen. Sometimes someone might forget to take a pill or a condom breaks. Things like that happen. 
2. Financial concerns
   • This is the number one reported reason why women have gotten abortions. Many times unintended pregnancies between couples that are not financially capable of supporting a child. For example, if I were to have a child right now I would have no possible way to pay for everything the baby would need. Unless my parents decided to be very generous, I would need to drop out of school to work and pay for the child. It would be even worse if my boyfriend left me with the baby, which is what happens in 90% of intended pregnancy relationships after 6 years. This baby would grow up in absolute poverty because I wouldn’t be able to pay for a house in a “good area” so they wouldn’t get a good education, health insurance, life insurance…the dominos continue to fall.
3. Inability to support or care for the child
   • Whether it is because of finances or not, some people don’t have the ability to take care of a child.
4. To end a dangerous pregnancy
   • If a pregnancy could possibly kill the mother, she may get an abortion. I don’t know what else to say.
5. Prevent giving birth to a child with health conditions
6. Pregnancy resulting from rape
   • Enough said.
7. To end an unwanted pregnancy
   • It could be that simple. Her body, her choice.

You may ask why these women can’t just give the child up for adoption- they can, but it is all about what they are more comfortable with. Some women don’t want to go through the 9 months. Some don’t want to give birth. Some can’t bear the thought of giving up their child and leaving their future to chance. Whatever a woman decides to do, it is her decision and her right. It is her body. It is her health. It is her risk. It is her choice.

I have a little bit of a lighter topic today compared to what I’ve been talking about in the past few posts; I’m going to be looking at my top three favorite feminists of 2015 and some of the great things they have done to support women and raise awareness.

Number One Fav:
Malala Yousafzai

What an absolutely amazing woman. For those of you that don’t know too much about Malala, let me give you some background: She was born in Pakistan in 1997. In 2008, when she was 11, she gave a speech after the Taliban began attacking girls’ schools and in 2008 she began to write for the BBC about “living under the Taliban’s threats to deny her an education” (Biography.com Editors). She continued to speak out about the rights of women to an education and eventually was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2011 as well as being awarded the Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize. Pretty impressive huh?

Just wait, it gets even more insane. When she was 14, the Taliban started sending her death threats. Then when she was 15 and on her way home from school in a bus, a man boarded the bus, demanded to know which girl Malala was, and shot her in the left side of the head. The crazy thing is that she survived.

Since being shot, she has fully recovered, written an autobiography titled, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, and in 2014 was the youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. For her 18^th birthday, she opened a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon which is covered by the Malala Fund.
Literally amazing.

Number 2:
Nicki Minaj

I could talk about her forever. Her career started out with her as an avatar, just a mask she used to perform. But over time she has transformed into something much more real- a business woman fighting for her place in an industry run mostly by men. Here are just a few of my favorite quotes by her:

Many people say that they don’t like her because they think that she is too loud and obnoxious, but let me just tell you how real she is.  She has come so far in her life- Her father was a drug addict set fire to the familys house to try to kill the mother. She has worked hard for everything she has now and constantly supports and praises other women who do the same. She isnt afraid to say what she is thinking as we have seen in her recent fights with Taylor Swift online and Miley Cyrus at the VMA’s and I respect her so much for that. She encourages her women fans to work hard so they don’t have to depend on anyone (targeted towards not needing a man). Not to mention that she has been teaming up with Beyonce to get the message of feminism across. Which leads me to….

Fav #3
Beyonce

The main thing I want to talk about with Beyonce is her performance at the 2014 VMAs.

What an incredibly iconic and important moment for feminists all over the world. Most people do not unfortunately understand what feminism is- they assume that is more along the lines of misandry than fighting for equality. So to have someone as famous as Beyonce get up at the VMA and proclaim herself as a feminist is game changing. She got the message into 12.4 million America’s homes that night. No one has been able to have that much power to project a message about feminism to so many people at the same time. I haven’t listened to most of her new album, but from what I understand the song Flawless samples a feminist talk from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Beyonce quotes from her: “Feminist: the person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes” as well as other parts of Adichie’s talk.
These women are slowly working to change the world and I could not be happier that they have have proclaimed themselves as feminists. My expectations for them are very high and I hope that they continue to do great things for movement in the future.

Disclaimer: As an 18 year old white woman, it must be noted that the following post is simply what I have noticed and observed about the following topic. I can not speak for woman color on this issue. 

With it being a solid 12 days after the 2015 VMA’s were posted, I think it is fair to say that most people have seen, or at least heard of, the incident. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here ya go:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/miley-cyrus-vmas-2015-outfits-818792

Ah, Miley Cyrus. I remember thinking the Wrecking Ball music video was as bad as it was going to get, but she somehow managed to outdo herself. Now, first let me say that I hardly pay attention to what happens with celebrities- it’s not just something I really care for. But this, well this is not just something that can not be ignored. For those of you saying, “What? I don’t see what’s wrong. Sure, the outfit is ugly but what’s so bad about it?” Well, I’m glad you asked. Take a closer look at her hair style- that’s right. She’s trying to sport dreadlocks.

Now let’s take a jump to a different issue before we go any further with Ms. Cyrus. White feminism is somewhat of a newer term in our culture that really just means feminism that ignores the rights and needs of women of color. As a woman, I constantly need to be on my guard for potential attackers who think because I am a woman I will be an easy target. However, as a white woman I hardly ever need to think about problems my race will cause me. It is part of the unjust, unfair world that we live in that we are working to change- and the best place for me to start is addressing the problems with white feminism.

In this particular case, tumblr user “beowvlf” described the Miley situation perfectly:

White feminism is “Miley can dress however she wants, don’t slut shame her” Actual feminism is “Miley can dress however she wants but she crossed a line when she started using another culture as a means to rebel and utilized black women and little people as shocking accessories in her music videos and live performances”.

Make any more sense now?

As feminists, we need to remember that we are fighting for equality. We need to remember that we are trying to lift other women up. This simply can not be done while appropriating, rather than appreciating, women’s of color cultures. Using traditional clothing from other cultures as a costume or a fashion statement belittles those who are actually a part of that culture, women included. As feminists, we can not stand for this kind of disrespect.

(I got most of the following information from this very informative video)

Most of the issues that arise in feminism arise from simple ignorance.
People who are “white feminimst” are trying to level out the wage gap between men and women without realizing that women of color get paid even less than than white women do.
TBT to my last post with this awesome chart:

http://www.aauw.org/files/2014/09/Fig4.jpg

It’s popular to argue that women make 78 cents for every dollar a man makes. What we don’t realize is that not only is there a difference between what white men of color earn, but the huge  gap between what white men and women of color make. White feminism is ignoring this injustice.

White feminism is ignoring that a simple Google search of “beautiful women” results in almost exclusively white women. We create double standards on top of double standards (I shall call them quadruple standards) that impossible for especially women of color to live up to.

In the words of the video linked above to the Huffington Post, “being a white feminist doesn’t make you a bad person. It just means you have a lot to learn.”

In order to avoid being a white feminist, the best thing you can do is listen to women of color speak about their issues. Listen to their side of the story, because they do not face the same sexism that white women do. We need to listen to understand each other’s needs.

http://www.clydefitchreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/we-all-can-do-it.jpg

Most of the time when you start a new class, the professor reviews material from previous chapters just in case you forgot. So, for example, every science class you enroll in, you are presented with the scientific method at least once in the first week (I actually got it 3 times this year so far).

That’s what we are going to do now: go back to the basics. What is feminism? What makes someone a feminist? Why is it even important? Why should I care about this now- its 2015. This was only relevant in like, 1919? It’s okay. We have all asked these questions at one point. Let’s take a closer look at the answers.

(http://smartladieslovestuff.com/television/dumbtv/smart-ladies-love-dumb-tv-true-blood-recap-thank-you-series-finale/attachment/beyonce-vmas-3)

Feminism is the belief that the sexes should be politically, economically, and socially equal. Feminism is not the belief that women are better than men. That is called misandry and it is very important to know the difference between the two. If a woman says something along the lines of “Yes, I’m a feminist: I think women are better than men in every way possible/I hate men/women should have more rights than men”- Don’t worry. She isn’t a feminist. She is a misandrist. We, as a national group, do not hate men.

To be a feminist, all you have to do is believe total equality. You have to fight and protect other women, but at the same time, not belittle men. You must realize that a women’s choices are exactly that and aren’t yours to pass judgement on. This includes what she wears, who she dates, what she likes, what she doesn’t like, and everything else. It means supporting and empowering women in the arts, sciences, and businesses who are working hard to break the glass ceiling (we will get to that later). It means fighting for the rights that we have been denied for so long. Finally, I can’t stress this enough, it means believing in the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. All of the sexes.

More facts about feminism
https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-feminism

Some of you might be saying, “It’s 2015. Men and women are equal. The fight is over. I don’t understand what the big deal is.” You see, the thing is, for years my sex was seen as property. Had I been born 200 years ago, I would have been married off in exchange for money or goods. 100 years ago I still would’t have been allowed to vote. 65 years ago I would have been expected to be a stay at home and take care of my husband’s children. And today? If my own body is violated by someone, the very first thing I will be asked is “What were you wearing?”

Help Support Women Today:
(http://www.womenforwomen.org/get-involved)

Let me throw some numbers at you- in our world today, women make up about 51% of the U.S. population. However, we only make up 17% of the Congress. Compared to white men, in 2013, white women made 78% of a man’s salary; African American women made 64%, and Hispanic women made 54%. Sounds fair to me. (http://www.aauw.org/2014/09/18/gender-pay-gap/)

Wanna know why we need feminism? Because we still teach girls how to not get raped instead of teaching boys not to rape. We teach girls that when boys are mean to them, it means they like them- then we wonder why 15 years later that same girl gets stuck in an abusive relationship. We teach that “boys will be boys” and that girls just have to deal with it because that’s how things are.

I am a feminist. I believe in the political, economical, and social equality of the sexes. Do you?

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janelle-ann-mccarthy/feminism-exposed_b_6781340.html)

More information and articles on Feminism and Women’s Studies:
http://feminism.eserver.org/