Ann Coulter is a feminist in her own way. It’s true. As much as it pains me to say anything nice about the woman, she has forged her own path on her own terms with out allowing others to make her choices for her.
My opinion of that path she’s chosen is largely irrelevant, just as anybody’s opinion on how you have chosen to live your life is irrelevant to the fact that you made your own choices.
Today is Women’s Equality Day, which is why I am writing this… 90 years ago today, women were give the power to choose their leaders. I often take this right for granted and it’s startling to realize my grandmother was born into a world that believed she had no right to choose her own leadership because she had a vagina.
Today, the battle for women’s rights is less specific, more vaguely defined. That is, there is no single cause to rally around and the definition of what a feminist really is can be muddied by personal agenda and political muckracking.
But really, it’s as simple as this—if you are a woman who lives your life by your own terms, doing what you want to do, following your passion regardless of what it is or who approves of it—you are a feminist.
If you choose to stay home and raise your kids when others tell you that you should be out in the work force, you are a feminist.
If you grow up in a home that taught you that women should get married and have babies and you choose to neither marry nor bear children, you are a feminist.
If you a woman born with a male body and choose to live as you feel you are, rather than as you appear to be, you are a feminist.
If you are a woman who wants kids and a career and does your very best to juggle both while fielding criticism about putting your children in day care or not being serious enough about your career to just not have kids, you are a feminist.
And if you are an angry, fear-mongering commentator who claims liberals and feminists are Satan’s children and the ruination of America—you are a feminist (I know, I know, but it’s true!)
We owe some much to the women on whose shoulders we stand today. Our fight has become more complicated and in many cases those we fight have become much harder to see, but we owe thanks to those who fought battles before us.
That includes not just the suffragettes of 1920 but those who came after, the women who fought for access to birth control, the right to equal pay, the Civil Rights Act, the founders of the National Organization of Women, the women who sued for the right to reproductive choice, the women who fought to serve in the armed forces, and those who first stood up against sexual harassment and violence against women.
Because of these battles fought, we now find ourselves battling for things like attitude and true parity in the work place and political arena, instead of literally being 2nd class citizens with less rights than our male counterparts.
We owe those who came before us so much for the freedom to choose our own path, as women. If you are living your life in a way that is true to you and your passion, you are a feminist and you honor the women who came before you. It matters not what you do, what you believe, or who approves—you are a feminist.
Even Ann Coulter.
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Took me time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be very useful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also engaged! I’m sure you had joy writing this article.
You posted this a while ago, but I just wanted to say that I appreciate this post very much. I also want to acknowledge all of the women who worked hard at jobs, whether blue collar or white collar and never received the respect they deserved, the respect their male counterparts received, just for showing up and doing their jobs well. Millions of women have struggled privately, without asking for or receiving recognition, to move and break glass ceilings all over the world. Their anonymous struggles deserve some celebration!
To me feminism is acknowledging that men and women are equals. People should be paid the same amount for doing the same job, regardless of the type of genitals they possess. Both men and women should be allowed to go topless in public without getting arrested. EVERYONE should enjoy sexual freedom. I think social norms interfere too much with happiness and pleasure, especially for women. I am a feminist.
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