Abuse in a Highly Competitive High School

When I was a junior in high school, I attended a highly-competitive magnet school which fostered intense, sometimes vicious competition between its students. We were systematically told that we were the “best and brightest” of our state, and that we were competing with each other for the top few, coveted spots in the Ivy League Schools. Being at that school felt like a nightmare, and the stress was compounded over and over again until I found myself sitting opposite my toughest professor, crying. I didn’t mean to start crying – as a matter of fact, I was terrified of doing so because he was known to berate people who cried. Even in public. But he happened to be my advisor as well, and when I began to tell him that I could barely eat, let alone focus on my schoolwork, he interrupted me to say “Well, if you would stop crying, maybe you could get your work done.”

A few weeks later, as I considered returning to my public school, this same man would tell me that if I left, no one would remember me.

An Unbiased Feminist's Look at Anita Sarkeesian

Let's talk about a woman almost everyone in today's age either loves or loathes: Anita Sarkeesian. Before I tell you what I think about her, there are a few things you should know about me.

1. I am a feminist.
2. I think there are lots of problems within the feminist movement.
3. I give everything the benefit of the doubt.

So, the feminist movement has become less of a political force and more of an internet meme, sadly. As many people who are truly recognizing the problems that women face, there are even more who call themselves feminist for publicity reasons, but who don't seem to carry those same principles throughout their career. (I love you, Beyonce, but I'm calling you out for this. You too, Taylor Swift.)

And let's be real: 'manspreading'? These are not the types of battles we should be fighting right now.

One thing I do as a feminist is really take all these different points of views into account. For example, the issue of manspreading. I think it definitely speaks to a deeply-ingrained sense of what women and men are supposed to embody, but I don't think every guy on the subway is trying to perpetuate these stereotypes, and I think attacking them for it it counterproductive.

With these things in mind, I finally decided to take a look at a woman who has polarized a lot of people on this issue. Anita Sarkeesian is a prominent feminist activist, and the face of Feminist Frequency, in which she provides a feminist analysis of elements of pop culture. I first started paying attention to her with the rise of GamerGate, where she is heavily advocating or more equal treatment of women in the world of video games.

And I heard a lot of stuff about her. I heard accusations that she is a "FemiNazi" (whatever that is), ignorant to the plights of other minorities, "man-hating", etc. And finally, I decided to look up her videos, where she was supposedly spewing her "man-hate" and encouraging all these destructive ideologies in other women.

And to be completely honest? I was expecting her to be exactly what these people were accusing her of. I expected her to be angry, make biased points and disregard problems within her argument, point out every little problem with everything, and basically ruin things that I really love. That's seriously what these comments about her had set me up to believe. So finally, when I saw her two-part series on The Hunger Games, I took a deep breath and waited for her to confirm my suspicions.

And then, something beautiful happened.

This woman is SMART. She may make a point here or there that I think is a bit unfair (most notably in her video in which she applies the Bechdel test to Oscar-nominated films), but this is usually followed by an explanation about why what she is trying to do is not a judgment on particular films/TV shows/etc. She points out tropes, and why they are problematic, but also why they might show how someone has tried to create a good female character.

Basically, she just exposes how differently women are treated, and she does it really well.

And suddenly, everything kind of makes sense. Suddenly, I understand why GamerGate is such a huge problem, because even I - a proud feminist and advocate for the cause - was beginning to question women who were guilty of nothing but being intelligent and loud.

In short: You're my hero, Anita. Thank you for continuing to be loud in a world that is telling you to be quiet.

Patricia Arquette + Political Correctness

Let's have some real talk, reader.

I got to a college that is known for being WAY too politically correct. Like, we had a school-wide debate over whether you can call something/someone crazy (ie. "You're skinny dipping in the duck pond? It's 41 degrees outside - that's crazy!") due to the term being ableist (adj. discrimination against disabled). THAT is the kind of lifestyle I am having to adapt to right now. And I'll say this much: it's not hard. It really isn't difficult to stop saying "That's so gay." or similar, derogatory terms. But let's briefly discuss political correctness.

5 Reasons I Hate Being A Feminist

So, today my mother and I had a long discussion about feminism and rape culture and all those nice things. And the longer we talked, the more I realize that being a feminist is HARD, and definitely puts you in a very small minority. And I started to realize that I face a lot of problems being a feminist, both from a mental perspective and stemming from society in general. So here are 5 reasons that I hate being a feminist.

*Disclaimer: None of these make me any less willing to call myself a feminist. And honestly, they should make you as a reader MORE upset and willing to help the feminist cause. These are just basic issues I face when I label myself as such.