The Feminist in Me

What does it mean to be a "feminist"? More importantly, though, what does it mean to me to be a "feminist"?

Born into the generation fondly known as "Y," or "Millennial," my peers and I have grown up within an interesting and trying frame on the North American timeline. We grew up in a generation of warfare, both in the Middle East and on the American home-front. 

But the ride, for many of us, is only a quarter of a century in-progress (give or take a few mile-markers). 

Some of us may remember the ending of the Gulf War or the Bosnian Conflict. For sure, though, all of us can remember the tragedy of September 11, 2001; as well as the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

On the home-front, most of us grew up around the social warfare on military support, illegal immigration, cultural acceptance [mostly for Arab-Americans], same-sex marriage, and abortion legalization.

Between these two brief lists, a common theme emerges: shattered security.

Or was the 'security' an illusion?

I grew up as a fish without a bowl, one among many -flopping in a puddle of spilled water and broken glass, in all that was once familiar. The good economic and social times that my generation was promised had evaporated. The best of times began to descend into the worst of times.

But as frightening as displacement could be, the reality it unearthed left an unshakable impact. Like Neo waking from the Matrix, I saw the world -for the first time -as it truly was. The boundless utopia of my childhood -a place of unconscious gender-blending, with Pokemon card-trading and Brittany Spears -had disappeared, swallowed up into the abyss like Atlantis.

At last I also realized what it was that my male peers could not make me understand: I was female, and that -apparently -was problematic.

Although my metamorphosis began years before, in high school, I did not learn of the term "feminist" prior to taking an ethics course at a small university in the crossroads region of South Texas. Now a graduate student in a much larger 'pond' (school), I am beginning to explore this social, political, and philosophical platform on a more personal -as well as academic -level.

In this blog, many of the posts will be influenced by the featured articles and inspired conversations in my Women's Studies ("Images of Women") class. By nature, many of the topics will be controversial. Part of becoming a feminist, as I understand it, however, means learning to be open-minded and accepting of ideas and practices that are generally suppressed or persecuted by the over-looming patriarchy that is modern Western society.

In short: Consider this Pandora's box opened.