“Speak your mind even if your voice shakes,”- Maggie Kuhn. This quote perfectly describes an English assessment I completed earlier this year where I was to speak on a topic I felt passionately about. My topic:-feminism. I have been passionate about the topic for a while and recognised it as a significant issue, but I never really knew where to take the first step. So, I just let myself write. I rehearsed all night, trying to perfect my speech, to convey the hundreds of things I needed to say.

The day before my performance, I got into an intense argument with a peer over their misconception of feminism. This evoked many emotions in me, and I felt defeated at realising what people still thought today but I held onto my voice, determined to speak up. Feminism is an ideology driven by powerful female leaders. I couldn’t let a little thing stop me.

On the day, hands trembling, I spoke. My shaky voice and eyes were glued to my palm cards. But my confidence gradually rose, my resilience clear in every word. In my final words, the room was still but soon, people began to applaud.

A burden had been lifted from my shoulders. At the end of the lesson, my English teacher commended me with an offer to perform in the “Words on the Common”. Word soon got around, and I had many people contact me after, thanking me for speaking out and telling me about their experiences. They felt as though they had a voice through me. That night, I was graciously received and recognised for my speech by the poet Scott-Patrick Mitchell. In the following weeks, I realised the importance of resilience and the power it can have to touch others. I am so honoured to have been that voice and hope to continue the movement to inspire and strengthen others.

Feminism.

“Feminism. Many interpretations of this word is a flawed understanding of the concept. Many hear man hating, or female superiority, but it isn’t. To me, a 15-year-old girl, who has been warned to never walk alone at night, sexualized from the minute she hit puberty and who would never have imagined the situations she would have to face daily because she is a female, feminism is best summed up as ‘believing in respect and equal rights for all genders.

Feminism is the future, it has to be, because we can’t keep pretending all is well when we have this misunderstanding of such an empowering movement. This is what is wrong with the world, and this is what feminism will fix. We have not reached gender equality, well, not yet. 

It is absurd to hear that many believe that all genders are on a levelled playing-field. Is it really a levelled playing field if 82% of the victims of sexual assault identify as females, 97% of females have been sexually abused, 1/9 girls will be assaulted before age 18 and only 1/53 boys will experience the same thing. 

So, have we really done enough? We have laws against rape, sexual abuse, assault, but does it solve the problem? Do these laws stop women living in fear that they could ‘provoke’ a man with what they wear and with their bodies, stop the stigma or fear associated with admitting they have been taken advantage of? No, they don’t, so, we haven’t done enough. 

Because people refuse to call themselves feminists, they are encouraging victims to take the blame when assaulted forcing them to bear the unbearable. The reason that barely 1/3 of sexual assaults are reported to the police, because we lead them to believe it’s their fault.

The victim, is the one who is embarrassed, convinced it was their fault, “did I provoke them? Was I too dressed up? Was I showing too much skin?” There is no excuse for assault. But this is what we are leading victims to believe.  Due to this PTSD, depression, anxiety, insomnia rates are rising, all just because we refuse to stand beside victims, in fear of being called feminists. 

All this collateral damage because of the negative connotations of a word, a word which used to describe a powerful movement of perseverance and growth. People are unable to comprehend the true definition of feminism.

This is a problem society made, so it is a problem society can and has to fix. Together let’s redefine feminism and what it means in our society so that we can achieve our levelled-playing field.”