By ADAM BURNETT
Columnist
If you haven’t been paying attention to the media lately, you may have missed Emma Watson’s speech on feminism to the U.N. Stop what you are doing and go watch it now. I’ll wait. Seriously, go watch it. You need to hear this, whoever you are.
You didn’t go watch it, did you? I figured you wouldn’t. It is a very polarizing issue and feminists have been given a bad reputation by society. Why would you want to watch it? Because it is a very important issue for both men and women, that’s why!
Why is it so important? That’s easy. Feminism is an issue we all need to support. Yup. It is that simple. In fact, it is so easy, I’ll say it again. Feminism is an important issue for everyone in order to create gender equality and secure, in the eyes of society, the same rights for all individuals.
Well, you’re a man and don’t need to care about gender equality, right? Ha! You’re just as constrained by gender roles as women are and the issue should be just as important to you as to women. Society expects you to act a certain way, dress a certain way and behave a certain way. It does the exact same to women and none of it is okay. You all need to ask yourself if you’re okay with society treating your mother, aunts, sisters, cousins, wives and daughters this way. It will affect them too.
This really is an issue that effects everyone because we’ve all experienced gender inequality, just in different ways. Women do not get paid as much as men. Young boys are called babies for crying on the playground. Young girls are told they need to look thin in order to be pretty. Men are expected to be Mr. Macho Tough Guy all the time. These are just a few examples; the list could be much longer.
These kinds of things need to stop. This isn’t the Dark Ages anymore. We aren’t living in caves either. We are a civilized society that should be treating each other better because we are all equal under the law and should be treated as such.
It is time to take stand, not only for your mothers, sisters, wives and daughters, but your sons and yourselves too. #HeforShe