I'm a feminist because...

I never gave feminism much thought until I came to university. Before I moved away from my tiny little Norwegian village of 650 people, I didn't realise how bad it actually is. This is some of the reasons why I'm a feminist. The statistics are found on the internet, of course, and I did get inspiration for this list on the internet as well, but I stand by the things on this list and these are my opinions still.

So here they are, 35 reasons to be a feminist!

  

• I'm a feminist because girls are taught in public schools that when she has sex for the first time, she'll "loose a part of her self."
   
• I'm a feminist because girls are told that the first time they have sex will be very painful and there could be blood involved. (Utter bullshit, by the way)
   
• I'm a feminist because women who has a lot of sex are sluts, while guys are studs.
   
• I'm a feminist because when a woman turns 60 years old, she will have earned $450.000 less than a 60 year old man in the exact same position.
   
• I'm a feminist because of cat calling and street harassment, and no, it's not a bloody compliment!
   
• I'm a feminist because boobs are used to sell everything from burgers to soap, but don't you dare breast feed in public!
   
• I'm a feminist because of how much pressure we put on girls to value their appearance above everything else.
   
• I'm a feminist because 1 in 4 young women are sexually assaulted and society still asks "what was she wearing?"
   
• I'm a feminist because male victims of rape are rarely believed when reporting the crime because "guys want to have sex all the time anyway, right?"
   
• I'm a feminist because in Saudi Arabia, women still can't vote or drive.
   
• I'm a feminist because half the girls in Yemen will become child brides.
   
• I'm a feminist because 65% of Brasilians believe that if a woman is wearing revealing clothes, she deserves to get raped.
   
• I'm a feminist because a woman is raped every 14 seconds in South Africa.
   
• I'm a feminist because every day, in every corner of the world, womens bodies are used as battle grounds in wars started by men.
   
• I'm a feminist because of Amanda Todd, Alicia Garcia, Cherize Morales and the sexism that drew them to end their own lives.
   
• I'm a feminist because in the US in 2013, the political body making desicions over everyone elses bodies were over 80% male.
   
• I'm a feminist because women don't get to decide over their own bodies. In the US, 77% of anti-abortion leaders are men. 100% of those will never be pregnant.
   
• I'm a feminist because men occupy the top runs of not just politics, but every industry in the world!
   
• I'm a feminist because women only hold 1 in 4 stem jobs. We own 6% of TV stations and 5% of executive positions in the media are held by a woman.
   
• I'm a feminist because people still say that asexuals, bisexuals and transgender people don't exist.
   
• I'm a feminist because in 34 states in the US, it's LEGAL to discriminate against someone who's transgender.
   
• I'm a feminist because the idea of same sex marriage shouldn't be so hard to graps as it obviously are to a lot of people.
   
• I'm a feminist because women are constantly sexualised and objectified while men get credit for their skills and professions.
   
• I'm a feminist because there are parts of this world where women are the ones who gets punished after being sexually assaulted.
   
• I'm a feminist because there are people who actually think it's not rape if the other person is sleeping.
   
• I'm a feminist because we live in a society that teaches women to be careful so they don't get raped instead of teaching men not to rape.
   
• I'm a feminist because the notion that men rape because they are pigs that can't control their urges is utterly disgusting.
   
• I'm a feminist because approximately 3 million girls are victims of female genital mutilation each year.
   
• I'm a feminist because there are approximately 2 million victims of sex trafficking each year. 85% of these are women.
   
• I'm a feminist because in 31 states in the US, if a woman gets pregnant as a result of rape and decides to keep the child, her rapist can sue for custody and visitation rights.
   
• I'm a feminist because women who report sexual harassment in the work place are seen as prudes and career experts advise women not to report it.
   
• I'm a feminist because when I walk home from the library alone at night, I hold my keys so that they stick out between my fingers because I'm scared of being assaulted.
   
• I'm a feminist because I want women like me being represented in movies and films - and not have them regulated as the fat, stupid friend that all the thin girls hang out with because they feel sorry for her.
   
• I'm a feminist because most films fail the Bechdel test, where the only requirements are for two named female characters to talk to each other about something besides sex and
  relationships, if only once.
    
•  I'm a feminist because when Austria won Eurovision this year, there were so unbelieveably many comments on facebook and tweets on twitter about how it's disgusting that Eurovision even let a drag performance on stage. I think the performance and the fact that it won is a massively positive message to send to the thousands and thousands of transgender people who suffer from discrimination and bullying on a regular basis.
    
• I'm a feminist because I believe in gender equality and I know we're not there yet.

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment and tell me why!