Year of the feminist

By: Megan Graves, Columnist

As 2015 comes to a close, I’m sure you’re all wondering the same thing: what awesome things did feminism do for us this year? Well don’t you worry, you equality lover you, ya girl went ahead and figured all that out for you. Here is my list of five fantastic things feminism did for us so far in 2015:

1) Hotline Bling, by Drake. Some of you may be wondering what this song has to do with feminism, while others are more like, “hell, yeah.” Well, for those who aren’t sure, listen to the lyrics.

The song is about a woman whose man “left the city,” so she “started wearing less and going out more, [drinking] glasses of champagne out on the dance floor, hanging with some girls [Drake] never seen before.” This dude up and left her, so she got some lady friends, confidently showed off her rockin’ body, and lived her damn life. Yaaas queen.

2) Ronda Rousey became the first woman to be on the cover of Men’s Fitness magazine. By doing so, she proved to all of us that fighting like a girl means kicking some serious ass. She proved to everyone how tough and down right intimidating a woman can really be.

3) #MasculinitySoFragile exposed how stereotypical masculinity is harmful not only for women, but men too. The hashtag was used to expose harmful ideas within the concept of masculinity, such as men needing to suppress their emotions to be accepted in society, and the expectation of violence among them.

The hashtag was not against men as individuals. In fact, the hashtag was created in support of men, stating that society’s expectations of them are often more harmful to them than anything else.

4) “Mx” was added to the Oxford Dictionary. For many people, trying to figure out whether they’re a Mr. or a Mrs., causes immense amounts of anxiety because they simply aren’t either.

With the number of gender queer people living in our world, it was insulting that the English language didn’t have any appropriate suffix created yet. While feminism didn’t directly cause this change, the movement greatly ties into gender, identity and of course, equality.

5) Viola Davis became the first black woman to win the Emmy for best actress in a drama. During her acceptance speech, she had the chance to say whatever she wanted to millions of viewers, and she did it perfectly.

Davis said, “the only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity,” and that “you can not win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.” If you haven’t seen her speech, I highly recommend taking the two minutes to watch it. It’s a point we all need to acknowledge.

These are just five of the fabulous things feminism helped us achieve this year. Let it be clear that there are many, many more. If you think there is one I missed or should have acknowledged instead, then let me just say how incredibly thrilled I am that there were enough accomplishments for me to accidentally leave out, that there were too many for me to do them each justice in one article.

I am not perfect, and this list is not perfect. Feminism is so much more than five achievements. It’s millions of achievements, big and small. With every new accomplishment, we all learn a little bit more, and I can’t wait to see what I learn next. Have a happy finals week, and I will see you in 2016.

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