1st blog!!!

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2013/3-things-feminists-get-wrong-about-feminism/

I read this post a few days ago and some of the ideas the author brought up stuck with me and I came back to re-read it so I thought I would share why. The title at first turned me off but then I realized maybe the author wasn't really criticizing but rather reminding us to shy away from the negative and embrace the positive. After seeing people online debating and arguing about Miley Cyrus’s VMA performance and “slut-shaming” her I really felt so sad about our society as a whole. A guy I knew in high-school tweeted, “This is what the gate to Hell looks like... @MileyCyrus.” and tagged a picture of Miley’s butt mid-"twerk". Why do we find so much enjoyment in being so critical, judgmental, and even hateful? Why do we as humans bask in putting each other down? It brought me back to what feminism really means to me at its core and why I fell in love with it to begin with... I was so attracted to the idea of empowering people instead of constantly putting them down, of people being truly and deeply free and and equal and having real choice in their lives, of people being able to choose how they wanted to act and who they wanted to be without feeling like there are forces in their way or like they wouldn’t be accepted. I wish we had a society where people felt capable and like they can do anything and be anyone instead of one where our dreams, beliefs, and thoughts get dashed and we all resort to tearing each other down and trying to dominate over each other. The same sentiments are sort-of embodied in this article: it paints feminism as a tool for empowerment not a movement that just criticizes (although the title may seem ironic...). The first point the author makes is that feminism is often associated with anger and that it shouldn’t be a movement full of angry people but one full of people trying to make positive change (although I do think that you should also have the freedom to express yourself however you so please and if that's anger then more power to you). The second point is not to focus on anyone setting feminism back because that getting anyone anywhere. The third suggestion is that feminism is for everyone of all political and religious beliefs and that we should try to be as inclusive as possible. Basically, to sum that all up: Let’s stop putting people down. Period. Even within feminism! Although some of the things the author wrote could be debated, I think that that singular point in itself is a simple, yet very powerful, basic, universal, and positive idea to think on in the context of how the media portrays just about everyone, feminism, and even our everyday lives.