I AM A FEMINIST

Well, last year Emma Watson gave an amazing speech about Feminism for the He for She campaign. It got me thinking what she says is completely true, men seem to think that they can't be a feminist because they are male but that is not the case, a feminist stands up for female rights yes!, but they also stand for Gender equality and this is in every aspect and not just in working life.  

For example i have found this quote from another website about feminism - Feminism also, by its nature, embraces the belief that all people are entitled to freedom and liberty within reason--including equal civil rights--and that discrimination should not be made based on gender, sexual orientation, skin color, ethnicity, religion, culture, or lifestyle.

Emma Watson states in her speech that she thinks it is sad that men feel like if they show their emotions it is not masculine and its degrading for them to do so, i agree men shouldn't be ashamed to cry in public or hug one of their friends, i will never understand why in a social group, if a man shows companionship with another man it is seen in a sexual way? why? when a women hugs her friends that isn't seen as sexual so why is that the case for a guy? Another point to this is homosexuality is becoming more excepted in today's society so why is this still a problem? 

I believe that EVERYONE should be treated equally whether your male, female, have a different religion, culture, sexual orientation, skin color whatever! we should all be treated with the same respect as everyone else, none of us should feel compelled at act a certain way because of our gender. None of us should feel unwelcome somewhere because of our religion. We should all have equal rights and equal amount of say. 

This leads me onto another subject, why do young girls feel like they need to have a guy in their lives to feel special, why do they feel like they need to look and be a certain way to be beautiful, why do young people feel like they need a degree to be smart, to be loud to get noticed, to drink alcohol to "fit in" - these things are what most young people today feel like they need to be.

Young girls shouldn't feel like they need to have a boyfriend to feel special, because it doesn't make you special, you don't need to be a size 8 to be beautiful everyone comes in different shapes and sizes and they are all beautiful just because the Media shows celebrities that are sizes like 8-12 and in America size 0's they are photo shopped most of the time, there isn't a tabloid out there that doesn't use editing in their photo shoot's. Don't compare yourself to someone else feel happy in your own skin, because you are beautiful, don't try to change yourself just to look like other people.

I just want to give out a message to my generation, don't try soo hard just to fit in because if your still in school and you have to change yourself just to fit in with the "crowd" those aren't your real friends anyway, try to stay true to yourself and you will find those friends that will stick by your-side in life. If you do this you will be a lot happier in the end because you won't be confused with who you truly are, you will just know.

My Story

I am not writing this for pity, and for people to feel sorry for me. I just want to share what i have been through in my school life so that i can let it out of my system and let others know that they are not alone.

But in this post i'm not going to write certain details and names, this is because, i don't want this read by the wrong person. So i was bullied by the same person for 12 years, it started when i was 6 and finally ended now i'm 18. I just want to let people know that it doesn't last forever and it will end and trust me the day that you know you never have to see or hear about that person ever again is the best day of your life. The girl that bullied me spread rumors about me about something that i had apparently said to her but the things that she was saying i would NEVER say to anyone. But because she was spreading these lies around people believed her, and thought i was the one bullying her so i was alone. She spread them at times she felt she was alone, for example at the beginning and when we went up to secondary school, she felt alone because she didn't know anyone, so this is why she started telling people again that i was "Bullying her", people began to feel sorry for her and hate me. Now i know this doesn't sound like much but when it had started it went between our families as well, and at this time because of the stress i started getting psoriasis which is a type of skin irritation, that you get when you get stressed, so i had people hating me as well as others picking at me for having that. I wasn't just bullied by her i was bullied by basically my whole year group, and stupid little boys for other reasons. 

When she started again in secondary school i was about 11/12 now this time it was worse, i didn't know anyone, so nobody would believe me over her, at the time i had 2 best friends, 1 i still have now, but because we were young they never really said anything to anyone about it, which i don't blame them for because i probably wouldn't have either. This time it was worse because i was being threatened, i was being followed home,i would never go out with my friends because i was being followed, my parents were being called into the school every other day and i felt totally hopeless. I even had to get the police involved at one point because a boy had assaulted me, which was horrible. It started to quiet down after the first year of secondary school, but she never truly stopped. Up to about a few months ago i would still hear her bitching about me at every possible moment she could get, and she would always make sure that i was around when she was doing it so that i could hear what she was saying. I am not a very self confident person, so whenever she was put in a class with me i felt like i couldn't say anything because if i did then she would say something again. I felt totally ridiculous being 18 years old and being silentest and felt like i couldn't even breath around her, and its not because i was "scared" of her because trust me i wasn't i was just so fed up of hearing my own name so many times in an hour. Looking back at it now i just wish that i stood up for myself and confronted her. But i personally think that because she told the lie soo many times, she started to believe it herself and now i don't think she even knows the truth. 

I understand that my story compared to others is nothing, but i just want to get the message across that it does get better and always talk to someone about it, because if it wasn't for my parents i don't know what would have happened, but i know that for some of you talking to your parents isn't an option, but please find somebody to talk to about it because otherwise your head will become your own worst enemy. Talk to teachers, i know that they aren't always helpful but sometimes they can be, if you feel like you don't have either option then visit the beat bullying website and there will always be someone on there that will help you i will leave the link at the end.   

But i have shared this story because i need others to know about it and not hide it within myself anymore. But it does truly get better, when i was at school i was probably the quietest person in the class, but now that i have left i am becoming more positive about life and i am starting to have my own voice and not being afraid to say something.

If your reading this and you are being bullied please do not give up there is always a way out and someone to talk to, don't let them win. 

http://www.beatbullying.org/