A celebration of true feminism

I teach at an all-girls private school, so feminism comes up all the time. Some students proudly self-identify as feminists, others cringe at the label, others have no idea what it really means. When it comes up in class, I always require the students to define the term before using it. It's important, I think, to constantly define labels like these because they are so often picked up and used with abandon; their original meaning left to be desired.

As I think about today's anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, I can't help but think that this willful mislabeling has once more deceived many well-intentioned people. Modern feminism seems to benefit men much more than women and doesn't seem to truly empower women, especially when it comes to issues of sex and childbearing. Men can walk away from sex largely without consequence, thanks to contraception and abortion. If a woman finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, every choice she faces is a difficult one. Feminism began as a movement to achieve equal political and social rights for women, but the feminist movement and its language have been co-opted.