Coming from a traditional Southern background, being a feminist in my family has always been extremely difficult. I am constantly being asked when I’m going to marry, why I don’t want to have kids, and why I often times “dress like a boy”. Traditional gender roles are still very influential and followed in my house. When I speak up about something that offends me or something happening in politics, I instantly get shut down, getting told to stop trying to “be a rebel”, and sit down. It doesn’t end there, either. My best friend, a tough looking punk girl who you’d expect to believe in the rights of others, HATES feminism. Hates it. I remember one day a friend and I were talking about the death penalty for rapists and pedophiles and she butts in “Hannah get away from me with your feminist shit”. I was, and still am, in shock. In what world, in what UNIVERSE is standing up for children and rape victims “feminist shit?”. If she or one more family member tell me to “Stop getting all feminist on them” or something of the like, I am going to lose. My. Shit. I am sick and tired of being a door mat because I don’t want someone to chastise me for speaking up.  Over it. Done.

And don’t even get me started on the word “feminazi”, which I am still in shock that people actually use thinking it’s okay. Like, “hey let’s compare a movement for women’s rights to Hitler’s regime and the Holocaust, great idea!”. Yeah. No. Shut up.