Undergraduate /
'The Feminist Perspective'- Common App. Main essay [19]
This is the main component to my Common App. It is quite lengthy, but the subject matter is rather heavy. I would rather it be long and descriptive, than abrupt and meaningless. Please offer feedback, and I'll make sure to do the same. Thanks!
The Feminist PerspectiveI find myself growing increasingly aware of the social pressures applied on females. As a self-proclaimed feminist, bibliophile, academic, and artist, I am regarded by many as somewhat of a deviant to my natural feminine role. By the standards of so many alike, I should love children, church, and cooking; interestingly enough, none of those things appeal to me. I do not conform to anything that is found practical in the mind of the ever-growing patriarchal society. Everything about my femininity, youthfulness, monetary status, and academia has been the scrutiny of those around me. I do not particularly enjoy pointing out that any equally motivated person, regardless of gender, could achieve the same.
Growing up as one of three females in my four-person nuclear family, I neither realized nor understood the social boundaries preventing me from achieving everything I desired. Gender was not really an issue I perceived as being legitimate, in my lovely secluded world. There were things that boys could do, things that girls could do, things that both genders could do? No. In my life, the only boundaries that existed were the ones I put up myself. However, as I matured, I realized the strife caused by the gender problem. In the fourth grade, for instance, I was scolded by a teacher for climbing the monkey bars during recess. It was not a 'feminine' thing to do- but, then again, exactly what was? Relieving myself of this social stigma could quite possibly be the most enlightening thing I've ever done. However, myself alone, there was not much benefit towards the closing of the gender gap.
Gradually, I began realizing that it was not only I that was affected by this. I remember teasing. In particular, in elementary school, where dwelled the close-minded, peers would often scoff at my attempts to play soccer, football, and other 'manly' sports. Although not an exceptional athlete, I continued to pursue everything and anything. How else was I to discover the true meaning of my life? It was not only on the field where I experienced difficulties- in class, where I excelled at history, science, and math, I would often overhear even teachers proclaiming their disbelief that a girl could outsmart so many boys. But why was this so wrong, so deviant? Could I, a female, manage to do this without being questioned?
I began to immerse myself in research, looking for the answers to questions I was not even sure existed. "Feminism", as a term, was not in the slightest appealing for me. It connoted harshness, militancy, reverse-sexism, and gender-based promotion. Women, as a monolithic group, did not deserve to endorsed in a gender-biased fashion. I could not comprehend why so many females, militant or not, supported such a cause. And then it dawned on me- perhaps, feminism was not militancy; instead, it was the outlook that women deserved as many advances as men. It was the combat of fire with logic. Men, predisposed for greatness in Western society, were born to privilege; similarly, women, predisposed to serve men, were born to service.
I rejected this idea with fury. Being female was not adjunct to persona. It was simply a biological state of birth. It would not dictate preference, success rate, monetary status, strength, or will. And as I age, I conform to this theory with even more militancy. I am female, and yet, I am a Renaissance person. I wish only to be female with dignity and freedom. I do not accept the social stigmas placed on me by Western patriarchal society. I reject advances made towards my female personage in the oppressive form. I encourage challenge because I am not weak.
And yet, despite my reconnaissance of females in society, I still find my boundaries to be inconclusive. The quintessential female is still the attractive, bosomy homemaker waiting for her man to come home from work. Female is still subjective to male approval. Gender privilege, that which should be abolished, is what man can expect as default setting. For instance, man can acquire a job, and rise through to ranks to prominence without having his merits and motivations be filtered through a gender prism first. Woman cannot do that; it is unnatural for a woman to, let's say, be the vice-president of a company without having her attractiveness, sexuality, family dedication, femininity, and so much more, be put to question. And most disturbing of all is the tolerability of such questions to be asked. Western culture, however 'civilized', still maintains a hypermasculine heteronormative box. Misogyny is acceptable; why else would 'sandwich' jokes be so prevalent?
Progressively, I have come to the realization that my gender cannot be allowed to stipulate personal setting; it is not up to society to define the boundaries which seclude me from the effervescently successful. 'Female', as a social construct, must be abolished- it is the only way to be rid of male privilege. Similarly, 'male' as a social construct must be abolished as well. Merit is what should enable a person to rise to professional success, and not their biological predisposition. As a raging feminist, I see gender bias as a perverse form of discrimination. There is an uneven power balance- this must be dealt with stealthily; equality must be forced through visibility. As a female, I have the short end of the stick. My side of the 'power balance' is uncharacteristically high because I do not carry as much weight. However, my opinions are of as much intelligence as the next man. But because I am female, they do not hold enough influence. Such is the institution of the gender problem.
I am, on the whole, quite displeased with the fabrication that women and men are not equal. Thus, my activism must go further than where it already is. I am advanced; I serve as a member of the Speaker's Bureau for Plan Canada's Because I Am A Girl foundation. I have participated in numerous panels on the status of females in other countries. I have aided my group in lobbying for the United Nations to declare October eleventh the International Day of the Girl Child- a celebratory success. I have spread the word of feminism to my fellow women into the global blogosphere. However, I continue to pursue my cause with zeal- although didactic essay-writing may not be the ideal medium for communicating my ideas, it is something. I have continued to push the boundaries and pursuits put on women by society. With true genuineness I have promoted feminism- it is not a cause I have simply pursued because female empowerment is 'in vogue'. Specifically, I am drawn to deconstructing the social discourse of 'male' and 'female'; identity politics, sociology, and feminism are concepts I wish to promote so that, one day, they are no longer needed. I continue to proudly stand for the female environment. Feminism, for me, is not an option.
