Tag: justice

  • Hair Discrimination

    For some, hair is definitely a sensitive topic because essentially, it is a representation of who we are. What’s the first thing you notice about somebody besides their face? Most likely their hair. We all choose to wear our hair how we want but why is it that many black girls are ridiculed for their hair?

    There are things you should and should not say when talking about a black girl’s hair. Things you should say: “I love your hair!”  “How did you get it like that?”  “What products do you put in your hair?” Things you should NOT say: “You should do something with that hair.”  “That looks a mess!” And you absolutely do NOT call a black girl’s hair “nappy”!

    These are the few things that are and aren’t acceptable to say to a girl of any ethnic background. It is derogatory and undermining to the person receiving it and to the race as a whole. African-Americans have fought a long and hard battle and even to this day still continue to fight for our freedom to be who we are. We shouldn’t be told that the way we wear our hair is “out of uniform” or “needs to be more kept”.

    You should KEEP your salty opinions to yourself. For years, black women have been fired from their jobs for wearing their natural hair instead of choosing to change how they look just to appeal to others. Black girls have gotten their hair cut at school, they’ve been suspended, they’ve been bullied and embarrassed. Why can’t black girls be accepted for who they are and how they look? We can’t confidently wear the hair that we were given? Just because our hair isn’t straight, stringy, and boring does not mean that it is not beautiful! And who is to say it isn’t beautiful? I’ll wait.

    All textures of hair are beautiful and should be appreciated. If you do not have anything nice to say, it’s best to just shut up, sit back, and mind your business.

  • Is It Time to Bring Down the Patriarchy?

    Since the beginning of civilization in Mesopotamia, lives of women have been controlled by men. Women were denied many of the rights that men had, such as an education, but were expected to serve husbands and fathers.  The voice of oppressed women was not loud enough for men in power to hear until Mary Wollstonecraft started a “revolution in female manners” during the French Revolution, according to the political theorist Eileen Hunt Botting on Bringing Down the Patriarchy.  Although this did not create equality overnight, this was just the start of women coming together to bring down the patriarchy.

    Today, inequality still lives between men and women, which is a big problem. According to Marie Claire, women make 16% less money than a male employee of the same job, and it is worse for women of color.

    Even though we have made progress with reducing the wage gap, there is still a long road ahead of us, including aiming for more representation in government and senior positions for companies or firms, for example.

    The feminist movement is making strides in fighting for rights not just for women, but for fellow minorities in ways like speaking up about gender discrimination. Unity is the medicine for this patriarchal disease.

    I know people who think that there might not be a point in fighting for equality, some of them my friends. They think that equal rights for everyone or the end of discrimination is never going to be possible. But this is where they are wrong.

    By teaching young boys that catcalling women on the side of the street is unacceptable, by teaching young boys about toxic masculinity, by teaching them about how they can contribute their privilege and power to the feminist movement, by teaching women all around that other women will have their back in a sisterhood.

    By coming together, educating people, and having the will to fight for rights is how the patriarchy will one day be broken.