5 moments that radicalized me as a feminist
The exact events that made me wanna fight for gender equality like a madwoman (and what sports bras have to do with it)
⚠️ Content warning: Sexual assault
What’s a radical feminist?
Radical feminism — Patriarchy is a pervasive system of power that oppresses women. The root cause of women's oppression lies in the power dynamic inherent in patriarchy. (Scroll to see if you’re a radical feminist, too) ↓
5 moments that radicalized me as a feminist
01. Getting banned from wearing sports bras during track practice
Where I grew up in eastern Missouri, it is often 100 degrees F and 90% humidity when school lets out and athletics begin in the late afternoon. I trained year-round for track and cross country as a teenager, including during the summer.
A local man called the school to complain that he almost wrecked his car because he was watching our girls’ team run by in sports bras. After that, we had to wear shirts no matter how hot it got. (We were all underage).
02. Writing about Title IX for my high school newspaper
The following year, I wrote an exposé on how my public high school was violating Title IX — a federal civil rights law — by providing more locker rooms, safety, accessibility, and facilities for male athletes than female athletes, for which I got chewed out by the school athletic director in the hallway between classes.
03. Writing a speech about reproductive freedom in the Texas House of Representatives
I took a job as a director of communications for a state representative to help pay the bills when I was a graduate student living in Texas. This was shortly after Wendy Davis’s historic 2013 filibuster to protect reproductive rights. I often got really emotional when wrote speeches and resolutions for Davis’s counterpart in the Texas House, including about Marlise Muñoz, who was famously kept on life support against the wishes of her family as an incubator for her nonviable pregnancy.
04. Hearing victim impact statements in Larry Nassar’s trial
I watched the #MeToo movement unfold and the victim impact statements in Larry Nassar’s trial when I was pregnant in 2018. When I found out I was having a boy, I was overjoyed and relieved, like I escaped having to live in fear for a daughter in a world where there are sexual predators in positions of power. This was followed by a sobering period when I made a promise to myself — and to my son — that I would raise him to fight the systems of patriarchy that produce men like Larry Nassar and Harvey Weinstein.
→ 3 things I say to my son that make me feel like a good mom
05. When my surgeon told me “it’s a man’s world”
After I had a hysterectomy and oophorectomy in 2022 and 2023 to treat pelvic congestion syndrome and PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder), I went into menopause and started experiencing a lot of side effects, like:
fatigue
bone pain
muscle loss and weakness
bladder weakness
low libido
My OB/gyn surgeon, who literally saved my life and whom I adore, told me sympathetically and earnestly: “At a certain point, there isn’t much more I can do for your hormones, because … it’s a man’s world.”
There’s a lot more research done on conditions like erectile dysfunction than on conditions that primarily impact women, like PMS and perimenopause, which leaves us with fewer options to treat discomfort.
→ 4 things I noticed when I started taking testosterone
Are you a radical feminist?
You might also be a radical feminist if you:
See patriarchy as the primary source of women's oppression
Don’t follow traditional gender roles
Support reproductive rights for women
Believe in combating violence against women, including domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape
View solidarity among women as a means to fight against patriarchal oppression
Critique liberal feminism for seeking equality within the existing patriarchal system rather than dismantling it
What to do next
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