Yo! Youth OutLook

I’ve never thought of myself as a feminist. Feminism, in my mind, has always been a man-hating, uptight and wholly unattractive movement. Then I picked up Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters by Jessica Valenti.

After reading only a couple pages, I realized that I had feminist values all along. I mean I’ve always believed that all women should be treated equally, which is the core value that one needs to have to consider themselves a feminist. Yet, I denied the term because I didn’t want to appear as any of the things that society had labeled feminists – primarily ugly and mean.

Even though most women want equality, none of my friends really consider themselves feminists either. When the most publicized females in media are Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, it’s hard to find a real role model who sings the praises of “Girl Power.” I used to agree with my friends that there is almost nothing worse than being a feminist in a world where we are told to basically change ourselves so boys will notice us.

After reading the book, I took a mini-survey of women in the office where I’m interning and asked some 20 of them – ranging in age from 15 to 50 – if they were feminists. It turned out to be a very complicated question. The most common response to my question was: “Well, what do you mean by that?” This whole exercise showed me how negatively people view feminism. Most women questioned my definition of feminist to see if they agreed with me. I suspect that they thought feminists were a crazy man-hating vigilante group. One woman actually responded “I don’t agree with feminism if it’s the man-hating kind.”

I admit I felt the same, but I thought women older than me would all answer with a passionate “Yes!” when in reality most of them answered with an unsure “Uh, maybe?” One 24-year-old female I asked answered with a blunt “No.” When I asked her why, she answered: “Feminism needs to work on its reputation.” Maybe they should read Valenti’s book also.

I think the great thing about Full Frontal Feminism is that it celebrates feminism without being preachy or boring. Valenti -- who also founded popular feminist blog Feministing.com -- created a book where young women don’t feel talked down to or confused. She addresses reproductive rights, sex, motherhood, politics and beauty standards with a witty and enthusiastic outlook. Her book is written simply without being condescending, Valenti insists that it’s the “Queens in me” – Valenti grew up in the New York City borough – that causes her to swear as much as she does in the book. Whatever it is, the way that she uses her language makes it easier for young women to relate to.

Valenti starts her book by asking what the worst things are to call a male and a female. She lists the worst things to call a female like slut, whore and bitch. Then she goes on to the worst things to call a man, which are girl, bitch and pussy. She calls attention to the fact that the “worst thing you can call a girl is a girl. The worst thing you can call a guy is a girl. This exercise is supposed to showcase society’s negative views on females, and underline her point that feminism is relevant and important today. It worked. It was shocking how true the exercise had been and how negative society’s views on women and feminism were, and in turn, how negative I had been when I used those words.

I had never really thought about my insults before. If I didn’t like a girl at my school she was automatically a slut or a bitch. Valenti asks her readers to pay attention to the way you act with other girls. Reading Valenti’s book made me realize that being catty with other females was a really negative step away from the empowerment of women, and feminism is all about empowerment. I have to admit -- I’m really catty with other girls. Now, I try to think about things more before calling people names, especially things that have the potential to hurt someone in a gender-biased sort of way.

In person, Valenti is really quite cool. She’s funny, relatable and a really nice person. Though, when I was reading her book she came off a bit aggressive. It felt as if she was yelling at me from the pages. Perhaps it’s necessary to be a bit aggressive when society has hammered negative thoughts about feminism in your head, but sometimes she was pushing it. One thing that bothered me was when she addresses the controversial topic of abortion. Saying she’s pro-choice seems a bit of an understatement -- she’s very active and vocal about her stance as pro-choice. I’m totally in support of having your own opinions but she unnecessarily makes jabs at people that are pro-life. She calls them anti-choice, anti-sex and anti-women. This is an unfair generalization on her part because she urges readers to drop stereotypes from the beginning of her book.

All in all, Valenti creates an engaging, honest and incredibly relevant book about young women’s struggle to define themselves as women in a society where the biggest insult is to be one. I think that I am a feminist, perhaps not one that is “full frontal” – but I feel like I’m in the same basic area as them. I think all people should be able to call themselves feminists, women especially.

Jasmine Redmond, 15, is about to start her sophomore year at the French American International High School in San Francisco.

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