To be or Not To Be, a feminist

I had never actually questioned whether feminism was necessary, or rather I had never considered that some people believed it wasn’t; that is, until this Women’s Studies class started. However, I think people who say it isn’t [necessary] are not truly considering the weight of their answer. Do they actually believe women are treated the same as men, or do they think women have ‘come far enough,’ so no more work is needed? Until violence against women seizes to exist, and women and men are considered equals in every imaginable way, feminism is necessary. If we didn’t have feminism, or the feminist movement never began there is a very good chance Wheaton would be an all boys’ college and I would be married and baking for my two children rather than writing this blog entry right now. I realize this is a fairly drastic statement, but you get what I mean. We need feminists because they fight for the equality of all women- they speak for the women who can’t [for whatever reason].
I was on girlwpen.com reading some articles the other day and in the sexual freedom category I came across an entry about the ‘Take Back the Night’ protest last spring. This protests’ aim is to stop violence, sexual assault and sexual harassment against men and women- to make our streets safe at night. The thing that stuck out to me most about this entry was something the speaker at the protest said,
“One day I hope that I’m not invited to speak at Take Back the Night. One day I hope that violence and sexual assault against women — and against anyone — is eradicated so that we no longer need marches, and candlelight vigils, and speak-outs, and T-shirts, and signs.”
This is exactly how I feel about feminism- the same way these speaker felt about Take Back the Night. One day I hope feminism isn’t necessary because we are all equal and there is no reason to fight anymore- that time just hasn’t come yet.