In our current male-centric society, everything revolves around the male’s needs, opinions, wants and desires. The female’s role is secondary, and her needs are only considered, as they relate to the male.
For example, according to Vocabulary.com, the vagina is defined as “An opening in a woman’s body that goes back to her uterus. In sex, the man’s penis goes into the vagina.” If this was written from the female point of view, I’d wager a guess that the definition would be more about things that come out of the vagina (periods, babies) rather than what occasionally goes in it.
If our society was female focused, there would be no tax on tampons and pads. Period-related products would be considered an absolute necessity, like prescription drugs and food. Currently, in all but 9 states, menstrual products are considered “hygiene products” like deodorant, therefore deemed non-essential. Um, my underpants beg to differ 7 days every month.
If our society took women’s needs into consideration, all maternity leave would be paid and jobs would be secure with no repercussions. It is possible to do, just ask Denmark. Also, schools and daycare hours would align with business hours. Please tell me how I’m supposed to go to work from 8:30-6:00, while my kid goes to school from 8:00-2:45. IT DOESN’T WORK.
If our society put women’s wants & needs first, Hollywood would have more than just 4% female directors and 15% female writers making all of the movies in 2018. This disparity perpetuates the male’s point of view. Ever notice how many damsels in distress are in movies? Or clingy girlfriends? Or buzz-kill wives? Or bitchy bosses? Or gossipy girls? If women wrote our stories, I guarantee you female characters would be portrayed as the empathetic, capable, intelligent, multi-tasking heroes that we truly are!
If America wanted to guarantee women were equal in our society, they’d add the ERA to the constitution. For those of you who don’t know, “The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex; it seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in terms of divorce, property, employment, and other matters.” The ERA was first introduced to Congress in 1923. It’s now 2019 and we STILL do not have the necessary 38 states on board for full ratification. For those of you counting, that’s 96 years of fighting to guarantee women constitutional rights equal to those of men in the United States of America. If you’re not furious yet, read more here.
If our society was female-centric, abortion wouldn’t be a political pawn. It would be considered health care and only discussed between a patient and her doctor. Same goes for female birth control–it would be readily available with no questions asked. You know, like condoms are.
If society put women’s needs first, women would be believed when reporting abuse and assault. Not only would women be believed, they’d be protected and receive justice. And if assailants were appropriately punished, perhaps rape stats would go down. And then maybe women could feel safe in their own skin. Currently male’s reputations and careers are valued much higher than a woman’s truth. Just ask the United States Supreme Court.
Finally, in no particular order, in a female-centered society, there’d be: no body-shaming, no age-shaming, no slut-shaming, for-fucks-sake-just-no shaming at all, also no high heels, no Spanx, no bras. Women would have equal pay, equal respect, equal representation, equal credibility, equal opportunities, equal say, and equal rights. Is that so much to ask?
A girl can dream, right? Fuck that–a girl can fight! fight! fight! until we achieve equality!!
What's KP Thinking? 