Candace: I'm NOT a Feminist

My first outward rejection of the modern ideals of feminism occurred accidentally, during a mandatory women’s studies course in college. My professor had just gone over a staggering statistic that some 89 percent of people suffering from eating disorders were women. “This,” she explained, was “due to the unrealistic expectations placed upon us by the patriarchy.”

I nearly choked on a piece of ice from my Dunkin coffee.

“What then do you make of all the men who do steroids?” I surmised aloud, “…be it the fault of the matriarchy?”.

My professor went red.

We traded back and forth until she went for the K.O. with an explication of her credentials:

“Well, I’m the one with the Ph.D. in women’s studies,” she stated curtly.

“Well, I’m the one with the eating disorder,” I shot back.

I didn’t know it at the time, but it was this very exchange that would come to highlight my overall thesis on why feminism is broken – women are being taught it, rather than experiencing it. In fact, in many cases, we are being encouraged to override our experiences in favor of indoctrination.

At best, the movement denotes a selective musketeer mentality. It’s a pledge that a bad experience had by one ought to be broadcast and accepted as the reality for all, but what about a good experience had by one? Well, that woman ought to just shut up and keep it to herself, because she’s #privileged.

Yup. Let us hand a microphone to the woman who was beaten by her husband, but muffle the one beside her who might wish to thank her own for the role he plays in her happiness.

And for that, I find it necessary to formally state that not once in my entire life was I made to feel incapable or weak next to my male peers. Not once did a school teacher tell me that I ought to learn to cook and clean rather than to read and write, and for clarification, the eating disorder that I had in college had absolutely nothing to do with the urging of any man.

It gets ickier...