The Millennial Generation

One thing that I wanted to say in the discussion about feminism in class today was how our generation, the Millennial's, tend to focus more on equality than inequality. We have slowly become a society that promotes equality and community, focusing on important social issues like gay marriage. Today, there are 37 states that legally allow gay marriage, and I would wager that 20 years ago there wouldn't be one state that legally promoted gay marriage. Massive protests, some riotous, have been predominant in our society, and are on the rise. This generation is a generation that experts are calling a generation of change, and for good reason, because many people are determined to change the way we think.

As teenagers, we are even more adept at picking apart and recognizing inequality- it is something that makes us socially and emotionally us. As we try to find ourselves we often look and search for places and opportunities to either benefit or contribute to the advancement of community. In our school alone, we have BLU, Tau Gamma, SPJ, Snowball and other social awareness clubs that promote community and togetherness.

The same can be said about feminism. Around half of the human population is female, and having that amount of people being stereotyped and placed in a group does warrant attention. Although there is still a long way to travel with feminism, the leaps and bounds that have contributed to the continued awareness and  accomplishment of feminism. There is a video on Youtube of a woman walking down the street for 10 hours, and it documents all the catcalls she received. Although the video may contradict the accomplishments of feminism, saying there is still a long journey ahead (which I adamantly believe), the response to the video, by both men and women, are undeniably in support of a need to change. The advertisement "Run Like A Girl" shows how we are becoming more receptive and supportive of becoming socially aware and breaking the stereotypes of women.

We are becoming more aware of the problems around us, and because of that we should keep on going. When I look at our school and my place in it, my social group, my classes, I see a collection of people who are willing and wanting to break the social boundaries that separate us, and that is something that resonates with me. It's a bit difficult to place certain objects in gender stereotypes because I see most everyday objects as gender neutral, and the people that I see around me I see as equal, and many of the songs and books and ideas that my friends and I share are not defined by gender.