<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>As a child, I didn’t know the definition of feminism. I didn’t understand the severity of inequality or how badly it was affecting people around me. I grew up being encouraged to wear dresses and be a girly girl because that’s how I’d be accepted. Nevertheless, when I got older and was able to see how much more diversity there is among all labels, I realized the necessity for representation and safe spaces. It was in my early teens when I went online more often and noticed how naive I had been as a child to understand how ugly the world really is. Maybe it was the time it hit me that my liking towards girls went way deeper, or that being Muslim and a brown woman was harder than it seemed. Every single day turned into a day of discovering that the American dream was not what I had imagined and even though it seemed like women were “safer” here, there were still underlying issues that impacted everyone terribly. The ContraPoints video emphasizes that your attire doesn’t define your gender and Royster goes into depth about how often times, our voices are shut down by those seen as “superior” to us. These past few years I have gotten to learn so much about the experiences of other women and have let myself become both allies and a representative for my community. Through videos and friends and school and social media and all the in betweens, there have been multiple instances where my knowledge and support of feminism grew. Even through the tiring explanations with men and internalized misogyny of other women, I have learned what it means to speak up for myself and others. On the feminism spectrum, I am a very strong advocate. Unfortunately, there are a million misconceptions out there and it’s important to unlearn them one by one. The female generation now, is the future. It’s about time we respect it for what it is. </span>
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