In the 20th century, women as a whole made great strides towards achieving equality in society. No longer were women banned from a proper education, voting, receiveing birht control, or having an abotrion. Women were even protected from the abuse of their husbands with strict laws regarding spousal abuse and rape. By the end of the 1970's, a new term had been coined to describe people concerned with women's rights and concerns: feminism. Today, however, conservative talk show host and sophomoric teen comedies have turned this word into a stereotype that unfairly characterizes anyone supporting womens rights as a mean-spirited, vengeful, man-hater. When hearing such garbage, I wonder how many people have actually looked at the definition of the word "feminism." Here is the term defined in the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary:Fem-i-nism, noun, 1. the theroy of the political, economic, and social equality of both sexes; 2. organized activity on the befalf of women's rights and interests.Obviously the various segments of society that misrepresent feminism are ill-informed and ignorant. But what about the average American, or even the average highschool student? What do they think of feminism? The answere is simple; most people believe that women's rights are an issue of the past, a resolved problem of a previous generation. This is just not true.The battle for women's rights is a constant, even within the confines of our own school. Recent statistics state that almost all female students woll be sexually harassed sometime within their for years of high school. Yet much of the male student body that I know feel that sexual harassment is a non-issue that does not play a big role in there school. Should someone be condemed for simply defending a women's right to be free from assult in a supposedly safe place? Society as a whole seems to have also forgotten about feminism in recent times. Women are being portrayed m...
