I am, unsurprisingly

In response to this post.

There is a bumper sticker I love (that at least used to be available here) that states simply why I am a feminist:

"Feminism is the radical notion that women are people."

I am a person, and as a person I deserve the same rights and respect as any other person. At different points in history and in many places in the world today my status as a person wouldn't be clear--instead, I might be seen as property, first of my father, then of my husband, never of myself.

I am not the same as anyone else around me. I do not possess the same talents, interests, or abilities as anyone else, man or woman; child or adult; in this time or place or any other. But I do, as a person, have certain rights, including the right to make my own decisions. Choice is the greatest gifts of feminist to their daughters and I rejoice in the opportunities I have in my life. I rejoice in my education, in my marriage, in my child. I rejoice in my faith and in my doubt. I rejoice in my safety, in my voice, in the myriad benefits we as a society enjoy because women are empowered and involved in this society. I am a daughter of privilege because I enjoy the rights and social expectations of this time and place and I am grateful for that. And because of that gratitude I will call myself what I am: a feminist. Not the man-hating, disdainful of traditional women's roles straw(wo)man; just your typical, garden variety feminist who thinks she's a person who deserves the same rights and respect as any other person on this planet, and who hopes someday everyone on the planet really will experience the same rights and respect as everyone else. THAT will be Zion.