NOBODY is really surprised that Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2017 is “feminism.”
It’s been a good year and also a bad one for women. Good because after centuries of struggling for equality, they finally got the world’s attention, thanks to social media and hashtags like #MeToo. Bad because accounts from Hollywood and other corridors of power revealed influential, powerful men abusing women, and their victims understandably felt helpless, unable and, ultimately, unwilling to complain. Until now.
The hashtag #MeToo has been used millions of times in 85 countries.
A friend of mine, who was a victim of abuse, had to uninstall her Twitter app on all gadgets because it was all too much for her. And I understand her.
Nobody really gets over sexual abuse. It’s a pain that lives in your heart and mind forever.
Another female friend, meanwhile, said all the noise about sexual abuse on Twitter was making her head spin. “It’s too much for me, honestly,” she said.
I’m not surprised that some of the choices for Word of the Year included “complicit” and “empathy.” They are, somehow, related to feminism and sexual abuse.
But feminism is not confined to speaking out against sexual abuse. It is, to me, a state of being. It represents a movement about women demanding the same rights men have enjoyed for generations.
Merriam-Webster defines feminism as “the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes” and “organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”
Time Magazine gave the honor of Person of the Year to the “The Silence Breakers,” who drove a worldwide conversation that continues today about sexual harassment and assault.
In my opinion, it has never been a better time to be a woman. A lot of things online may be noise but now, a woman can post a picture of herself in a bikini on Facebook or Instagram and only someone who is sick in the head will call her a “slut.” In the future, women can post whatever they want without any fear.
I’ve said to close friends that we may not be the ones to benefit from #MeToo and other feminist movements online, but our children and our children’s children will have better lives. Our daughters and granddaughters will have better lives because of this.
But more than the stories of abuse and manipulation of women by powerful men, women stood out in 2017 because many of them finally came into their own, thanks to the Internet.
The Internet gave so many women a voice. I have seen so many of them call out men who catcalled them on the streets, fondled them on the MRT, or said something inappropriate in the workplace.
They’ve finally found the courage to say, “It wasn’t my fault.” I admit that in the past, I have been guilty of saying things like, “She shouldn’t have worn that if she didn’t want the wrong kind of attention.”
No one wants the wrong kind of attention, and guess what? She and any other female didn’t wear that pair of short shorts to be catcalled or fondled. It’s not anyone’s fault when men don’t respect women, save for the parent(s) who raised such men. When a man sexually assaults or abuses a woman, it is not because she wore something revealing or behaved inappropriately. It’s the man who didn’t behave inappropriately.
I remember how this young man would tweet about being depressed and suicidal. Of course, a lot of females responded to his tweets. They said he could message them if he wanted to talk. Well, guess what? Depressed and suicidal guy only wanted to talk to the beautiful ones, many of them minors. He victimized so many girls, sliding into their DMs and saying inappropriate things. He got called out for that. Thankfully, this stopped him cold.
I’m glad that social activist and former Social Welfare Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo is still around to witness everything that’s happening. Taguiwalo has been a feminist long before many people knew the word existed. A senator came under fire when he brought up her being an unmarried mother, calling Taguiwalo as someone “na-ano.”
If you read interviews about Taguiwalo, you’d be pleasantly surprised at how feminism comes so naturally to her. Her guiding principle is, “A woman’s place is in the struggle.”
It is not easy being a woman, even in this day and age. But it is better that our voice is now heard. We cannot be ignored.