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Jacey Gibb
Editor-in-chief
Meditor@theotherpress.ca

Natalie Serafini
Assistant Editor
Massistant@theotherpress.ca

Angela Ho
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Maccounting@theotherpress.ca

Chris Paik
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Midistribution@theotherpress.ca

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Ed Appleby
illustrator

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Social Media Coordinator

Patrick Vaillancourt
News Editor
Minews@theotherpress.ca

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Arts Editor
Marts@theotherpress.ca

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Life & Style Editor
Mlifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca

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Opinions Editor
Mopinions@theotherpress.ca

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Msports@theotherpress.ca

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Humour Editor
Mhumour@theotherpress.ca

Aidan Mouellic
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Staff Writers

Idrian Burgos, Steven Cayer,
Brittney MacDonald
Senior Columnists

Dessa Bayrock, Angela
Espinoza, Joshua Grant,
Taylor Pitt,

Adam Tatelman,

Maria Asselin-Roy,

Mel Freylinger
Contributors

    

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By www.cdn.3news.co.nz

Does the world still need feminism?

Jacey Gibb
Editor-in-chief

. Meditor
) @theotherpress.ca

Of course it does—but you
already knew that.

Sorry to kill the suspense
right out of the gate here.
In most cases, the writer’s
supposed to make it past the
first sentence before spelling
the answer out for everyone.
I couldn't let people believe
T actually thought anything
different, though. You see, I’ve

over what the headline should
read for my feminism-centric
Lettitor. I usually save the
title until the end and write
something like “INSERT
AMAZING, COOL ONE-LINER
HERE?” while I conjure the rest
of my article but the more I
wrote about the topic, the more
pressing a headline became.
I’m a feminist. I believe
in equality between men and
women; I’m against the way

our daily lexicons, even in the

whenever someone says “that’s
just the way things are” as

“I’m just too lazy to think any
differently.” None of these are

yet, despite their commonality,
I still meet people who are
afraid of bearing the feminist
moniker. Unfortunately, I was
one of those people until about

© Getloknowus!

© The Other Press has been Douglas College’s student newspaper since 1976. Since 1978 we have
been an autonomous publication, independent of the student union. We area registered society
under the Society Act of British Columbia, governed by an eight-person board of directors
appointed by our staff. Our head office is located in the New Westminster campus.

© The Other Press is published weekly during the fall and winter semesters, and monthly during
the summer. We receive our funding from a student levy collected through tutition fees every
semester at registration, and from local and national advertising revenue. The Other Press is a
member ofthe Canadian University Press (CUP), asyndicate of student newspapers that includes

: ayear and a half ago: someone
: who needed to follow up “I’m

: a feminist” with a conditional
: “but...,” afraid that people

: might misinterpret my views

: for something I had to justify.
: Thank God that patriarchal

: hiccup is over with.

So what does being a

: feminist entail? One of my

: favourite writers ever, Carleigh

: Baker, wrote one of my favourite
: features ever last semester

: titled “Who defines feminism?”
: Now, I could never out-word

: Baker, so I'll leave you to read

ty i Ve: her article for yourselves

been pining and procrastinating : (check it out on our website!),
: but I'll paraphrase: the term

: feminist is impossible to apply
: ona global scale because of

: the huge variance for women’s
: rights between regions. To

: be considered a feminist, do

: you have to shed every layer

: of misogyny? What if this

: leaves a woman ostracized

: from society, alienated from

: everyone she knows—all in

: the name of matching the

: North American definition of

misogyny has found its way into : feminism? It’s a loaded-to-the-
: brim kind of question, but I’m
slightest of ways; and I interpret : of the belief that if you think
: youre a feminist, then you are.
: It’s like arguing that someone

: isn’t attractive just because

: they don’t adhere to your own
radical beliefs by any means and : standards of what attractive
: people look like. We'll never
: have a universal meaning for
: what a feminist is and that’s
: what makes the term so

papers from all across Canada.

© The OtherPressreservestheright to choose what we will publish, and we will not publish material
that is hateful, obscene, or condones or promotes illegal activities. Submissions may be edited
for clarity and brevity if necessary. All images used are copyright to their respective owners.

: empowering.

I wasn’t always so open-

: minded about who could
: declare themselves as feminists. :
: At the start of the year I

: remember spitballing the

: idea of a Lettitor calling out

: people I thought were “lazy

: feminists”; women who are

: against misogyny but then

: agree to change their last

: name and accept domesticity

: as if it were their only option.

: I now recognize that there’s

: nothing wrong with either of

: those things, as long as it’s the

: woman’s choice and it’s not just
: blindly accepted.

Though my cynicism has

: subsided for the most part,

: there’s still one aspect of

: modern feminism that I have

: trouble with. I would ask that
: you sheathe your criticisms for
: amoment while I take on the

: online feminist juggernaut,

: Jezebel.

Now, I’m a fan of some of

: the work that goes onto the

: website, but I often find myself
: disagreeing with the content.

: My main gripe with Jezebel is

: the seeming obsession with

: trying to find sexism even where :
: there is none; articles obsessed
: with being feminist just for

: the sake of being feminist.

: Take the recent dissection of

: Shakira for example. Because

: her boyfriend doesn’t want

: her doing provocative music

: videos with other men, this
somehow warranted a 175-

: word write-up on the website.
: Sure, maybe Shakira’s found
: herself a guy who’s obsessed

with controlling her sexuality,

: like a modern Rapunzel

: locked away from the world.

: Or maybe it’s called being in

: arelationship and respecting

: when your partner asks you

: to avoid doing something

: they’re not comfortable with.

: Respect requires compromise,

: something Shakira seems to

: have recognized. To me, Jezebel
: is the BuzzFeed of feminism: I'll
: enjoy the content and find some
: things stimulating, but it’s just

: another pitstop on the .html

: highway.

Coming back to my initial

: question of whether the world

: still needs feminism: I won’t

: even pretend that I know

: everything there is to know

: about feminism, but I believe

: that it most certainly does. Just

: because things for some women
: are better than they have been

: isn’t a reason to stop advocating
: for equality. Things like the pay

: gap and the double standard are
: still very prevalent and aren’t

: going to disappear on their own.

Whether your definition of a

: feminist is a Women’s Studies
: major or it’s a girl who pays for
: the guy ona first date, your

: work will never be over.

So it goes,

Teoey Gibb

Editor-in-chief

coc Ug 9) CEM]

‘Ou
pe,
e 5

 

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