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Normalize the F Word

By: Marina Mikheil

Writing this essay wasnt so much difficult for me since I had a lot of background knowledge on
the topic but placing all my ideas down to fit the page format was challenging. What I favor most
about my essay are all the statistics and sources that I mentioned as support for evidence, I feel
as though they really strengthened my argument. Although once citing these sources, I think I
could have done a better job explaining and elaborating on what I just quoted. Thats where I felt
confused, is not knowing how I should reason with the certain citation and argue without
implying any of my opinions. In order to improve this for the future, I feel that looking through
more sample essays or journals of academic writing would really give me more insight on
composing the perfect scholarly article. As for the audience that I was targeting this for. I tended
to elaborate on topics that would seem interesting for most college students like sports,
workplace, media etc. Furthermore, putting it all together along with my logic and evidence, I
felt that I really made it clear what I was arguing as well as strengthened my ethos as an author.

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Marina Mikheil
Professor Kairis
English 101
December 14, 2015
Normalize the F Word
Throughout history, the U.S. has grown to adopt many different values and beliefs in
society. Following the first-wave of feminism during the 19th century when women won the fight
for the right to vote, women have continued to fight on the grounds of political, social, and
economic for equality to men. Ambiguous towards the movement, society tends to associate
feminists with man-hating women seeking attention for unnecessary reasoning. Nevertheless,
women find the need to fight for their movement today because inequality is still present yet
lacks the attention and awareness it should receive. To this current date, it seems that women still
receive lack of respect as men in todays society and are treated as the less significant gender, yet
people don't see the problem as a call to action for.
It has been known that the national gender wage gap for women lies around 77 cents for
every dollar a man makes. Merely for the reason that women are associated with low-income
professions such as teaching, nursing, or secretary/assistant. Yet a recent study that was
published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that male nurses earn
$5,100 more on average than their female colleagues who hold similar positions (The Other
Wage Gap 1). Although women voluntarily choose to go into those certain careers with an open
mind of the wages theyll be earning, the workplace today lacks equal representation of men and
women in various professions along with unequal pay. Based on the careers listed above, society

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associates women with groupings of professions that relate with being a caregiver, practicing a
set of duties that a mom would be responsible for. For that reason, its not anything in particular
that stay-at-home moms dont get paid. Although when comparing some of the professions men
go into for example, engineering, management, or politics; those certain professions exercise the
masculine stronger power that men are associated with. Nevertheless, society classifies certain
professions based on the gender assigned for the position.
Theres a sociological theory called The glass ceiling which is used to describe the
barrier that avoids women and minorities to advancement in a profession. Meaning in a maledominant workplace, a woman will never be able to rise up any higher than her male colleagues.
Hence, if one would take a moment to think about the upcoming presidential election and the
candidates, how much of a chance would Hilary Clinton really have at winning? Besides the fact
that she represents the Democratic party and may share different views than the different
political parties, what make her any less capable to run a country than the other male democrat
candidates? For as of August 2015, it has been known that only 22% of all national
parliamentarians are females; verifying that the U.S. Government does not see most women fit to
hold a leadership title (Facts and Figures 1). Nevertheless, other than being incapable of reaching
a high status in the political stands, women are not given much attention in the business world
either. For according to (Women CEOs 1), out of the top 500 fortune companies, women
currently hold only 4.4% of the CEO positions. Based on this statistic, it portrays how in a given
situation where although both genders are qualified for such a position, the man has a greater
chance at moving up the corporate hierarchy.
On the contrary, it has been known that masculinity is based on the biological sex and
that men are naturally stronger therefore, take more of an advantage in certain sports than

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women. Despite the fact that women share their own advantages of being more flexible and
graceful in their athletic abilities, they are still looked at as weak beings when participating in
any sport. For that reason, it explains why people have been debating whether cheerleading is a
sport or not. The Always Like a Girl commercial portrays the stereotype of doing something
like a girl, showing how society views women as weak, clumsy, emphasizing that its an actual
insult if somebody compares one to a girl.
Women arent taken seriously in sports as much as men. For in (Theguardian.com 1) the
author mentions that the U.S. mens team had played in the 20th mens World Cup in 2014, yet
the womens team has only been playing the seventh womens World Cup. Although placing the
womens World Cup in an artificial turf in a stadium was in fact a violation of the Canadian
Human Rights Act, FIFA never found this gender discrimination as a controversy
(Theguardian.com 1). Moreover, the author quotes that We have still another 13 World Cups
before potentially women should receive the same amount of wages as men (Theguardian.com
1). For in total, $576 million was on the line for the participants of mens tournament last year,
while just $15 million in prizes was available for the women in Canada (Theguardian.com1).
On the other hand, football is the most well-known sport in the country that gets almost
everyone worked up as if it was a holiday every Sunday. So one would assume just how
expensive college football tickets are, but what about the unisex sports and how do their ticket
prices compare for both men and women? As I analyze the prices for both men and womens
basketball games at Rutgers University, a Division I school, there seems to be a distinction
between the different price ranges. When purchasing tickets for the mens game, the prices vary
from $12-$65 meanwhile, the tickets for the womens game vary from $10-$25
(Scarletknights.com 1). One would wonder why the price ranges are so distinct considering they

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represent the same division school. Yet it portrays just how much percentage of the audience
pays attention to the womens team when contrasting with the mens team in college
With regards to awareness, the media takes credit for putting the spotlight on the feminist
movement though it may have spurred controversies. Mass media being exposed to feminists
has generated hate towards anyone who even dares to label themselves a feminist, but also makes
it easier for people who are not truly feminists to claim the label (Feminism 1). For a movement
that receives tough criticism on the daily, its supporters tend to hide their opinions just so they
dont lose respect from what they call their followers on the media. On the contrary, it seems
that a womans sexual appearance is the only thing that gets praised for in todays media. Tyra
Banks, the first black Victoria Secrets Angel, takes a stance on feminism and what it means to
her, claiming that women should not have to apologize for being too strong or high in power for
their success (Bustle 1). Tyra is an advocate for women of color, a Harvard Business School
graduate, and a feminist, yet only widely known for her beauty and praised for her supermodel
abilities.
Living in the 21st century, technology and the media take a big part in our lives. They
convey different kinds of information to the public such as news, events going on, as well topics
that are trending. Although, it can have both a positive and a negative impact when spreading
information on certain topics such as feminism. Most would agree with how most people on
social media view feminists as man-hating and tend to give off false interpretations of what the
purpose of the feminist movement is for. Other than the false analyzation that the movement
receives, it tends to be targeted often on social media sites such as twitter by an anti-feminist
page called, The Meninist which criticizes women for starting their movement. Rather than
sticking up for a movement that fights for both men and women, the misogynous twitter page

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misses the feminists claim, believing that the movement advocates only one gender while
spreading false evidence.
The movement is not intended to discriminate nor target men but rather to fight for both
genders; for Emma Watson advocates in her He for She speech, "It is time that we all see
gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals" (He for She). People tend to
selectively think of feminists as man-hating women who take no part in supporting any action of
men. Yet as Watson mentions in her speech, gender equality is a fight that both genders should
take part in. She acknowledges the different aspects that feminism focuses on which view how
masculinity has limited men and made it harder for them to report their rapes, talk about their
feelings, or report any illnesses (He for She). She recognizes these assumptions merely to
emphasize that a feminist doesnt necessarily have to be a woman calling to action her own
genders struggles.
When shifting to other countries that lack gender equality, it seems that countries in the
Middle East are stricter on women and purposely make them incompetent with the men. As most
have heard of her, Malala Yousafzai is an education advocate in a northwestern district in
Pakistan where the Taliban have restricted women from not going to school. As she protested her
thoughts and fears on a blog, Malalas voice became heard all over the world. In 2011, she was
awarded with Pakistans first National Youth Peace Prize, but in response to her high recognition,
she received death threats from the Taliban. Shot with a single bullet in the head, Malala was in
critical condition but was discharged from the hospital three months after her incident. Once the
world has heard of the attack, over two million people signed a right to education petition,
resulting in the National Assembly ratifying Pakistan's first Right to Free and Compulsory
Education Bill (The Malala Fund 1). Thus, it seems that because women in the U.S. are more

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privileged to have the right to education, they dont realize how fortunate they are to not have to
worry about risking their lives in order to better their knowledge; nor are they are aware of the
worse cases of gender inequalities.
Furthermore, feminism should receive more awareness because I, an eighteen-year old
girl, should not have to ask a friend to walk with me outside of my college campus because of
my paranoia of catcalling; and should not have to buy pepper spray as precaution for that reason.
Nor should I be told by my parents that a young woman should not be allowed to stay out late or
else she would be labeled as misbehaved or a party-animal as one would say. But
meanwhile, my fifteen-year old brother can be out all night without any say from my parents. As
I share the unfair treatment that I have experienced, I am speaking for all women who share the
same struggle. We need feminism because sexism is a prejudiced act that no one should have to
receive based on their gender.
Based on the multiple cases of gender discrimination listed, it goes to show that women
are not treated with the same measure of respect as men. Theres so many instances where
women are discriminated or looked down upon but its never seen as an issue, and that is the real
problem. Whether it be inequality in the workplace, sports, media, or education, unfair treatment
will always be considered as prejudiced. A girl growing up should never have to limit her
dreams of becoming a leader solely because of her gender nor should she limit her abilities just
so she could maintain the weak image women are given. Addressing the issue is the first step for
wanting to achieve that equality in order for people to beware and expand their knowledge; and
we should be doing so by promoting feminism, not keeping it down. Theres no reason for
someone to hate on a movement that upholds equality between the genders while problems as
such are occurring.

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Works Cited

"Bustle." Bustle. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. <http://www.bustle.com/articles/44853-tyrabanks-is-a-feminist-her-message-on-the-subject-is-inspirational>.

"Facts and Figures: Leadership and Political Participation." HeadQuarters. N.p., n.d. Web. 13
Dec. 2015. <http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-politicalparticipation/facts-and-figures>.
"Feminism, Social Media, and You." The Odyssey. N.p., 18 Aug. 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
<http://theodysseyonline.com/west-virginia/feminism-social-media-and-you/147846>.
"Home - HeForShe." HeForShe. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. <http://www.heforshe.org/>.
"The Malala Fund." The Malala Fund. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
<https://www.malala.org/malalas-story>.
N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jul/04/womens-world-cup-fifatournament-mens>.
"The Other Wage Gap: Why Men In Female-Dominated Industries Still Earn More." Fast
Company. N.p., 08 Apr. 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
<http://www.fastcompany.com/3044753/strong-female-lead/the-other-wage-gap-whymen-in-women-dominated-industries-still-earn-more>.
"Women CEOs of the S&P 500." Catalyst. N.p., 03 Dec. 2014. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.
<http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-ceos-sp-500>.
"SCARLETKNIGHTS.COM - Official Athletic Site." SCARLETKNIGHTS.COM - Official
Athletic Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. <http://www.scarletknights.com/tickets/>.