The bell rings and class begins. “Boys please leave the room so I can speak privately to the girls,” I hear before my teacher begins math class. The boys file out of the room one by one as I wait quietly at my desk. Once the last boy leaves the room, my teacher shuts the door behind her and turns to face the class, “Ladies, please kneel in the aisle next to your desk.” I look around and watch as the other girls begin to get out of their chairs to kneel beside their desks. I, too, get up to kneel next to my desk. I feel the cold, hard ground pressing against my knees. I wonder why I am kneeling on the floor of my math class. I wonder if the other girls know why we are kneeling. I can see the boys in my class looking in the window and laughing
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I quickly pull my skirt below my waist until the end of my skirt rests on the ground. As she stands next to me, I think about having to tell my parents that I got a detention. With my teacher standing above me, I am afraid to look up. I feel ashamed, as if I have done something wrong. I am not sure what I did, but as I kneel on the cold hard ground I feel like I’m being punished. Punished for showing the one inch of my thigh just above my knee in public. I’ve never felt ashamed of that before, but at that moment I felt like the skirt was burning against my skin as I tried to make myself invisible. I thought that the only way to make the burning subside in that moment was if I were a boy standing out in the hallway.
I was twelve at the time. I did not realize it then, but I now view the world in a different way now than I did before. To me, the world was fair and just. In history class, I learned about racism and sexism, so I knew these were problems. On the news, I saw current events regarding racism and sexism and how they affected other people. However, I never thought these issues were prevalent in my own little bubble. None of this affected me so I didn’t know what being victimized in this way felt like until I was “othered” that day in my seventh grade math …show more content…
The issue of sexism and equality for women began to take over my world. In every class, every topic we discussed, it all came back to women. In math and science, I learned not many women have careers in these fields; however, I excel in those subjects. In history, I learned the struggles women have overcome and the successes of women in politics and history. In English, I wrote about everything I had learned and how I feel as a woman in today’s society. My education and teachers empowered me as a woman, not put down. This new feeling was different than what I had experienced in grade school. Feminism was an everyday discussion at my school, and I wondered why I had not learned more about this sooner. I have openly shared my opinion on feminism through discussions with friends and on social media. All my friends know I have strong feminist beliefs, but they are not always supportive of them. I have been told to stop tweeting about feminism and stop being such a feminist. I don’t think this is because my male friends do not consider me as equal to them. Many people just do not understand what feminism is; they think feminism means women are better than men or that women shouldn’t be stay at home moms, but that is not the case. Feminism is simply the belief that women are equal to men, no matter what they do. The problem is that it is not talked about
I quickly pull my skirt below my waist until the end of my skirt rests on the ground. As she stands next to me, I think about having to tell my parents that I got a detention. With my teacher standing above me, I am afraid to look up. I feel ashamed, as if I have done something wrong. I am not sure what I did, but as I kneel on the cold hard ground I feel like I’m being punished. Punished for showing the one inch of my thigh just above my knee in public. I’ve never felt ashamed of that before, but at that moment I felt like the skirt was burning against my skin as I tried to make myself invisible. I thought that the only way to make the burning subside in that moment was if I were a boy standing out in the hallway.
I was twelve at the time. I did not realize it then, but I now view the world in a different way now than I did before. To me, the world was fair and just. In history class, I learned about racism and sexism, so I knew these were problems. On the news, I saw current events regarding racism and sexism and how they affected other people. However, I never thought these issues were prevalent in my own little bubble. None of this affected me so I didn’t know what being victimized in this way felt like until I was “othered” that day in my seventh grade math …show more content…
The issue of sexism and equality for women began to take over my world. In every class, every topic we discussed, it all came back to women. In math and science, I learned not many women have careers in these fields; however, I excel in those subjects. In history, I learned the struggles women have overcome and the successes of women in politics and history. In English, I wrote about everything I had learned and how I feel as a woman in today’s society. My education and teachers empowered me as a woman, not put down. This new feeling was different than what I had experienced in grade school. Feminism was an everyday discussion at my school, and I wondered why I had not learned more about this sooner. I have openly shared my opinion on feminism through discussions with friends and on social media. All my friends know I have strong feminist beliefs, but they are not always supportive of them. I have been told to stop tweeting about feminism and stop being such a feminist. I don’t think this is because my male friends do not consider me as equal to them. Many people just do not understand what feminism is; they think feminism means women are better than men or that women shouldn’t be stay at home moms, but that is not the case. Feminism is simply the belief that women are equal to men, no matter what they do. The problem is that it is not talked about