The F Word

What starts in F and ends in -uck?
Firetruck.
The more relevant question:
What starts in F and ends in "a whole lot of talk, redundancy, and frustration "?
Feminism.
And perhaps a relationship without sex.
But that's besides the point.
There is a long standing tradition that every woman stands up for Feminism because it is her personal battle. I do not disagree with this tradition. I am taking up issue with the fact that after lifetimes of hard work, of valid points, and difficult fights, Feminism has come so far... and then hit a wall. Women today care less and less for what they still call their "fight". Except if they were in a boxing ring, I believe the corpse would be cooling in the morgue at this very moment. There used to be such legacy in being a Feminist, and now it has become all but superfluous.
The eighties was perhaps the epitome of Feminism - the working woman was all the rage, independence was hot, it was becoming socially acceptable for a woman to be promiscuous. And who could forget those shoulder pads? The two decades before saw massive protests, the gain of the universal suffrage in Canada from a group of five determined ladies, the burning of thousands of bras that represent man's oppression of women, and countless other fights. That was the nature of Feminism - it was a battlefield.
Lately, Feminism seems to have lost this momentum. It has become not so much a battle as the stereotypes it has fought to throw off - whiny, inactive, and lacking powerful vigor. Women simply seem to care less, now that we have "come so far" here in the Western world, Feminism seems less of a cause and more of something that has been obtained. To me, as a woman, Feminism has become a subtle breeze. There is so much talk pertaining to the fact that women now have the vote, they have respect as equals, but at the same time make less than a man's dollar and are held to double standards that it's a wonder that Feminism is still taken mildly seriously.
How can you? After all this complaining, all we Western women are doing is holding ourselves hostage with our own winded speeches. There's a motto that says if you want something done, then to get out there and do it yourself. So do it. Don't sit around whining about the fact that while the average frat-boy gets a shiny medal for going out, getting wasted, and getting stupid, your average college girls are simply referred to as "walk of sham-ers", change it. Don't pay attention to the labels, don't label yourself. Do what you want with your body and mind, as they are yours, and let everyone know it. Words and thoughts are only empowered when you believe in them, so stop the talking and start the doing.
Feminism is not supposed to be a passive fight - no human rights cause is. Women have just seemingly lost the courage to stand up and do something. Not everything can be left to talking, ladies. It's so obvious that the cause is slowly dying here in North America as well. You still see the same depiction of women as being submissive in advertisements - of having a shampoo/perfum/vacuum make you more attractive and therefore more worthwhile. The sad part is that women now run ad adgencies just as men do. It has no longer become an issue of men oppressing us. They got bored of listening to us long ago, and with sense. The issue now is that we are prisoners of our own habits. It was so easy to sit around and let society work for us that we forgot how to take a stand.
Now more than ever there are actual worthy causes - we may be able to take foregranted our status as equals here, but what of the girl in the Middle East who was raped and persecuted for "bringing it upon herself". It was that sort of thing that made Feminism a reality to begin with. What of the countries under the same oppression our sex has been? When given the choice between bemoaning the plagues of society, and curing them, what is the correct answer?
So cut the chat, the venting, and the downright laziness, and get out there and DO something, "Feminists" of the world, you may yet accomplish something.