Blog/Journal - Clarissa León

My cousin greeted me on the phone with "Happy International Women's Day!" yesterday. Instead, when I should have been celebrating I didn't even manage to read a full article on this joyous day. My cousin was a bit matter-of-fact in telling me that America doesn't seem to celebrate this day like the rest of the world. Which got me thinking, why is that? Even though the U.S. has made such great strides in women's equality, women in the workplace, so on and so forth, few women care to remember exactly how long in took. Instead of celebrating my womenhood—the women from around the world—I caught an episode of The Office on TBS. Not that I would expect much from a perenially leaderless clan of office workers, but something Phyllis said caught my attention. Maybe TBS knew what was up when they played this episode with Will Ferrell playing an overtly sexist boss, blind to his own sexism. Sure he can do an invisible juggling routine unlike any other but in this episode when the women confront him on being a sexist, Phyllis raises her hand and says, "I'm not a feminist but..."

Because, when you say you're not a feminist you have to wonder what exactly are you?

I know so many other feminists have raised their hands over this particularly grating and infuriating apologetic statement. Because, when you say you're not a feminist you have to wonder what exactly are you? Because, without feminism you wouldn't be working in The Office. You wouldn't be voting. Hell, you might not even be raising your hand.