R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I'm supposed to be writing a paper for my American Lit class, but due to things said in my Humanities class today, I felt the need to get some things off my chest and talk about the issue of respect...

"We have got to start loving life and the living. We have to respect that thing which we cannot create, which is life and stop taking it from people and stop taking it from things. Stop taking it. We can't make it. We can't reproduce one single person." -Maya Angelou

I am not a mother. I am not planning on becoming one anytime soon, but I have heard things in the recent weeks that have gotten me thinking about what people say, think, do, and how they treat others. A recurring theme seems to be respect and lack there of for others, especially women.

Call me a feminist, but I am a huge believer of equal rights. Just because someone is a man does not make them better than me. Just because I am a woman doesn't make me better than them. We are all human beings. We all have thoughts, feelings, likes, dislikes, achieve great goals, and make big mistakes.

I have heard way too many disrespectful things said in reference to women. Everything from, "if a girl is walking down the street in a mini-skirt, she is asking to be raped" to "calling someone a MILF is a compliment, and not disrespectful". I am not a mother, but if I heard my son saying those things, I would smack him upside the head. I'm not asking for an argument with anyone, I am simply asking for respect. Talking about women in a disrespectful manner takes away from your manhood. If you want to be a real man, respect the women around you.

It's sad that if I were to walk down a street in a mini-skirt, there are men out there who would see that as an invitation to rape me because I'm "asking for it". If I am walking down a street in a mini-skirt, I am not asking to be raped. If anything, I am asking you to respect the fact that I'm comfortable enough in my own skin to wear that mini-skirt.

Respect is not a hard thing to do. It can start with a simple "hello". If you expect people to respect you, respect those around you, man or woman. As a young woman who may someday become a mother, I am asking you to change your disrespectful ways. If I raise a son to be respectful of women, that does not and will not make him less masculine. If I raise a daughter to be respectful of men, that does not make her a feminist fighting societies rules. Giving respect does not make you lesser of anything. It only makes you that much greater.