Tashica Jacobson
I used to consider myself a feminist. I have always thought that I could and should be able to do pretty much whatever a boy could. Even when it comes to dating I always offer to pay for myself and I have even straight out told guys not to open my door. Recently I attended the United Nations Commission of the Status of Women and now I have come to the conclusion that I most definitely am not a feminist. I stand for women’s rights, their equality, their uniqueness, and their contributions to society, but the feminist agenda as it exists today degrades women and the power that comes from being a female.
One thing that many countries were pushing at the United Nations is comprehensive sexuality education. This is an extreme sex education program that promotes fulfillment of sexual pleasure as a right and teaches young children the variety of ways to satisfy these pleasures. These programs make women out to be sex objects. We no longer have self control, nor are we viewed as being worthy or special enough for one person in a lifelong committed relationship. Instead it teaches to give ourselves up for any fantasy of the moment. In these programs women learn that their sole purpose in life is to use their body to please their selves and those around them. As a woman, and a woman who believes in the value of being female, I am insulted by these programs. Not only are we worth waiting for, we are self disciplined enough and strong enough to choose to withhold our bodies from our temporary desires and those of others.
The value of marriage is also being lost at the UN. While there are some marriages that are harmful to women we need to realize the vast amount of good that comes to women when they are in a healthy marriage. Decades of research shows that “Married women experience lower levels of violence, poverty, depression and emotional problems, and live longer than single women.” In addition to these benefits, marriage shows the equality of men and women. It takes both a man and a woman to create a marriage. Man is not greater than women for he needs women to create the unit which society is based upon. Neither one can create a child, the main purpose of marriage, without the other. This is a defining characteristic of what makes us equal. To be able to create life, the greatest thing of all, takes both a man and a woman, and marriage is the union that recognizes this equality. Nations who promote various forms of the family at the UN are degrading both women and men.
A growing movement in many countries is same-sex marriage and giving sexual rights to the LGBT community, and this agenda has found its way into UN debates. Like those threats mentioned above, this idea also degrades womanhood. In recognizing the importance of women we have to recognize their difference from men. There is nothing special or unique about womanhood if it is something that anyone can choose to be. If it is true, that there is no important distinction between men and women, then the whole Commission on the Status of Women should not even exist. The mindset being promoted is that we don’t need to look at the gifts and contributions of women to society, because it is not something that she was born with that defines her, it is simply another choice.
While I still believe in the strength of women, and their ability to stand strong and independent of others, I cannot say that I am a feminist. I cannot support an agenda or mindset that devalues women and their contributions to society; contributions in motherhood, sisterhood, and their unique talents and abilities that come from the sex they were born with.
Tashica Jacobson is a senior Marriage and Family studies major at Brigham Young University-Idaho. She just completed an internship with United Families Utah working during the Utah Legislative session and then spent time at the UN in New York during the Commission on the Status of Women. Tashica is from Idaho and comes from a large family of eight siblings.