Why I am a Feminist

I am a feminist because my ancestresses were burned as witches.

I am a feminist because they were tortured before they were burned.

I am a feminist because the leadership of women through time continues to be hidden.

I'm a feminist because of every girl who has been yelled at, or beaten, or raped, or forced into marriage, or kept indoors, or forced through fgm, or had her face burned with acid for refusing a man. 

I'm a feminist until all girls are in school and until no girls are stolen from the streets into captivity or trapped into sexual violence online.

I’m a feminist because old women are still being forced into witch camps, these women who deserve to be treated as the queens that they are.

I am a feminist because we are dismissed as too radical, for speaking.

Too radical for saying that it is possible to have a world which is peaceful, 

In which women are respected 

In which no one is hungry

In which no one is harmed.

I'm a feminist because stories of art and inventions and ceremony by women continue to be hidden,

I’m a feminist because while this word is dragged through the mud,

For us it is a celebration that we have found another who believes in freedom, who believes that we are not finished until everyone on this planet is free.

I'm a feminist because I hold in my heart all the pain from the stories of my sisters who are being violated in so many ways, who are being silenced in so many ways, who are being kept poor, who are being so disrespected in so many ways.

I am a feminist because my ancestresses were burned as witches for meeting with each other in the woods, 

Because I meet with my sisters in the woods. 

I am a feminist because of the importance of living in harmony with our Earth, and respecting these trees, these trees who share nutrients through overlapping roots, these trees who show how communities can share so that everyone is cared for.

I call out that I am a feminist to find you, 

To speak out together on how we have been lied to, 

Our knowledge, our talents, our leadership censored throughout time,

As we meet to continue weaving together what we remember, 

And what we know of this hidden history that we are told never happened.

When women were respected.

We call out the indentured labour and slavery 

That exist in a world controlled by billionaires.

We continue to weave our global stories together

To create the world we know is possible.

This is where I find our circle of sisters unafraid to speak out. 

This is where we gather our strength to create change. 

This is where we gather our strength to care for our beloved Mother Earth,

Unapologetic to name her as our mother.

This is where we share what has been hidden from us. 

We take time together to dissolve these rigid rules and rigid roles 

That we have been told are the only acceptable way.

We bring proof of times without war, and stories of times and places that honour the leadership of women.

We gather our strength to create a world in which there is no more violence, where all gentle people are respected. 

I celebrate our stories, what we have learned,

Our hidden herstory,

What women have done throughout time 

And what we are doing together now 

As we find each other.

I am a feminist as long as females are oppressed in any way

I'm a feminist as long as I need ways to find my sisters 

I’m a feminist until all of the violence ends

I'm a feminist to end this patriarchy.

Together we know what is possible.

The Time is Now. 

The Time is Now.