I was recently on the internet (though quite frankly to say that would mean I’d have had to get off the internet) and I was doing my rounds on social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter when, on Twitter I came across a hashtag. #FeministsAreUgly was a worldwide Trending Topic and I was mortified, because not only are Feminists beautiful but all women and all people are. I clicked the hashtag and while the page was loading, in those two flash seconds, I was dreading what would come up. I was expecting a lot of cocky young men to be tweeting out sexist, crude, misogynistic sentiments (of 140 characters or less) but I found none of that. Perhaps the topic first emerged because one man did so, but instead I was pleasantly surprised.
Instead what I saw was a mass of women posting selfies in reply. None of them were saying “Am I ugly” or looking towards other people to validate their beauty, but instead their captions were “Are you sure?” “If that’s the case then I like being ugly”
I admit, at first, I thought isn’t that a little bit… vain?
But I was horrified by what I had just thought. It was the type of thoughts that come from the mouth of misogynists, not feminists. It was what a society had taught me to think when someone, especially a woman *gasp*, was outwardly showing their confidence, and I hated that I had let myself think such a thing, even for a split second. Because behind these captions and comments was what I love most about humanity.
What this thread was actually, was a bunch of women and men, all standing up for themselves against the sort of people who tell them that they are not enough. It was people having the confidence in themselves to say “no. I’m beautiful” and that’s a sort of confidence that I greatly admire. It was actually women and men standing up for each other and when you look at all the selfies collectively and see how many people have the confidence, and the power to stand up and say “I am beautiful” it is truly wonderful. It is not vanity, it is simply self-worth.
So I retract my initial thought.
That is just what society has told me to think.
Instead I think that these people are owning it in ways that words cannot properly describe, even if I am trying to with this blog post. I think that these people are amazing and all beautiful. I think these people should be celebrated and given a round of applause because they have a level of confidence that I am still trying to work towards. But you know what?
I am a feminist,
And I am NOT ugly.
I am beautiful.
The Hobbs Collective 