Feminism: The Power of Choice

I want to talk about the power of choice.
I'm a feminist in the way that I am in support of giving women the right to choose.
I am currently taking a women's culture and folklore class and it has helped me to form the words I need to say about how I feel about women. Here is what I feel.
You can't be judgmental of people for their choices. It's hard enough for people to make choices without your judgments to go with it.
You can't pigeonhole people. There are so many cultural and circumstantial and personal factors that play into women's lives. It's simply not fair to assume things about people. Someone in class today said that there isn't feminism, but there are feminisms.  This means that you can be a feminist in your own way, which means there are several ways.  So don't automatically categorize people.
This is why I think I have had a hard time finding love here in Provo: I have been pigeonholed. Boys who don't know me take me on a first date and we discuss post-graduation plans, naturally. I say that I want to go to grad school and maybe even get a doctorate degree. I'm not sure, but I think this is why I don't get second dates. I've been in conflict with myself over this because I wonder if I should say that I want to have a family during this process of schooling, too. Because it's true. Having a family is the most important thing for me.   But I feel like its weird to be talking about marriage with a guy I barely know on the first date. I consider future schooling a safer topic of choice with a boy I barely know over a discussion of something that is very personal to me: that is, motherhood. I'm so excited to be a mother. I have had baby dolls since I can remember and have had names picked out since forever. And I don't want to tell boys this until it gets serious between us. Unfortunately, I have been pigeonholed as a girl who wants to put off marriage and pursue a career. This is a turn-off for many a man here in this dating pool. If I have to be pigeonholed, make me an LDS, education-minded woman who wants to get the best education not only for herself, but for the well-being of her future family.
There are women who want to focus on their careers and put-off having a family.  There are women who want to graduate high school and jump right into husband hunting.  There are women who are married and don't have children, yet.  I think these different situations are what allow us to be women.  I think that is the beauty of being a woman; we have so much potential to be anything.  And women's opportunities are only increasing, especially in America.
I'm not about to burn my bra, but I do want to help women, someday.  I want women to realize how beautiful the woman is sitting next to them.  I want stigmas and judgments to have a second chance at explaining themselves in women's culture.  Once we start appreciating each other, I think we can start loving ourselves a bit more.
And now a list of things I love about being a woman during 2012 in the US:
1. I recently learned that women had a burst of courage after the first World War and applied for colleges.  Before this time, women just didn't go to college.  I love the part in The Help when Skeeter goes to play cards for the first time with the girls since she graduated from Mississippi State and the others were going on about how long she was at school for.  Skeeter gives them a look and says, "College is for four years, you know."  So even during the 60s, women went to school just to find husbands.  So I love how today, it isn't weird to go to college if you are a woman.  In fact, a USA Today article states that in 2005, 57% of college grads were women.

c. 1890: 2nd row from top, 4th woman from right: first Native American Woman to graduate from medical school

2012: I am able to graduate from college, no questions asked!

2. A Forbes article states that nearly 10.4 million firms are owned by women.  In other words, we are increasing our numbers in the workforce immensely after getting kicked out of our jobs post-WWII.

Irene Rosenfield, chairperson and CEO of Kraft, Inc.

3. We don't have to worry about dying during childbirth as much as we used to.  I don't have to post statistics for you to believe me.
4. Media is available for us to say what we want to say and to connect with one another.

As the Spice Girls would say (in a British accent, obviously):

"GIRL POWERRR!"