Half the Sky

I am in the process of reading a new book entitled, "Half the Sky" by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

While carrying this around school, it caught the attention of a few men. After asking the typical question of what is that about, and replying that it is about the oppression of women and girls in the developing world, I was presented with another question. "what is that, another one of your feminist books?" First of all, I am not a feminist nor have I ever read a "feminist" book. If caring about the rights of women makes me a feminist then maybe I am, I guess.

The thing that really irks me about this question is that the men who asked me were so closed minded. First of all, why does it matter if I am reading a feminist book and secondly, they were more concerned with the "feminist" part of the book then the topic. They know nothing about what is going on and when you begin to discuss it they don't want to hear about it.

This isn't just men either. Women too become disgusted with the contents of the book and don't want to hear the troubles that other women face. You would think that being a woman you would feel for other women. I just don't understand how people can hear about these things and not give them a second thought. Just like they say, "out of sight, out of mind." They get disgusted with hearing about the stories yet they fail to realize that for them this may just be a story but that story is based on fact and some women live through them everyday.