360 Degrees: Shaun White (Just kidding, Women's Rights)

Women's rights. I'm going to skip the summary because pretty much everyone knows what I'm talking about here. Yet there are myriad angles to look at, and the prompt calls for me to explore all of them. To brighten up this slightly exhausting task, I shall take on the voice of various historical entities. Then, I shall summarize and talk about what really matters in the end. Let us begin.

White Male, 1850: 'Women do not need rights, they need to continue working. In fact, if there are any women reading this currently, I shall tell them to work.'

Charlotte Brontë: 'My writing and wondrously long sentences will contribute to this cause- one that I find to be particularly interesting, and most important, for all females; we must be empowered; characters like Jane Eyre will show us the way, to true recognition of what society needs.'

Simone De Beauvoir: 'Sartre and I just had a talk, you see. Humans have an innate freedom, and women are not excluded from this. Mais, je ne parle pas anglais."

Modern-Day Female: "Rights have become normal to me. Wait, there was a time without women's rights? How come I don't get paid as much as the men at work?"

White Male, 2010: 'Women have all the rights they-hey, did you see the Blackhawks last night?'

Me: Alright, now that I've gotten some of the goofiness out (there are a few words of value up there, they're just sporadic and hard to find), I must declare that I do think this is a very serious and current issue.

Women were not granted rights, so to speak; rather, a certain group of women fought very hard and long to win rights. From a male standpoint, I wouldn't argue that there's any loss to what we're able to do. Perhaps some males fear the empowerment of women (I don't, but I grew up in the 1990s, not the 1900s).

We're at the point now where rights are pretty close to being even here. This probably can't be said about most of the world, however, and it seems some places are lagging behind in the kind of progressive thinking that brought us here. I mentioned Simone, but many other philosophers joined her: Mary Astell, Mary Wollstonecraft, and William Godwin were just a few.

From the perspective of art and philosophy, it appears natural that women eventually gained some rights. Art is always on the forefront of progression, philosophy is usually either further ahead or just behind. In some cases, philosophers were also scared of female power but often they greatly aided the cause.

In essence, women's rights had to happen here eventually. Stretching all the way back to the enlightenment we saw ideas of basic human rights. Early American doctrines often spoke of equal rights among [white males]. The logical progression to pay attention to the other 52% of the world and welcome females to the table. So, all perspectives tended to clash on the issue; I hope none do now because that's just silly.

The female rights movement was one of the single most important historical events in America. The addition of females to political and social ventures has surely changed them greatly. Whether you're Beauvoir, Brontë, or some silly 1850s guy, you've got to agree: we couldn't really do anything without them.