1. You learn that there are a lot of useful words for situations that had always bothered you, but you didn't quite know why.
2. Many of your favourite childhood films begin to seem a bit, well, problematic.
3. As do more recent ones.
4. You realise that you can be an ass-kicking feminist whether you like to paint your nails and wear six-inch red patent heels or have literally never worn makeup.
5. By the same token, you can be a feminist whether you want to get married and have babies or think that procreation is definitely not your thing. It's irrelevant.
6. It becomes clear how many insulting words there are that are only ever used for women.
7. You cannot believe the outrageously sexist nonsense that is still being spewed in 2014.
8. You recognise how often you, yourself, may have judged women differently because of their gender.
9. And that you’ve done the same for men.
10. You may even find that you thought about your own abilities and potential differently because of your gender.
11. You wish more people understood that feminism is a good thing for boys and men.
In a feminist utopia, boys can cry as much as they want.
12. It was probably obvious before, but the sexism of the advertising industry becomes all the more obvious and unsettling.
13. Meanwhile, you realise that the beauty industry is completely mad.
Epiphany: Not only do you look great the way you are, but it doesn't actually matter how you look.
14. You consider whether your parents treated you differently because of your gender when you were growing up – and whether they still do today.
15. Thankfully, you also realise you're empowered as fuck.
16. Flirting and dating will happen on your own terms, which can feel pretty great.
17. You may wish you could go back in time to replay some moments from your romantic history.
18. And your tolerance for misogynists, creeps, and the phrase "not all men" disappears completely.
19. You finally realise that of COURSE it doesn’t matter how many or how few people you’ve had sex with.
20. And get annoyed that female musicians, actors, writers, politicians, and other professionals are treated differently from men in the media.
21. You realise that it’s not normal, natural, or acceptable that there are so few women in some industries.
22. And nor is it normal, natural, or acceptable to have sexual things shouted at you in the street.
23. The gender divide in children's clothing becomes all the more enraging.
24. You start noticing the way conversations between men and women happen at work, in classrooms, and between friends.
25. And start thinking about the ways that the oppression of women can intersect with racism, homophobia, classism, transphobia, and all kinds of other fucked-up shit.
26. You realise how absurd it is when people are blamed for being raped.
27. And how awful the public discussion of rape generally is.
28. It becomes clear that sex education is basically a farce.
29. You learn why it's impossible to look like the women in magazines.
It's because even they don't look that way.
30. You feel grateful that we’ve come a long way since our mothers' and grandmothers' days.
31. But remain aware that there are a lot of sexist idiots left in the world.
32. It just feels good to finally realise that they're idiots.
