Erin Matson

People ask me all the time: Isn't feminism outdated? Aren't you all a bunch of man-haters? It's pretty much equal now, right?

Wrong! I'm 25 years old and I wish I could say feminism's outdated: you know, that me and my girlfriends are making equal pay for equal work, have an equal chance of getting elected to public office and promoted to corporate leadership and equal control of our bodies and destinies … until then, do you want to rally with me?

I love to rally. Right now, I'm the President of Minnesota NOW and the Co-Chair of the NOW State President's Caucus. It's great, because I get to rally a lot with some of the coolest women I've ever met! In my state, we've been focusing on a Birth Control NOW! campaign during much of my term (I'm in my second term right now; I was first elected when I was 23), which will put the brakes on pharmacists who deny legitimate birth control prescriptions to women because they're just plain crazy. Did you know that 90 percent of women use some form of birth control between the ages of 15 and 44? This isn't just a women's issue and a young women's issue, it's a basic medical care issue. And we're working to fix it!

A few other things about me: I'm a writer by trade, and love it. I've always been politically progressive and volunteered for my first political campaign when I was 14 years old (yes, she was a woman candidate!). I majored in Women's Studies at Georgetown University. And I love bullhorns … I'll keep carrying one until I can take a look around and agree that feminism's outdated.

 

 

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