University of Vermont freshman Cameron Schaeffer has had an "epiphany" regarding a three-letter adverb: the word "too" is degrading to women and should no longer be a part of anyone's vocabulary.
"I have determined that 'too' means you're calling a woman too far away from your idyllic vision of what a woman should be," Schaeffer writes for The Huffington Post. "I view myself as a well-versed feminist, but I never realized how deeply a three-letter adverb could cut."
How deep? This deep:
I, like most women, have been deprived of self-satisfaction and appreciation because of this word and this attitude.
"Everything is too this or too that," the troubled feminist laments.
What really bugs her is when women are described as "too short" or "too fat," or their hair is "too long" or "too short."
"What makes me furious is the constant strain on females to find their unreachable perfect self," she writes. "This realization really struck me when I figured out that I've never been satisfied with myself. My internal opinion is always that I'm too this or too that."
Schaeffer believes it's too (sorry) difficult to please everyone with the variety of taste in women's beauty and has given up in frustration: "And why is it our responsibility to satisfy them, anyway?"
Though Schaeffer believes she is not naive on matters of the world, she would like to see a time when there is a more "egalitarian" society. So she offers a solution:
We should call on both genders to cut the word too from their vocabulary when discussing women. If we ever want an end to the way females are put in boxes, this is the beginning of an important and tumultuous journey ahead.
And to show everyone how serious she is about beginning the trek to feminist utopia, she concludes her "rightfully indignant rant" with the promise that she will never again use the word to describe herself or another female and will, effective immediately, "ban the word 'too' from my vocabulary."
Then she encourages others to examine themselves on the "spectrum of injustice" and make the decision to do the same. "If that's not too much to ask," she quips.
Not to be nitpicky, but despite the fact that she broke her promise instantly, Schaeffer really missed an opportunity to learn from her own self-revelation which came by way in a sentence crammed in the middle of the page:
I was focusing on an irrelevant and made-up detail.
Precisely! Maybe more social justice warriors will come to realize that, too. (Sorry.)

