Women and men that consider themselves feminists often receive questions/statements such as, “Ugh, I hate feminazis” or “Do you, like, hate men or something?” The feminist movement is one of the most misunderstood concepts that exists today. Women that speak about feminism and express feelings of oppression have this stereotype of being aggressive, obnoxious, blunt, hateful, and dramatic.
That is just not accurate. The media exaggerates groups of people for entertainment purposes, thus creating the angry feminist stereotype. Why I identify as an intersectional feminist is difficult for some men to grasp, understandably so. I recognize that a white male might not fathom the idea if they hadn’t had to deal with oppression themselves, but it is upsetting when other women do not realize the sexism they face every day.
Women who are “against feminism” often say that they have never felt disrespected or discriminated against because of their gender. In actuality, sexism can be extremely subtle to the point where we don’t see anything wrong with if the statement or action is normalized. Any woman in her life will hear the statement, “You ___ like a girl.” The sad thing is, a lot of people don’t see the problem with this when it is self explanatory. It clearly states that whatever a man/boy does is better, and if something isn’t done right or well, it is compared to how a female performs.
Typically, young women will say that they aren’t feminists to appear “chill” or “cool” to guys. Uneducated men like this because it means that the man can push her around and say anything offensive without her standing up for herself.
A misconception about feminism is that it is about women dominating men and not for equality. “If feminism is for equality, why does the name contain fem (female), and not male?” The root of sexism and gender inequality started with women being treated like property.
The goal was to let women take charge of their lives and defeat the stereotype that women are weak. They couldn’t vote, own land, or work without feminism. The idea that men have to be aggressive and emotionless to prove their masculinity is also important to feminists which a lot of individuals are not aware of. When girls say that they don’t need feminism, it is a big slap in the face to all of the women who spent their lives fighting for the rights that these girls wouldn’t have without them. The world was a different place back then. Women were not born even close to being on the same platform as men. Think twice before you say you don’t need feminism.
Comments are closed.