I remember sitting in my English class listening to the boys behind me talk about the election right after Trump was announced to be our next president. I sat biting my lip struggling to contain an outburst as I listened to them groan about liberals. I couldn’t take it anymore when one boy said, “Trump was elected! They need to just get over it!” As the words left his mouth I spun around and looked at the two boys and said, “We can’t get over it because he’s an asshole.” They looked at me, stunned for a moment before one of them began to chuckle before saying, “Looks like we got a feminazi on our hands.” Immediately rage built inside me.
How is wanting gender equality anything like committing genocide? The answer is; it’s not. People have started calling feminists “feminazis” in order to invalidate the movement and our arguments (not to mention the word nazi is not one to be thrown around carelessly). People tend to depict the feminist movement as one full of hate. The truth is they’re just afraid, afraid of change, afraid of powerful women and they feel the only way to demolish this fear is by making it something everyone avoids. It’s time for change, and it needs to happen fast. We need to share the importance of letting women take charge, without people running and hiding. It’s sad that when I’m explaining the importance of feminism to a man often times I find myself arguing “It’s for men too! It’s for men too!” Because I know the only way they’ll partake is if it benefits them as well. Why can’t people just support women without turning it into something negative if they think it doesn’t benefit themselves? When did people become so selfish and cowardly?
I came across a YouTube video titled, “Feminazi a History of Hate” in which the YouTuber called “conservative man” explains how the feminist movement is one full of hate. He continues on to show a clip of Emma Watson’s speech for the “He for She” campaign where she describes feminism as a movement for men and women. However, “conservative man” says, “Don’t be fooled by Emma Watson’s nice smile and kind demeanour. It’s only been recently that some feminazis have decided to soften their image. It’s because in some places the feminazi philosophy is not working too well.”
This YouTuber is saying that Emma Watson is putting on an act to seem nice so people will join the movement, but he believes she is in reality fighting for a vile campaign. People want others to believe feminism is a hate movement, so they make excuses when they’re proven wrong to find a way to still depict feminists as people full of hate. This is one of the many times feminism has been morphed into something it’s not.
I’ve found that the people who call feminists “feminazis” aren’t educated on the movement. They believe what they’ve been told which is that all feminists are angry, man-hating bitches, which honestly couldn’t be farther from the truth. I mean yes, it’s true, we are angry, but we have a right to be. When you’re living without the respect you deserve every day it gets quite agitating. However, the movement is strictly creating equality for the sexes, it has nothing to do with hate. The movement has taught me to be more loving and open to others along with every other intersectional feminist I know. As Cheris Kramarae said, “Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.” It’s quite simple. However, some people just choose not to understand the movement.
