source
Hi all,
It's been a while since I've tackled a controversial topic, and although I've learned to steer clear of politics on this platform, I wanted to share my thoughts on this particular subject called FEMINISM.
The other day in a group chat, someone said to another someone "don't be such a feminist", to which she responded "that would be the last thing someone would ever describe me as".
The conversation was playful, it was said all in good humor, and no harm was intended, however, I couldn't help but feel stung by those words. I consider myself a feminist, so I have to admit that it did hurt a little. Not so much because I felt criticized, but more because I realized that feminism has such a bad rep among many people, men and women alike.
But what's so bad about feminism?
If you look at the definition of Feminism online, you will find that feminist groups seek 1. Political, economic and social equality of sexes, and 2. organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests.
(source, The Merriam-Webster dictionary)
In short, feminism stands for the equality for all people, including equality of race, gender, sex as well as political & economic equality
So where does the negative reputation come from?
I have several theories about that.
It's a word ending in ism, and like so many other isms they tend to have a negative connotation.
Think terrorism, extremism, capitalism, socialism, racism , and the list goes on.
Misinformation about the concept of feminism.
Many men but also women believe that feminists are men-haters, the opposite of feminine, a-sexual frustrated women who don't shave their armpits and legs, aren't married, and don't use deodorant.
This is a mistake, because anyone can be a feminist, men and women alike. Again, we have to remember that feminism stands for equality, and there's no reason for men not to want this too! After all, every man is a son to a mother, a brother to a sister, or a father to a daughter.
You may not have seen my legs or armpits up close, but I can assure you that I'm extremely proud of my feminine side and am not afraid to show it.
I'm married, I love sex and don't hate men or what they represent. I'm proud to say that my husband is a feminist, which means that he believes that he and I should be equals too. Our marriage is working so well because we are friends and partners in everything we do.
We both have jobs, so household activities are shared. Sometimes he cooks, and I do the dishes. On other days, it's the other way around. Sometimes I clean and he does laundry. Does that make him any less of a man? Of course not! I should add that my husband is a Latino man, Latino often being wrongfully associated with machismo, yet another uncalled for stereotype.
Men and women can't possibly be equal, nature has made us different!
Of course nobody is questioning that physically men and women are different. Men are often stronger and taller than women (unless you're Gabi Garcia), and it makes sense that certain activities would be handled by men more than women.
I'm thinking construction work which requires heavy lifting for instance, but both sexes have equal intellectual capacity, so saying that men would be better suited to be engineers for instance, is complete nonsense.
The stats about wage inequality are rigged
This is a topic which I don't have a lot of information about to be honest. The stats differ in each country and according to industry so I won't make any assumptions or statements that I can't back up. But regardless of how large or small the wage gaps are nowadays, I think we can all agree that there shouldn't be any gaps at all.
In western society we may not feel this gap as much as in other less developed countries. I can only speak for the finance industry because I've experienced it myself. Having worked my butt off 12 hours per day just like my male counterparts in the same position, this sure as hell did piss me off big time.
Gender inequality is easy to spot in finance. All you have to do is look at a trading floor. At my former company, each desk had a team of 4 or 5 men and one women, usually the secretary of the team. Only the Russian team (oddly enough) was mainly female. I was an exception in a male team, and of course was mistaken for the secretary on numerous occasions.
Feminists are simply seeking to mix things up a bit more by having more women in industries that are now mainly male dominated (politics, journalism, finance, engineering, etc).
To wrap it all up
This post is getting quite long and I'm leaving out some other aspects of feminism here to keep it short. My main take on this topic is that feminism should not be regarded as a bad thing. It's not an insult to women, or femininity. It's not an attack on men. When someone attacks feminism, think that they are attacking the values you probably already stand for, such as tolerance, equality of race, rights and opportunity for everyone. All these concepts are positive. Society wouldn't be what it is today if it weren't for feminist groups (think women's' right to vote for example, or access to birth control). I hope that you understand my reaction better now, why an attack on feminism hurts me deeply, and why it should hurt you as well.