WELCOME.You have (regrettably, and possibly unfortunately) stumbled across my blog.
Here’s a word you can roll your eyes at: feminist.
Now stop scraping the underside of your skull with your retinas and skim your eyes over this.
Chances are that, upon your brain taking in this inoffensive eight-letter word, it has also conjured up an image of what you subconsciously associate that word with, or rather, the person that comes to mind when you come into contact with this word and, in all likelihood, this image is not exactly flattering:
You have probably imagined a female, who possesses ‘unattractive’ physical traits. Your imagined feminist does not shave her legs or underarms, has poor personal hygiene, wears hemp clothing. She’s a vegan and a possible lesbian. At the very least, she is bisexual. She is a misandrist (i.e. a man-hater). Her family is middle or upper class, and so she can afford the luxury of being an outspoken feminist. She is angry, loud and obnoxious. She is masculine in appearance and decidedly unfeminine. She may dabble in witchcraft and believes her period is sacred. She doesn’t want children, or to ever be married. She has a degree in Women’s Studies and listens to Alanis Morissette or Bikini Kill. She lives with twenty eight cats.
This description shall henceforth be referred to as ‘Description A’.
Now imagine someone who believes in gender equality, herein lies ‘Description B’:
You have probably imagined anyone. They are rational, ethical and moral. They are educated, open minded and intellectual. Their gender does not matter to you. Their physical traits do not matter to you. Their sexuality does not matter to you. Their likes and dislikes do not matter to you.
These two separate people appear very differently to you. Your opinions of them probably differ. Yet they believe in exactly the same thing: that men and women deserve equal civil, economic and social rights. If you did not imagine two different people, if the latter description applies to both persons, then congratulations, you have no need to read on except to nod along and smile at how truly fucked society’s perception of feminists is. If your images of these two people fall somewhere along the lines of the descriptions above – if you see a feminist as x, and a person who believes in gender equality as y, then read on and educate yourself and stay confident in the knowledge that this biased-view of feminists is not your fault.
Have you ever heard someone say the now-infamous phrase “I’m not a feminist but I believe in [insert feminist ideals]”? Such a phrase is often said by someone who believes in gender equality, yet, for some reason, refuses to acknowledge that such beliefs align them with the feminist movement. This reason is largely because of the preconceptions people have about feminists, such as those depicted in Description A. For the most part, there is nothing wrong with anything attributed to the woman in Description A (save for misandry and the lack of personal hygiene), but because they are attached to the noun ‘feminist’, they become insulting.
It is no secret that the feminist movement is a threat to our patriarchal society. It’s kind of the point of the whole thing, to be honest. But no true feminist would ever argue that a matriarchal society would be any better. Most feminists agree that a patriarchal society is damaging to both sexes and participate in the men’s liberation movement. Those with a Y chromosome are just as much victims of gender roles and social constructs as women are. Men are encouraged to be masculine, strong, athletic, beer-drinking, football-loving sportsmen and women encouraged to be elegant, feminine, baby incubating housewives.
The fact is, anyone who believes that women are superior to men are as un-feminist as those who believe that men are the superior sex. Why is this, you ask? This is because the fundamental ideas of feminism are based on equality. Feminists seek for the ‘Sex Scales’ to balance, not tip in favour of one gender over the other. Anyone who believes that one sex takes priority over another is no more a feminist than I am a penguin.
Don’t believe me? Let’s consult a dictionary.
fem·i·nism [fem-uh-niz-uhm]
(noun )
1. the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.
Now many people (usually anti-feminists) will say that feminists hide behind their dictionary definition, using it as a shield to deflect accusations against their ‘man-hating’ actions. However, these people don’t seem to realise that by ‘man-hating’, these misandrists are no longer feminists, because feminism is based on equality between sexes. If it doesn’t fit the definition, it doesn’t fit the noun.
There are people, some of them female, who claim to hate feminism. When asked why, they usually say that they’re ‘crazy’. That feminists ‘overreact’. Often, these anti-feminist women don’t understand the term fully, or believe that to acknowledge that they are a feminist is to invite other people to see them as the woman in Description A. And they would rather renounce their beliefs than let people perceive them as such. Scarily enough, these women who say they ‘hate’ feminists are women whose lives would be radically different had it not been for feminists.
In a world without feminism, women would not be able to vote, to speak their mind without fear of persecution, to wear trousers, to own property, to go to college, to receive fair pay or to be employed at all, to have maternity leave, or single parent’s allowance, to marry who they wish, to divorce, to reproductive rights and healthcare. The list goes on.
There are those who say feminism is oppressive to men. That it suggests women’s superiority over men. To say this is as ignorant as to say that the abolishment of slavery was oppressive to whites, or that the legalisation of same-sex marriage was oppressive to heterosexual marriage. The expansion of rights to an oppressed minority does not oppress the privileged majority.
So let us demolish the prejudice that exists in Description A.
In short, there are no rules to who a feminist is, except one: A feminist believes in the social, political and all other rights of women being equal to those of men.
For more information on feminism and current events that affect it, visit feministing.com.
“So many fail because they don't get started - they don't go. They don't overcome inertia. They don't begin.”It's a weird thing, starting something like a blog. Two hours ago, I was bloated with inspiration and ideas with which to fill this little corner of the internet; now, I feel like I've just been asked to explain the theory of relativity to a deaf badger. So much to say with so little relevance, armed with no clear-cut beginning and only a crude, conceptual idea of where I wish to end. And of course, no one is listening in the first place.
- W. Clement Stone
Eduardo Saverin: So when will it be finished?
Mark Zuckerberg: It won't be finished. That's the point. The way fashion's never finished.
Eduardo Saverin: What?
Mark Zuckerberg: Fashion, fashion is never finished.
Eduardo Saverin: You're talking about fashion? Really, you?
Mark Zuckerberg: I'm talking about the idea of it. And I'm saying that it's never finished.
"I've never ever cried when I was feeling down; I've always been scared of the sound. Jesus don't love me, no one ever carried my load. I'm too young to feel this old."
