Wednesday, 17 August 2011
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The F-Word (Feminism)
For some reason, a number of women find it problematic to align themselves with the term “feminism.” Is it because women believe “feminism” automatically equates to “man-hating, lesbian, outdated, over-reactive chick”? Some of the strongest women in pop culture fear the term as well. Lady Gaga was quoted as saying “I’m not a feminist, I love men.” Beyonce didn’t feel like she needed to define herself as a feminist, but rather wanted to find a “catchy new word for feminism.”As this great article by Jezebel discusses, if you believe that women should be treated equally under the law, paid the same as men, and enjoy the same rights and freedoms as men—then, ta da! According to the dictionary, you, my friend, are a feminist. Equality between the sexes is a non-controversial, no-brainer to me. But apparently I’m missing something.
The argument that feminism is outdated and no longer applicable in American society post the 70’s is extremely misinformed. To highlight just a few of the facts: out of 150 elected Heads of State worldwide, only 7 were women. Women account for 85.8% of rape victims, with 1 in 4 college women reporting an attempted or completed at college. 70% of victims killed by an intimate partner are women. One year out of college, women earn 80% of their male counterparts; ten years out of college, women only early 69% of what men earn. Read more of these statistics here
Young women today are often criticized for not being feminists due to their choice of “provocative” dress, which older generations never participated in. It’s often said that women in fact objectify themselves by exploiting their sexuality. Yet I’d argue that women of my generation who dress the way they want due to a desire for self-expression, feeling sexy, fun, or proud of their appearance, very much fall the realm of feminist belief system. The idea that women should be able to dress how they want and still feel safe is what sparked the Slutwalk movement. It is the same reason Reese Witherspoon elected to do the movie “Legally Blonde.” This issue is only problematic when women feel they must dress in a particular way.
Men should not feel alienated by feminism, but rather support its goals. Gloria Steinem, a leader and pioneer of the feminist movement, discussed on the Colbert Report the other night about how a major reason feminism is so important today is because of masculinity in our culture. It’s becoming more and more acceptable for women to act and dress as men do. Yet, the reverse is not true. Masculinity is extremely constrained, and men’s sexuality is attacked if they display any effeminate tendencies, manners of speech, or dress.
Whether young men and women today want to utilize the term are not, this generation is more feminist than ever before. Public opinion polls show that more people support equality between the sexes than they did even a decade ago. Huge strides have been gained in feminism, but clearly there is a lot more we can do on a national and global scale to gain equal rights for all people. Therefore, I say without hesitation, I am a feminist.
Do you consider yourself a feminist? Why or why not?
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About the Author
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- From: RachelG
- Name: Rachel
- Location: New York City, New York, United States
- About Me: A recent 23 year old NYC transplant. In college I studied Creative Writing, Gender Studies, and Art History, which clearly translates into a trifecta of professional desirability. I can often be found reading, writing, playing very sloppy guitar, eating peanut butter, and swapping love life stories with my friends due to our plethora of failed relationships. I was voted Funniest Girl in high school, and am perpetually attempting to drop that in casual conversations without having it appear that I am still desperately clinging to it (which, let's face it, I am).
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Comments (72)
Egalitarian. I like the word better, so I'm going to use it whether that bothers folks or not.
Like it or not, there are more than enough feminists that display a "man-hating, lesbian, outdated, over-reactive" attitude that gives the movement a bad name. Whether it's true or not is a moot point, because it's there regardless.
....That's called equity. Everyone being treated and able to have the same rights and not being discriminated relative to one' abilities. Equity is equality but with consideraton for individual differences.
Logically, feminism is a term that is pointless if it means that. Why should there be a term where "women should be treated the same as men". That's quite shallow when you think of it. There's so many dimentions of people in the world that should be treated fairly. It's redudent to me to use the term feminism. It puts women in an exculsive club. It can be weigted the same as racism or ableism.
Do I advertise that I'm opposed to racism as being an "anti-racist"? We don't usually use that in our vocabulary...rather we say we believe in no discrimination or prejudice.
Just a pointless term in the end...good for raising awareness and when doing public media out crys. But that's it.
@Grtt@xanga - In truth, feminism is NOT Egalitarianism.
A.) Being egalitarian means you TRULY believe in gender equality.
B.) Being feminist means you fight against inequalities -- of women (Note the female-bias actions).
Wish there were more Egalitarian/Feminist women in USA. I get irritated whenever a woman expects special treatment (i.e. "ladies first") and places all the forefront dating burdens on me.
Women in the US are hypocritical despite the year being 2011. You DON'T get equality AND chivalry. Modern sexism STILL exists.
@xXDC_luyouXx - I didn't say it was?
@Grtt@xanga - Not saying you did. I'm just pointing out the difference.
@xXDC_luyouXx - Oh, right. Considering the field I work in, women have a step up on me (a bit of female privilege, if you will). I'm all for equality.
@xXDC_luyouXx - I consider myself both a gender equality activist as well as a feminist. I think there's a time when it's necessary to focus on women being treated equally, and then there is also a lot of times when it's necessary to think about how men are being affected by gender roles/"privileges" that women get/etc. I definitely get a little frustrated when I hear women complaining about having to pay for dates or how their date didn't open doors for them, etc. I don't like being treated any differently just because I'm a girl.
@Grtt@xanga - As someone who's apart of the feminist community, I definitely see the truth to that stereotype, which makes me sad. It's also why I prefer "gender equality activist"
I took a Women's Studies class when I was in college and some other girl in the class was like "well maybe there should just be another word that means the same as 'feminist'" kinda like what Beyonce said. Even if we put another word out there, it'll still be a taboo topic. I do see the other comments' opinions that 'why stop at men and women being equal, why can't just everyone be equal'? I feel like our country is still way behind as far as being a culturally liberal country. Some women are too comfortable in their current life (or just scared) to want to voice out rights for equality. At least the LGBT movement is going somewhere, and they're being aggressive about it, but what about women? We fall behind because some of them are plain happy cooking a southern meal (sorry I'm from Georgia...unfortunately) and serving cold beer to their husbands while he's watching the game. I don't understand why some women are like that, and even ones who I consider to be intelligent women want to fall behind. I have a best friend who is in medical school and she's also getting her PhD (not that having a bunch of degrees attached necessarily determines your IQ), yet she's still like 'oh i like my boyfriend's last name, I can't wait to be [her first name] [his last name].' I really don't get it...
I have no problem with being paid less than a man, because in many ways I cannot perform my job as efficiently or to the same standard as he may be able to. I work in a rather physically-intensive job, and if our pay scales were even based off of athletic ability or strength, I wouldn't mind. I know that I cannot exert 100 lbs of force, although that is a requirement, they still hire small-bodied women like myself due to equality standards.
Women, overall, perform better on language-based tasks than men, and men tend to perform better on mathematical/quantitative tasks. It's not impossible for a woman to be better than a man (or vice versa) in these subjects, but this is an average.
I really think, no matter what your gender, you should be paid based on ABILITY not based on need.
@ManiiRani@xanga - No matter how successful or smart a woman is, there is nothing wrong with her wanting to please her husband. So-called 'intelligent' women who believe other home-making women are beneath them break the apparent feminist mantra screamed: "women should be equal to men". Furthermore, these women who break the mantra reinforce stereotypes about Feminism as a whole.
I'm not entirely anti-Feminist, but people who make comments in the manner that you have make the cause of Feminism look ridiculous.
I'm pretty sure women make up more than 86% of rape victims. Anyways, that statistic doesn't really mean anything. Would it really make feminists happier if 50% of rape victims were men?
Men have all the testosterone and are more sexually driven, which is part of why men rape women more often than women rape men. You're not going to be able to change the balance so an equal number of women rape men. And it also makes sense that more women are killed by intimate partners than men - men are 10 times more likely to commit murder than women. Actually, more men are victims of violent crimes than are women (if we're not including rape).
You shouldn't be aiming for 50% of rape victims to be men, or 50% of intimate partners killed to be men; rather, you should be aiming to decrease sexual assault and murder as a whole.
Also, to add something that's just my opinion and isn't back by any research: I just think men make better leaders generally than women.
There's just something about a confident, charismatic male leader that gives me this reassurance that women often don't.
Obama's a hella good speaker. I'm pretty sure he causes a significant decrease in rates of heart attacks every time they put him on tv. The deep voice, soothing but confident. I may not be a democrat, but Obama's speeches make me feel like everything's right with the world and everything's going to be okay.
Men and women shouldn't be equal. Each has their strengths that the other compliments
So no need for feminism anymore...women are free to live the life they want
Maybe in some backwards countries or on a construction sites do you need feminism.
I've worked in about 8 big companies and have clients that employ mostly women.
They were always treated properly and no one ever gave a rats ass their gender...
It was always about merit.
Also, this isn't a communist state, if you aren't being paid the same for the same skill labour, then quit and go somewhere else.
Most male dominated fields are now become female dominated (doctors, dentists, lawyers etc.)
Or do what these great women did:
Martha Stewart
Oprah Winfrey
JK Rowling
Carly Fiona
Condolezza Rice
Hillary Clinton
Barbara Walsh
Mary Kay
Plus a million other women who have succeeded.
@starcrossedloversdivine@xanga - this.
@ManiiRani@xanga - Feminism means doing whatever the fuck you want as a woman. No, really. It means that you can do whatever the fuck you want, what you, not what society, consider a woman can do. I'm in medical school because I think I'd make an awesome doctor. I'm not going to take my husband's name because of a culture thing. I consider myself to be highly independent, and I'm comfortable with the fact that I'll probably make more than my boyfriend one day, and he is, too. But I still like the idea of welcoming him home with dinner and a kiss. We're exploring our BDSM relationship (I'm submissive, he's dominant). I used to feel guilty about enjoying being told what to do so much, but I realized, I am the one delegating that power to him. It's my choice. If I told him I didn't want to follow "orders" anymore, he would be totally okay with it.
I actually wrote a post on this awhile back under my Datingish profile... Kinda stopped writing for Datingish after that one, actually. Feminism is surprisingly unpopular, and it gets all the more unpopular when a man says that he really couldn't date someone who didn't believe in a particular level of equality. I dunno - as Chaucer says, "Love wol nat been constreyned by maistrye; / Whan maistrie comth, the God of Love anon / Beteth hise wynges, and farewel, he is gon! / Love is a thyng as any spirit free. / Wommen, of kynde desiren libertee, / And not to been constreyned as a thral [...]" ("Love will not be constrained by mastery; / When mastery comes, the God of Love anon / Beats his wings, and farewell, he is gone! / Love is a thing like any free spirit. / Women, by their nature, desire liberty, / And not to be constrained as a thrall [...]")
In all honesty, I'm not sure I can call myself a feminist to everyone, because everyone seems to hold a different opinion of what it really means. Some people define it by how it has been practiced, some define it solely by its theory, and others still find some middle ground or make up their own ideas. I know feminism as a literary idea more than any of its other interpretations, both in content and in feminist form (think Paula Vogel's use of episodic plot structuring in "How I Learned to Drive"). In that light, I've got to count myself in the feminist camp.
@mirsalient@xanga - I see your point, and I also like to do stuff for my boyfriend and so does he (like how we'll both cook for each other or we'll cook together, etc.). I used my best friend as an example because I think that deep, down inside she does care- like how she'll wear flats so she won't appear taller than her boyfriend- and she tends to do alot for the guy, but the guy (although I'd say he's nice) doesn't do much for her. In my 26 years, more often than not I've seen women make a lot of sacrifices for men and guys not really appreciating them for it (I know I'm generalizing here, I have met some open-minded guys [such as my boyfriend, hehe] but there are still a few out there). For example, my mother is a housewife and my father is a physician and I would have to say that my mother has done a lot for me and the family. Just recently, my uncle (mother's brother) asked for money since his business is going down and my father (who has given a ton of money to help his family in India) tells her that he's not going to help him- and it mostly has to do with the fact that he's my mother's brother and not his own (my dad comes from a macho culture). My father fails to realize how much my mom has done for the family. Personally, I think if someone truly loves you, he wouldn't be intimidated by you regardless of income, height, whether or not you change your last name, etc.
I am a proud feminist.
@animechrisy@xanga - Feminism as an ideology originated back when women were highly discriminated against, such as when we weren't allowed to vote, have real jobs, etc. Women still are discriminated against but since it's really low-key, we don't see it much. That's why feminism in its true definition seems ridiculous and 'pointless' - inequality isn't as big of an issue as it was before. The definition is what it is though.
I support the fact that women should be treated equal as men, so as long as they are willing to do the same amount of work. I know some guys who are so insecure about women making more money than them. And, it shows that if the women are as or even more hardworking than men, they deserve equal or more pay.
One thing that irks me is women who elevate feminism to, what you stated, believe women in the long run are better than men, which defeats the purpose of feminism in the first place. It also irritates me when women attack other women who prefer to stay at home and take care of the children and want to cook their family a meal. It's their damn life. Simply staying at home does not mean they bow down to the man. They want to stay close with their family.
I also believe that if you are mature enough to throw a punch, you are mature enough to take a punch. Do not get me wrong. No woman or man should ever be assaulted. But, there should be none of this stupid special treatment bullshit saying, "You can't hit a girl" when the girl was the one who started throwing the punches. People react in defense and if you put their life in danger, they are entitled to any means to protect themselves.
I am a feminist, and anyone who doesn't like that can fight me about it. There are a lot of reasons people are afraid/misguided about feminism- there is that giant myth that every feminist is man-hating and kind of out there even though that's like, .05% of feminists. And then there's that persistent, "If it was really about equality then it wouldn't be about women at all," argument premised on the idea that people can't possibly concentrate on more than one problem at once. But keeping those myths and ideas alive allows people to dismiss otherwise valid arguments that they don't want to address and admit they are complicit in.
I think as a feminist, feminism always needs to be wary of whom it is excluding. Feminism has traditionally been very much about the needs of the white, cis-gendered, middle-class american woman and as such it has held itself back in some ways. For example, a lot of feminists want to jump away from the idea that they are "hairy bra-burning lesbians" but in being so quick to jump we end up ignoring the problem rather than confronting why lesbians and women who grow pit hair are considered someone we want to adamantly declare "we are not." We're so afraid of receiving an "unwomanly" label that we don't question the way and the reasons history has been wildly twisted when it comes to the original "bra-burning" episode.
@ManiiRani@xanga - feminism is the freedom to choose. choosing to take your husbands name, or wanting to cook for him because you like making him happy, isn't inherently anti-feminist. it would be if she thought she had to give up her career for him or had to take his name because he's somehow in charge.
i don't think it's about "she does this for him, when he's not doing the same" when feminism has to take into account gender differences, it's about equality but not sameness.
i wrote a post very similar to this a few months ago =]
That badge is hilarious and completely true. I have always thought Chauvinism and Feminism were stupid... especially at University where everyone was equal and no one seemed to care except really uptight women.
However...
I went to the first day of my new job (I got laid off after two weeks... manager said I didn't "fit" in) and it was like a nightmare. The kitchen staff, and my fellow barstaff, treated women like they were mannequin dolls. Passing judgement, blatent sexual harassment, constant "flirting" and general ogaling, with no attempt at professionalism. It was sickening. I stayed out of it, and just chatted with the girls like they were people, and needless to say I quickly became an outsider. Girls appreciated it though, I am still the only one they talk too outside of work.
So yeah, I now understand the need for feminism, or at least the "radical" notion women are human because there are still completely dumb animals out there who don't deserve the chance to look at a beautiful women when they don't understand she is not just a lubed hand. Fucking pigs.
I not a feminist. I don't think it really matters to me. Especially since I'm going to be staying at home, cleaning, cooking, being a good wife, and taking care of my kids. And to me it seems that most feminist argument happen in the work place. soooo, that excludes me. Although being a stay at home mom and housewife is in fact a lot of work.