I was just going to post a poem this week and call it a day. But after reflecting for a while on a video a watched a while back about feminism, and a legitimate explanation from someone on why they aren’t a feminist, I decided to do a post about it. Before reading further, I recommend you watch this (https://youtu.be/vNErQFmOwq0). If you don’t want to, I’ll summarize the gist. Third wave feminism (what is happening now) does not include: equal representation of the genders and few feminists reject the benefits women have over men (there are few, but they exist).
Now I’m not saying I 100% agree with everything said in the video. I don’t. BUT it does raise some valid criticism of feminism. I felt a lot of tension the first time I watched this. I wanted to disagree with her so badly, because feminism is supposed to be a good thing. And by definition, it is supposed to be about equality. But if you look carefully, that isn’t what you see.
Feminism may claim to support equality, but few feminists really do 100% support equality. I have seen a number of people fighting for male sexual assault victims to be taken seriously, and (although fewer) questioning why men have such hard time getting custody of their kids. But what about the other issues mentioned? I have never seen people talk about how much easier it is for women to get some jobs than it is for men, I have never seen a complaint about women having shorter prison sentences than men for the same crime.
I don’t agree that feminism as a whole makes all men a problem nor do I think it is trying to make women superior to men. But perhaps dropping the name “feminism” is actually a start. When feminism started, women were fighting for their rights. The right to vote, for example. Now that people are fighting equality, do we have to call it feminism? I mean keeping the name may simplify people and keep us from dividing people that should be fighting for the same cause. But really make sure you are fighting for equality, and not only for women.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about feminism at the moment, mostly because I support equality and there is a lot of pressure right now to do so under the label feminist. But the more I look at what is actually being done under the label of feminism, the more I see the reality of it and the definition of it don’t match up. Of course I know SOME feminists do support everyone and I’m sure there are people fighting for all of the issues mentioned in the video under the label of feminism. But it’s far from enough. Maybe rather than changing the label, we just push male issues and the problem with female privileges more. I don’t know, I’m not even sure if the label is the problem.
The point of this post is obviously not to solve the issue of feminism. I’m an 18 year old sitting in bed with a laptop past what should have been “bed time”. But I do encourage anyone reading this, especially feminists, to watch the video. Then, at least question whether or not these issues have been brought to your attention. Question whether or not you’re willing to fight against the (few) privileges women have over men. Maybe you’ll decide you’d rather be an “equalist”, maybe you’ll try to bring more attention to these issues while being a feminist. Please don’t pretend they don’t exist though.
Until next week,
Chloé
Sikirar 