We are living in 21st century and I still have to explain people why we need feminism. *Super face palm* Women associate feminism with man bashing and keep saying I am not a feminist.
I see more women who claim to be anti-feminist in the society who have no idea what feminism even means. Feminism is not about man bashing. Feminism is all about equal rights for men and women. I am tired of explaining this every other day. Because women in the past fought for equal rights, we were able to attend school and get all the privileges that we have today. I read “The tenant of Windfell hall” which was written in an era when women were not sent to school and only men were sent. The author questions this in the book. My great grandmother never went to school, my grandmother never went to college, my mother did bachelor degree and I did masters degree. So we have indeed come a long way. This happened because there were men and women who fought against sexism and demanded equal rights for men and women. Women who are enjoying these privileges are now saying feminism is bad.
If you call yourselves a feminist, people start saying “shouting feminism will not make any difference. You need to work at grassroot level blah blah”. And this is what I feel – if more people start supporting a cause, it will happen. Like writing more books with women characters. Representing women in a better manner in media. Encouraging young women to achieve something in life (marriage is not an achievement). Holding a banner and protesting is not the only way to show support to a cause. You can show support in various simple ways. I am trying to read more women authors and also buy books by more women. It can even be as simple as fighting sexism when you see it happening around you. I want a better society for my son and future generations where people are not distinguished based on their gender. Is it too much to ask?
Things are improving a lot. The cartoons that my son watches have a woman character in them. Because of this representation, I am sure my son will not feel weird about women doing construction work or designing robots in the future. I recently read Kameron Hurley’s “The geek feminist revolution” and I have to agree about one thing that she mentioned in her book – we are so used to seeing men and not seeing women in certain roles that it feels weird to see women. Like superheroes for example – there are hardly any women. I think some men feel insecure about losing all the extra privileges they enjoy as part of being male so they oppose feminism. Some men cannot tolerate that women who were always so docile are now voicing their opinions. But there are many fathers who want their daughters to live in a society with no sexism. Hopefully things will change soon.
An example for why we need feminism and how men are fighting for feminism too? Watch this video made by a father –
Bookish Muggle 
All the women in my husband’s family think the “we’re not feminists” bullshit and essentially say that they’re content with the way men treat them. Meanwhile, my aunt (who is my mother figure along with my grandmother) has been giving me “Keep your laws off my body” bumper stickers since I was a teen. I prefer my aunt’s method obviously. His family just makes me want to vomit. Then they come up with the “women have it good in America compared to other countries” bullshit. Like, we’re fighting for global feminism NOT just in the US.
Why did you start this rant? Now I want to keep going lol.
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Yeah many of my girlfriends give me this “I am not a feminist” statement whenever the topic steers towards feminism. I am so fed up of hearing that nonsense from women who are taking advantage of all the benefits that they obtained from feminism. My husband’s family is exactly like yours in some ways – they think women are supposed to cook and clean – as if it is their duty. Comparing ourselves with other countries and saying we are better is really not okay. Even in US, I am sure we still wage differences and many more issues worth fighting for.
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All women should be feminists, especially if you have children. I think from now on, when I hear the words “I’m not a feminist” my response is going to be, “So men are better than women? You’re okay with being a second class citizen?” I think it might make people rethink feminism. Too many people have the notion that being feminist means you hate men (like you said) and that is not true feminism.
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Totally agree. I think I am now kinda fed up of educating other women on why we need feminism. Maybe I will start ignoring such anti-feminist people.
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The “women have it good in America” argument makes me want to break things. One, this is not oppression Olympics. Two, stop derailing the damn conversation! And to be honest looking at what’s happening with healthcare, women don’t have it that great in this country, and it seems to be getting worst. Saying things are worse elsewhere doesn’t mean that we don’t still need feminism here.
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Exactly! *angry face*
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Completely agree with what you said. I hear this a lot where people compare with really oppressive countries and say how it is much better. I seriously feel like punching them.
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There’s a fantastic quote I think of whenever this occurs, and it’s “Africa is not a derailment tactic.” I’ve read numerous articles and studies about why doing the comparison or playing oppression Olympics is absolute bullshit. It’s a way to silence people, but just because you may have a broken knee, it doesn’t make my sprained ankle hurt any less.
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As you said, feminism should be about fighting for equality than men bashing.
Destination Infinity
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Yep it was meant to be about equality. I don’t know why people changed the definition.
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I ordered the Rebel Girls book (the page with the video you shared) recently for a friend who just had a baby girl. It is such an AWESOME book that documents the lives of 100 real life women (in a children’s “once upon a time” format) and is illustrated by women as well. I am so glad that things like these exist today for children because they sure weren’t around when I was a kid. As for the age old feminism debate, I no longer engage with anyone who says they aren’t a feminist. It is not my job to educate fools, I would rather spend my time and energy on people and topics that really matter. I also found it to be a waste of energy to argue with “anti-feminists”, because in my experience their hatred for the very word runs so deep, it would take years for them to see how damaging their views really are… and I really do not have the time hah. 🙂
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I want to buy the Rebel girls book for myself 🙂 I don’t know any small girl to whom I can gift it. I agree with you, engaging in this debate is just a waste of time. I think from now on, I am going to just ignore such people. Someday they will realize I hope.
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I understand feminism is a movement to achieve gender equality. In general, feminism means it is all about white middle class women. A new movement has come up known as “intersectional feminism”. Rightly so. The discrimination suffered by a black woman or a Hispanic woman is not the same as a white woman.
It is sad some feminists think it is the achievement of their goal just by burning their bras.
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I think we definitely need more feminism in India where the condition of women is far worse. Oh didn’t know about this new movement. Yeah true, some women fight for silly reasons too which distorts the meaning of feminism completely.
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