If you were to ask me my political views, I would unashamedly declare myself a conservative. If you were to ask me if I was a feminist, I would also unashamedly answer yes. Many people do not understand how these two terms can go together. And quite frankly, I can't blame them. It is unfortunate that the modern feminist movement has been hijacked by liberals who support abortion and government-supplemented birth control. It is unfortunate that many of my friends believe feminists are promoting female superiority, rather than gender equality.
Merriam-Webster defined feminism as "the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities". Now tell me, does any of that sound bad to you? Unless you're somehow from the 1800's, my guess is that you answered no. So why does the term feminism now come with such a stigma? Why can't I call myself a feminist without getting bad looks?
The unfortunate truth is that the faces of modern feminism are representing all the wrong things. We have people such as Lena Dunham and Hilary Clinton who are leading today's feminists. I absolutely hate that. When I call myself a feminist, I hate to think that someone associates me with these women.
I know several people who think that Lena Dunham is an inspiring woman that we should all idolize. WHY?? Her claim to feminism fame is that she was apparently raped after a party. Yes, rape is awful. But Lena Dunham claims to have been raped whilst she was very drunk and high on substances such as cocaine and adderall. There is a big push in feminism that because a girl isn't able to say no, it still means no. This essentially means that if a girl is drunk or high or passed out or something like that, she should not be sexually abused. This sounds all fine and dandy, but I feel like it is taking all responsibility off of women. If you don't want to be raped, don't drink! Don't do drugs! Yes it's still a horrible thing that guys do that.. but what if the guys were drunk or high as well? If the woman doesn't have to take responsibility for her actions whilst under the influence, why does a man? But the even bigger issue is that Lena Dunham's story has recently been debunked. I think her fake rape story is an insult to real rape victims.
Don't even get me started on Hillary Clinton. She one of the biggest supporters of Planned Parenthood. I consider this organization to be degrading and insulting to women. I simply don't understand how people can consider abortion as a form of birth control. In my opinion, birth control should be preventative. But that is for a different day.
Because these women are the faces of modern feminism, I have many conservative friends who think feminism is bad, or unnecessary. A frequent thing I hear women say is that "feminism was necessary in the 20's so that women could gain the right to vote, but it's just not necessary anymore" or "I've never experienced any oppression or sexism in my lifetime." So... because you've never experienced something personally, this means it doesn't exist? In the U.S. alone, there are still women fighting to get equal pay. There are women being sexually harassed in the work place and women being raped. There are women experiencing domestic violence and household abuse who stand powerless. Outside the U.S., there are countries like Saudi Arabia where women are legally segregated from men in public. Our country wasn't okay with racial segregation in the 60's, so why are we okay with gender segregation elsewhere? There are countries like Egypt where fathers and brothers of certain Muslim groups can perform 'honor killings' on women and not even be arrested or tried. And you're going to try and tell me the world doesn't need feminism?
Unacceptable.
Here is my proposal- We get back to the true meaning of feminism. We don't tolerate unequal treatment of women, but we also don't bash on men whilst doing so.
We need to recognize and support true and worthy feminists such as Raheel Raza, Fahima Hashim, and the many other wonderful people who are working so hard to create an equal world.
We also need to support all kinds of women. I feel as if modern feminists only support the ideal 'modern woman' who doesn't need a man to be happy. You know the sort, the woman who doesn't want to get married or have kids because she is independent. Sure, we can support those women, but can't we also support the stay at home mom who lets her husband work for the family? The woman who actually cooks and cleans a house not because she has to, but because she wants to? I propose that we stop bashing so many people in the name of Feminism.
Help me promote equality around the world. Help me call myself a feminist without shame or guilt. Help me to help the women who are suffering around the world. Don't be afraid to call yourself a feminist.
Please let me know your opinions on this topic!
If you are interested in the subject, I recommend watching the movie The Honor Diaries. It shows the oppression of women in certain Muslim countries.
Merriam-Webster defined feminism as "the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities". Now tell me, does any of that sound bad to you? Unless you're somehow from the 1800's, my guess is that you answered no. So why does the term feminism now come with such a stigma? Why can't I call myself a feminist without getting bad looks?
The unfortunate truth is that the faces of modern feminism are representing all the wrong things. We have people such as Lena Dunham and Hilary Clinton who are leading today's feminists. I absolutely hate that. When I call myself a feminist, I hate to think that someone associates me with these women.
I know several people who think that Lena Dunham is an inspiring woman that we should all idolize. WHY?? Her claim to feminism fame is that she was apparently raped after a party. Yes, rape is awful. But Lena Dunham claims to have been raped whilst she was very drunk and high on substances such as cocaine and adderall. There is a big push in feminism that because a girl isn't able to say no, it still means no. This essentially means that if a girl is drunk or high or passed out or something like that, she should not be sexually abused. This sounds all fine and dandy, but I feel like it is taking all responsibility off of women. If you don't want to be raped, don't drink! Don't do drugs! Yes it's still a horrible thing that guys do that.. but what if the guys were drunk or high as well? If the woman doesn't have to take responsibility for her actions whilst under the influence, why does a man? But the even bigger issue is that Lena Dunham's story has recently been debunked. I think her fake rape story is an insult to real rape victims.
Don't even get me started on Hillary Clinton. She one of the biggest supporters of Planned Parenthood. I consider this organization to be degrading and insulting to women. I simply don't understand how people can consider abortion as a form of birth control. In my opinion, birth control should be preventative. But that is for a different day.
Because these women are the faces of modern feminism, I have many conservative friends who think feminism is bad, or unnecessary. A frequent thing I hear women say is that "feminism was necessary in the 20's so that women could gain the right to vote, but it's just not necessary anymore" or "I've never experienced any oppression or sexism in my lifetime." So... because you've never experienced something personally, this means it doesn't exist? In the U.S. alone, there are still women fighting to get equal pay. There are women being sexually harassed in the work place and women being raped. There are women experiencing domestic violence and household abuse who stand powerless. Outside the U.S., there are countries like Saudi Arabia where women are legally segregated from men in public. Our country wasn't okay with racial segregation in the 60's, so why are we okay with gender segregation elsewhere? There are countries like Egypt where fathers and brothers of certain Muslim groups can perform 'honor killings' on women and not even be arrested or tried. And you're going to try and tell me the world doesn't need feminism?
Unacceptable.
Here is my proposal- We get back to the true meaning of feminism. We don't tolerate unequal treatment of women, but we also don't bash on men whilst doing so.
We need to recognize and support true and worthy feminists such as Raheel Raza, Fahima Hashim, and the many other wonderful people who are working so hard to create an equal world.
We also need to support all kinds of women. I feel as if modern feminists only support the ideal 'modern woman' who doesn't need a man to be happy. You know the sort, the woman who doesn't want to get married or have kids because she is independent. Sure, we can support those women, but can't we also support the stay at home mom who lets her husband work for the family? The woman who actually cooks and cleans a house not because she has to, but because she wants to? I propose that we stop bashing so many people in the name of Feminism.
Help me promote equality around the world. Help me call myself a feminist without shame or guilt. Help me to help the women who are suffering around the world. Don't be afraid to call yourself a feminist.
Please let me know your opinions on this topic!
If you are interested in the subject, I recommend watching the movie The Honor Diaries. It shows the oppression of women in certain Muslim countries.
No comments:
Post a Comment