I can't explain what feminism is in just one post, but today I'm going to address a few small points of confusion and very broadly and briefly go over it. This is by no means an extensive writing of The Gender Equality Manifesto, so please bear that in mind. I have no doubt I will return to this topic in the future of my blogging career, but today I will start my conversation.
I've seen complaints about feminism and the way it's 'branded' as a movement solely benefitting women. For the record, it is at the moment largely based on women, just because they're too often seen as the inferior sex, but it fights for men's rights too. Currently, it does often aim to benefit women, but in such a way that puts everyone on equal footing rather than placing women above men. Superiority is not the goal here. Some people seem to be against the notion of women believing in their own abilities and qualities, favouring instead these women to remain passive and submissive. However, the feminism ball is well and truly rolling, and those ruthlessly fighting for gender equality are not going to stop until the war has been won. Thus, I have a question for those who criticise: would you rather women be praised and celebrated and encouraged to climb up to join men on their parapet, or would you prefer for society to painfully drag men off their pedestal to jointly experience gender inferiority? To me, it's not a hard decision.
I'm a feminist. Lots of people are too, which is good. In fact, it's become a kind of commercialised trend right now, but hey, any publicity is good publicity right? Many would beg to differ. Briefly put; some people are concerned that in turning it into a kind of commodity, it has been discredited or devalued. Personally, I think that as long as we are aware that the market may try to take advantage of such a cause, regardless, commercialising it really does no harm to the movement itself. In fact - dare I say it - in turning feminism into a mainstream product, it becomes more accessible and less intimidating to the masses, which is extremely beneficial to the movement. In the past six months alone I have seen a huge upsurge in people claiming their feminist status, and this is incredible. Previously, one of the biggest obstacles on the feminists' road to equality was how they were perceived by the world, i.e. that they were radical misandrists who wanted to claim superiority over their male counterparts. Once feminism began to be better understood this image is slowly but surely being erased from the minds of the ignorant. Now, people are gradually beginning to see that a feminist is just a person who believes in equality. That's it. Some of them are radical in their actions, sure, but others are not. If the world is being exposed to feminism via the medium of feminist slogans on t-shirts, and it is finally being noted that feminists are just normal people, then how in any way is that detrimental to the cause?
We are all products of the society we live in, and unfortunately that means sometimes we partake in behaviours that produce adverse effects. Telling young boys to 'man up' because it's 'emasculating' to cry reenforces gender stereotypes. "But men are naturally less emotional anyway!" Have you ever read old literature? The most stereotypically macho men would cry in ancient Greek texts. Being strong and being emotional were not (and should not) be mutually exclusive. (This applies to both men and women!) It is a recent development to force stoicism onto boys, and there have been several instances where grown men have found it harmful to their character to be forced to portray themselves as the stereotypical 'manly man'. Evidently, everyone is different - some are less emotional than others. Personally I have been accused many times of being a 'cold-hearted bitch' (how poetic) just because I'm not an emotional person at all. I am not the conventionally stereotypical 'emotional female'. Don't get me wrong, nothing at all is wrong with women who are emotional, just like nothing is wrong with me choosing not to project my own emotions. I am naturally not particularly effusive and that is perfectly okay, and having my emotions under control is something I am perhaps weirdly proud of, purely because it's something I alone control; because it's my decision to do so. Likewise, if any man wants to choose to cry, that's okay, and if he wants to not be emotional or to not show emotions, as long as it's a conscious choice of his own then that's good too.
Feminism is equality. It is about administering the same human rights to every person - regardless of gender, sexuality, race, ability, or status. Women, men, non-binary people; together we are the human race. We all deserve to be celebrated for who we are, and we all deserve opportunity, but unfortunately in many circumstances this is not the case. People have freedom of choice taken away from them, and feminism seeks to give people back their right to a choice.
I can only speak from what I have learned (and I am still always willing to educate myself further in this) but for me, I think what feminism truly stands for and what, ultimately, I keep coming back to, is the desire for everyone to be allowed the freedom to make their own choices. If we want to stay in our societally-built gender boxes our whole lives - that's completely okay. If we want to stick to our gender stereotypes then that's fine. However, it needs to be established that we are allowed the choice to leave the box if we would like - we are not obliged to conform. We will not be punished for being different, just like we should similarly not be reprimanded for corresponding to stereotypes if that is something we truly enjoy/identify with/appreciate. We have to listen to everyone and recognise that if someone chooses to present themselves in a certain way, they should not be questioned or mocked, and their identity should always be accepted as equally real and valid as our own.
I may be going off on a tangent slightly here, but I feel I shouldn't publish this post without at least mentioning that as a white, cisgendered, heterosexual female, I recognise my privilege. There are times when I realise that, although I experience inequality in one sense, I know nothing firsthand of the oppression that many women and men face because of their race/gender/sexuality. It is thus hard for me to even imagine how it must feel, but I strive to learn and help out wherever I can.
In conclusion, all I know is that gender equality cannot and will not be achieved without other social inequalities being resolved in parallel to it, however difficult that may be. In my position, all I can offer is an open ear to listen, an open mind to try to understand, and an open mouth to try to educate others however I can.
Here are a few cool feminism-related things I've found over time that I really like. Enjoy:
- Feminist Apparel - clothes with awesome feminist slogans and designs.
- Emma Watson's UN speech - you've probably already seen this but it's worth a watch anyway.
- Nicki Minaj embodying feminism - I often find Tumblr posts like these a little artificial but this one is actually great.
- How Disney Stereotypes Hurt Men - this entire channel is worth checking out if you have time, but specifically this video presents an interesting point.
- #LikeAGirl advert - this video shows how gender roles make us behave in certain ways from a young age, and from a female perspective, these roles can be detrimental to our person.
It was difficult to encapsulate everything I wanted to say in one post but I’ll leave it here for now. I still have infinitely more left to mention and learn, and I am very much ready to do so.
See you next time!
Georgia
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