Issues & Controversies
The word “feminist” it self is controversial to our generation. They either do not know what it means or has a different meaning associated with the word. The word “feminist” to millennials raises many opinions and controversies that seem to make being a feminist a bad label to have.
I believe that the word “feminist” raises controversies because many do not know the meaning of it. So when a person is asked if they are a feminist they reply “no” their only reason being that they have no clue what it means. This saddens me because if only millennials were educated on the term then the would not be so ignorant to say no to such an empowering word. A person might fell unworthy of the word as well. They might feel like they do not know enough about feminism so they do not label themselves as one at all. If people really knew the full meaning to being a feminism I believe that more millennials would consider themselves a strong feminist, male or female.
Feminism is highly misunderstood, especially to millennials. Many believe that feminism is the uprising of women and hatred of men. People believe that feminist are making men the enemy, and belittling them when in reality it is the complete opposite. Social media has also played a part in why feminism is so controversial to millennials. Anonymous twitter accounts posing as “meminists”, degrade women and give false information to what a true feminist is. I personally have been victimized on twitter by being told that I should be “lucky” that a man went out of his way to almost rape me. When I read this comment online that was directed towards me I was in complete shock. I never experienced such a hateful and degrading comment before, I did not even know how to respond to it. Sitting there on my computer feeling so small and helpless I was saved by people who were not afraid to stick up for someone. My high school friend Andrea replied to the comment saying how disrespectful and hurtful that comment was. A few minutes later a complete stranger also commented saying how a rape victim might have felt if they had read his comment. And I also received a message from a male friend telling me how wrong that comment towards me was and how it women should not be degraded like that. At that moment I knew why we needed feminism and what feminism really meant. Feminism is women and men sticking up for each other and empowering other women when they are belittle or degraded. It is about equal rights and equal respect.
The controversies around feminism is mostly caused by ignorance and lack of knowledge. If millennials took the time to educate themselves about feminism, more male and female millennials would label themselves as one. Being a feminist is something that people should be proud to be, not something that they are belittled for on social media.
