Neo-Feminism: A rise in talk, a fall in action
Feminism. A word shrouded by controversy and stigmas. A word that when given a closer look encompasses a network of branches that represent the spawn of Feminism. One of the most recent progenies of feminism is neo-feminism, a new wave of feminism weaving through society and, like its mother, striking fear into the male counterparts of the nation.
By definition neo-feminism is “when a female assumes or believes that females should lead and be more dominant in work, life, etc. than men. It glorifies a womanly essence over claims to equality with men”. The definition raises some questions based on its rather ambiguous explanation. Do these new wave of feminists push aside what their foremothers fought for and demand to be placed on a pedestal? Or do these women storm alongside those wronged by the system and fight for justice. The only way to get a deeper understanding of neo-feminism is to look at it from all angles. Let’s begin.
No one can pin point an exact birth date of neo-feminism began but it appeared with fervor on social media. Naturally the association with feminism brought about critics and spectators alike. Although these neo-feminists claim they stand for women’s liberation and women’s rights, this branch of feminism is slowly evolving into what everyone’s fears of feminism and it continues to feed into the confusion of the true meaning of the word.
“The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.” — Pat Robertson
Now it is important to understand that not every feminist is a man-hating lesbian, this notion is simply a misrepresentation propagated by a narrowed perception by society and the media. Even though not all feminists are man-haters, it does not negate the fact that yes, some feminists can be misandrists (the opposite of misogynist) and yes, belong in the realm of neo-feminists.
At the risk of sounding condemnatory, it is important to note the manner in which these self-proclaimed neo-feminists present themselves. The interpretation of equality to some of these women permeates through their choice of clothing and their very presentation of themselves. Many feel in order to achieve equality with men they themselves must increase their levels of masculinity. Meaning stripping any traces of femininity. No makeup, no skirts, no dresses, no heels, and no hairspray.
The main interest of neo-feminism revolves around what they stand for, what drives their campaigns, what sits at the heart of their cause. Historically, feminism “seeks to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment.” Think Nellie McClung on stage as the Prime Minister, mocking the idea of men voting to raise awareness of the absurdity to impede the women’s vote. Or Rosemary Brown who actively fought against gender based discrimination and perused initiatives to increase women as directors in corporations. With so many battles fought by the foremothers of feminism, the question left to answer is what are these neo-feminists fighting?
Two words: rape culture. Rape culture appears to be one of the most publicized and controversial topics plaguing society and the passions of neo-feminists. For those unfamiliar with rape culture, it is defined as “a setting in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality.” YouTube is filled with videos of journalists, equipped with statistics and myth-busting facts that attend SlutWalks in order to gain a “better perspective” on the event.
A great example comes from Canadian native, Lauren Southern, and British national, Milo Yiannopoulpos when they took on Amber Rose’s SlutWalk in Los Angeles. After spending a few hours interviewing those in attendance and after being harassed by very outspoken believers, the two journalists took to expressing their own views. They held two signs above their head, one read, “Rape culture and Harry Potter are the same, both fantasy”; the other read “Regret does not equal rape”. Needless to say, they were escorted off the premises by not only the event security but by LAPD as well. A clear dismissal of their freedom of speech showing that the sparks of controversy fly when opposing views threaten the ideologies of these feminists.
Many neo-feminists view North America as being held in the clutches of a rape culture with men and society perpetuating its intensity. But the reality of this is, the western world is not under attack by a rape culture. Here rapists are prosecuted and sent to prison; they are demonized, and they are associated with the deepest levels of malice. Studies have debunked the astonishing statistic that 1 in 5 women will be a rape victim, and with that many experts have put forward other evidence falsifing the theory of our culture being ‘rape culture’.
When we look at cultures in the East we can see a vastly different approach to this topic. We can say without hesitation that a rape culture does exist in the East, where for the mere act of being raped a woman can be stoned to death, where a woman is seen as being without morals for being out past 6 o’clock in the evening, where women are valued less than an animal. This makes you wonder how these new wave feminists would fare in a country where to be a woman is a mark of shame. For instance the documentry India’s Daughter examines the aftermath of the gang rape of a 23 year old medical student on a bus in Dehli. In it Mukesh Singh, the convicted rapist says, “A girl is responsible for rape more than a boy.”
This brings to light the difference between our worlds and the privileges women here have afforded over years of perseverance. This also raises cautions about whether neo-feminism is taking after its mother: as some people would call it, a white western women movement?
Divya Maharajh, a Communication, Culture and Technology professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga says, “With the SlutWalk a number of women felt unaccounted for and unable to participate because of their specific histories. For instance the Black Woman’s Blueprint published an open letter to the SlutWalk movement about why Black women in particular feel excluded and unable to playfully adopt the ‘slut’ label because of the ways they have been sexualized in the past tracing back to the days of slavery. In other words, we’re seeing a return to the same kinds of critiques that other women had about feminism in the first wave: that it was predominantly a white, middle-class, woman’s movement.”
She also mentions, “These types of social movements are both promising and problematic. On the one hand, they demonstrate that feminism is ‘alive and well’ in the younger generation; promising because we seem to be in a time where many question the value of feminism some suggest there’s no need for feminism anymore. On the problematic side, these sorts of movements focus on ‘symbolic’ change for women rather than material change. Instead of protesting for equal pay or legislative change for women, the issues, which get the greatest mobilization, are those involving ‘awareness’ or those done for shock value.”
This probes you to think of neo-feminism as feminism lite based on its emphasis of critiquing existing norms over igniting the passions needed to bring about a revolution. To gain a better understanding of this we can look to Anita Sarkeesian as an example. A blogger, public speaker and feminist media critic she hosts videos that comment on the depiction of women across pop culture. Her main crusade currently attacks gamers, claiming they are the misogynist’s oppressing women. Sarkeesian received countless death and rape threats because of her series “Tropes vs Women in Video Games” analyzing gender tropes in video games. Not only does Sarkeesian disable comments on her videos that disagree with her view, she also managed to turn a profit from being a victim of online harassment earning over $150,000.
In February of this year Mercedes Carrera, a porn star, posted a video on YouTube publicly bashing Anita Sarkeesian for her apparent lack of aid to actual women in need. Carrera had reached out to Sarkeesian over Twitter to support Cytherea, a fellow porn actress, who in January had been victim of a brutal gang rape, home invasion, armed robbery and watched her husband and children held at gunpoint by three male teenagers. Carrera received “radio silence, radio fucking silence” from Sarkeesian. She goes on in the video to criticize Sarkeesian’s stance saying, “You want to talk about violence against women? Why are we not looking at gaps in the prison system? Why are we not looking at all of these societal issues? No, we are going to pick a group of benign people who enjoy gaming as a hobby and we are going to paint and smear them and make them the horrible horrible abusers of women.”
Carrera raises the point of Ratna Kapur’s idea of feminism lite in the comment, “Feminism should be about supporting [real women], women who have faced real hardship. I don’t want to hear that this idea that these bull shit videos are in some way helping women. It’s a big profiteering scheme.” She raises a valid point, that makes you wonder as not only a Canadian citizen but as a global citizen, is this new wave of feminism taking action or simply raising awareness?
The difficulty of approaching a topic as huge as this new wave of feminism is the lack of a shared desire for debate. Women who claim to fall in the category of feminists fear their point of view being targeted and dissected. Look to Anita Sarkeesian who blocks comments to censor her from any form of opposition. Watch any anti-feminist video, or attend a Social Justice worker event and notice that once tension is turned onto the subject of feminism, the conversation shuts down. Steven Crowder argues that these modern feminists are “ The weakest of all women, they can’t handle content that might be upsetting. These women demand that you don’t say anything that they don’t like, show anything they don’t like.”
Feminism, it creates tension at the mere utterance of the word. It causes confusion and heated debates. Neo-feminism is no different. Its definition leaves room for interpretation. All over the country debates rage about what feminism is; is it about women’s rights or should it be about equality? The confusion persists, showing no signs of dissipating. It is up to us as global citizens to strive to clarify this confusion. Alexander Radu, a journalism student at the University of Toronto Mississauga says, “I think it’s awesome that this is an open discussion and stuff now but I think that feminism is all over the place and because it has no clear goals there doesn’t seem to be any change.”
It is not up to me or anyone else to say that feminism is dead, or that everyone should become anti-feminist. Only you can decide what is true, what is right and what to to stand for.
