Feminist №2

Feminism and Equality

I’m a words person. When I was younger, I filled my shelves with books. I was that annoying kid in elementary school that was always at a higher reading level than the rest of the class. Spilled ink is one of my favorite tags to follow on Tumblr. Grammar rules (and breaking them in stylistic and elegant ways) always give me a thrill.

Recently, there’s been a lot of dialogue over the word “feminism.” Being a words person, I thought I would weigh in.

Feminism. Noun. The advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. Simple enough, right?

Well, some people agree with that definition, but believe that “feminism” is really an agenda to give women a more superior status than men. If feminism is all about equality, then why does it have the root “fem” in it? Why not call it equalism or humanism? After all, isn’t equality about getting equal rights for everyone, not just females?

Well, I’m here to tell you that feminism and equality are not mutually exclusive — in fact, they are the same idea.

Why is it called “FEM-inism?”

In a perfect world, perhaps we would have a more gender-neutral term for equal rights when it comes to gender. (Well, in a perfect world, we probably wouldn’t need such a term to begin with.)

But because our world is made up of two groups, and that one group has been consistently discriminated against and oppressed — it’s called “feminism” and not “equality,” because equality is achieved by advocating for the disadvantaged group or party. This is the same reason we called “The Gay Rights Movement” exactly that, instead of “The Hetero-Homo-Trans-Cis Equality Movement.”

By calling it “equalism” instead of “feminism,” you are effectively ignoring problems that are rather specific to the female gender. Using a blanket-term just because the semantics of the word offend you takes focus away from the real issues of inequality.

We can make a similar comparison to the Black Lives Matter movement, and the controversy of the #AllLivesMatter hashtag. Yes, All Lives Matter, but that’s beside the point. Black Lives Matter isn’t saying that other lives matter less. It is simply drawing attention to a group that has been systemically oppressed.

By saying “I don’t believe in feminism because I believe in equality” it’s like you showed up to a Breast Cancer Awareness event saying “Wait, what about colon cancer and lung cancer? They matter too!”

Feminism for all, not just for white women

The world has modernized, the feminism movement has turned its eyes on issues that affect women in the modern world. Today’s feminism aims to include women all races, social classes, identities, abilities.

Here’s where it gets a little bit tricky.

Not all issues are of equal importance to every woman, and every woman faces their own specific challenges when it comes to sexism and discrimination. A black woman is affected by the “angry black woman” stereotype, so she’s more worried about coming off as aggressive when expressing an opinion. An Asian woman has to fight against appearing “submissive and meek.” This quote: “Black and brown women sweep the floor while white women break glass ceilings” accurately summarizes what happens when feminism ignores intersectionality.

Ultimately, feminism is a collection of smaller movements within the grand scope of women achieving equal status to men.

But each person has their own unique brand of feminism, and feminism means something different for every woman.

And yet for some reason, the word “feminist” tends to conjure up universal images of bra-burning, unshaven armpits, and the butch-lesbian trope.

This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Feminists don’t look alike.

It is the girl who wants to be able to wear whatever she wants without the fear of being assaulted.

It is the female engineering student who sits alone in a classroom dominated by males.

It is the professional woman who was passed on a job opportunity, because a man with the exact credentials was hired instead.

It is the pregnant woman who wishes her husband’s company would offer paternity leave, so she can go back to work as soon as possible.

It is the new mother who simply wants to be able to breastfeed her baby in public without being shamed.

It is the aspiring Asian actress who struggles to find someone like her represented in mainstream media to identify with.

It is the Muslim woman who wears her hijab — not because she is forced to wear it, but because she chooses to as a representation of her culture and her faith.

And because there are so many different issues to be dealt with, people have varying opinions on how to solve them. This is where a lot of the conflict comes from, especially from fringe extremists (often controversially termed “Feminazis.”)

Let’s say every man in the world owns 1 dollar, every woman has 80 cents. The ideal way to achieve equality would be to give every woman another 20 cents. However, a more radical idea to solve the gender-wage gap would be to take 10 cents from every man and give it to the woman. Another example: women have had the right to vote since 1920. Some fringe believers think that taking away the men’s right to vote for the next 96 years would even the score.

A lot of these ideas may venture into misandry (man-hating) territory, since some people believe that equality can be achieved by bringing down the advantaged party as opposed to “advocating for the disadvantaged party,” like I previously mentioned.

Unfortunately with every movement, there are radical subsets, ones that often grab the media’s attention. But that doesn’t mean that these subsets are representative of the norm, or that these extremists should be used as the spokespeople of a social cause.

It comes down to this: if you believe in equality, if you believe that women should have the same rights as men, should be treated with the same respect and dignity, then in my book, that makes you a feminist.

And that makes you a feminist in the eyes of most other feminists as well.

Welcome to the team, bud.