Is Feminism Misinterpreted?
- ricrotaract
- Oct 30, 2021
- 4 min read
Feminism is the advocacy for equality of all genders in social, cultural, political, and economic spheres. It is a political movement as well as an ideology that has manifested around the world. This started as a spring of thought and developed into a whole political ideology because women were marginalized in many societal processes and confined to the domestic sphere. One of the main aims of feminists were to make women visible and heard. They also aim to expose and demolish socially constructed gender norms.
Feminists fought for equal rights for centuries and this goes way back to ancient Greece where women fought for equal suffrage rights. However, it was only in 19th century that the concept of feminism was given recognition internationally. The first wave of feminism emerged in 1848 with the Seneca Falls Convention which was mainly focused on women’s right to elective franchise. This became a success around the globe with countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Finland, UK, and USA eventually granting women their voting rights. The second wave of feminism, originated in the 1960sand regarded women’s sexuality, family, and reproductive rights to be dominant issues. This took a radical approach and focused on personal and psychological aspects of female oppression as opposed to the first wave which had a political aspect. They brought child custody rights, divorce laws, marital rape, abortionrights and domestic violence into light.
The third wave of feminism which originated around 1990s addressed the concerns of women of color, LGBTQ community, immigrants, and religious minorities. This wave managed to shed light upon different layers of discrimination they had to face in the society and women’s combat against misogyny. The fourth or the current wave of feminism which began around 2012 is centered around technology and social media. The modern feminists prioritize empowerment of women and advocate for it using platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. They focus on workplace harassment and sexual assaults and build awareness about them through movements like, #MeToo, Women’s March and #YesAllWomen.
However, the subject of feminism has always been a controversial topic. There are positive as well as negative views regarding this ideology. This is because people often confuse feminism with misandry. Currently the statement that, “I am a feminist” is regarded as a statement equivalent to “I hate men”. Due to this labelling as a ‘man hater’, most people tend to treat the term ‘feminism’ with contempt. Instead of using feminism in the fight against gender discrimination, the society has misconstrued the whole ideology into a form of discrimination against men. This has caused the genuine meaning of feminism to disappear in a sea of fallacy.
Feminists seek to establish equal professional and educational opportunities for every gender by abolishing the patriarchal social structure. However, this does not mean that they try to establish a matriarchal society where the women hold absolute power. Feminists aim to release the society from shackles of typical gender norms which subject them to constant oppression regardless of whether they are men or women. Here, they are simply asking for gender equality.
With regard to this, it should be understood the distinction between ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. Sex is a biological attribute which is assigned at birth whereas gender is a socially constructed norm which identifies people according to their behaviors, expressions, societalexpectation, and socially constructed roles. These social norms expect women to be sensitive, fragile,polite, and feminine while men are expected to be masculine, powerful,bold, and independent. This causes gender norms to influence the distribution of power in the society. This is toxic for both men and women because they are expected to behave in a certain way as opposed to their wishes. Feminists seek to end this prejudicial and unjust treatment and bring equality to all people.
However, it should be noted that, women who identify themselves as feminists and claim to hate men are extremists who do not know the authentic nature of feminism. These extremists are rather known as feminazis. Due to these misinterpretations spread by feminazis, sexists and male chauvinists (people who consider women to be inferior to men and deserve less treatment), many people who even advocate for equal rights are reluctant to call themselves as feminists fearing the social backlash.
Another major misconception behind feminism is that men cannot be feminists. One does not need to be a woman to advocate for gender equality. The traditional societal norms which hold men behind with misconstrued ideas such as, it is not ‘manly’ to be a feminist, should be disregarded. Feminism open new doors for men to escape from toxic masculinity traits which generates burden and pain upon them. It gives opportunities for men to express themselves and opt for what they need in life instead of hiding behind societal expectations.
Feminism is the opposition of both misandry (women are superior to men) and misogyny (men are superior to women). Therefore, people must understand that it is a mode of healing for prevailing gender wars in the society, as opposed to a man bashing ideology. Even though feminists believe that patriarchal structure should be overturned, it never opts for female superiority and subjugation of men. Hence, the narrow and negative perception which has given it a bad reputation must be remedied through raising awareness and advocating the true authentic meaning of feminism. Thereby, the world will be able to achieve a gender-neutral society and co-exist peacefully without one gender posing a threat to the other.
Written By: Rtr.Anuradhika Uduwana, LLB, 2nd Year
Edited By: Rtr. Dulithi Jagda, BSc. Econ & Finance, 3rd Year
Design By: Rtr. Mohamed Umair Jamal, BSc. Data Science & Business Analytics, 2nd Year
References:
Mcglinchey, S., Walters, R., & Scheinpflug, C. (2017). International relations theory. E-International Relations Publishing.
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