Yep. I’m a feminist. (cue sirens)
I don’t hate men.
I understand, I do; the word feminism sounds like the word female, so it would make sense that it be something about women being superior. Here’s the thing: it isn’t.
Feminism means solely the belief that men and women are equal; it’s termed as such because with our being a long patriarchal society, feminine traits are the ones that are spurned -- being a woman is thought less of, and men who demonstrate “female” traits (including but not limited to the full range of emotions and pain) are looked down on; kind of like how humanity is collectively referred to as ‘mankind’.
Equality. That’s all we stand for.
Yes, but there are some feminists who think that women are better than men.
If they don’t believe men and women are equal, regardless of what they call themselves, they’re not feminists. Period. Calling them feminists only gives a bad name to everyone else who actually believes in an important cause, and gives these misandrists more credit than they deserve. They can say that they’re feminists ‘till the cows come home, but if they think women are superior, they’re not.
I like traditional gender roles in my own life, and feminism says that's not okay.
Not at all! If you want to be a stay at home mom while your husband does the breadwinning, we support you! Feminism is about being allowed to have the opportunity to do other things, and not being boxed in by traditional gender roles because that's all women can do; we want you to be able to live your life whether you want to stay home and cook or go out and become a scientist.
I believe men and women are equal, but I’m not a feminist, the term is threatening and I don’t identify with it.
I have brown eyes. I can ask that people refer to me as one with “blue but darkened” eyes, or “not green eyes”, but at the end of the day my eyes are still brown by definition.
Similarly, if you believe men and women should have equal rights, congratulations, you’re already a feminist. It was written that, “Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself,”* and thus, avoiding the name for a belief that is unobtrusive in and of itself only causes people to shy away from something that is out to harm no one. You can call yourself whatever you’d like, make up as many euphemisms as you please, but at the end of the day you’re one of us.
We don’t need feminism; this is the twenty-first century. Women can already vote.
First off, we’ll tackle this one domestically. I’m sure most people have heard of the gender wage gap, and that women make 77 cents to every men’s dollar.
That’s true. Except only for white women. Women of minorities can earn as little as 54 cents to the men’s dollar, as is the case of Latina and Hispanic women.
About 20 percent of Congress is female -- and about twenty percent of females are sexually assaulted.
Now, internationally speaking we have countless issues stemming from political systems, historic roots, sexist leaders, and undeveloped societies. Nigeria only recently banned the genital mutilation of young girls, and there are numerous other countries where the practice has yet to be outlawed, not to mention the two and a half million people (predominantly female) sold in human trafficking. In Saudi Arabia, women can’t drive, and in undeveloped nations over 30 percent of girls are married before the age of 18; this leads to the approximate 70,000 girls under the age of 18 dying due to complications of childbirth and pregnancy annually. Don’t forget, 31 million girls aren’t allowed an education, school being where they would both gain the knowledge necessary to get a job and not need a husband to provide for them at such a young age, and where they would learn about birth control, and how to have a safer pregnancy.
When you say “Oh no, I’m not a feminist,” a lot of times you’re brushing off the gender wage gap you think is a myth and the complaints and inequalities of women here in one of the most industrialized nations in the world that seem trivial to you, but you’re simultaneously brushing off the cries of girls and women dying and without any basic human rights, millions of them, all over the planet.
I’m a guy, so feminism doesn’t affect me.
The best thing about gender equality is that it goes both ways. Everybody wins.
Y’all, gender stereotypes are not only hurting girls. For every girl told she can’t be a mechanic and to “sit like a lady”, there’s a boy being forced to hide his feelings, being told only girls cry -- with so many pent up emotions, it’s no wonder men have a reputation for being angry. Beyond that, male nurses are mocked, male receptionists and hair stylists belittled, all because they work in what is considered a “women’s” field. Most significantly, men are less likely to be given a fair trial in a custody battle when they love their children just as much as their counterparts, and in the case of a draft they’re all uprooted and sent into battle while women face only rationed supplies. Men need feminism too.
To get to the heart of this statement, though, the main point of feminism is that women have been downtrodden and treated as inferior for millennia, and even still some men want to know what’s in it for them, when the treatment of half of the population as human beings should be enough.
No animosity, no superiority, just equality.
*J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s (Philosopher’s) Stone
http://www.unicef.org/sowc09/docs/SOWC09-CountryEx...
http://www.unfpa.org/child-marriage
http://abcnews.go.com/International/10-facts-girls...
http://www.soroptimist.org/trafficking/faq.html
http://www.aauw.org/2014/09/18/gender-pay-gap/
