Feminism, masculism and Equality
In the previous blog of 6.02.2012 we looked at lesbianism and feminism. In this entry I would like to explore what feminism or the feminist movement has achieved, has not achieved and the challenges it continues to face today.
Also in order to be fair, we need to examine the notion of masculism, masculists and the masculine movement.
Feminism as we have seen is the belief that women are equal to men and should be viewed and treated as such. This equality relates (or should) to women in all aspects of life, from their personal/ family relationships, education and work life. Essentially it is about empowering woman to have the same degree of control over their body and life as men enjoy and the same opportunities.
Feminism is the struggle for equality, freedom, and dignity, for all people. Feminism is about recognizing that where people are disproportionately impacted by indignity, and poverty, and violence, and harm, and disrespect, there is inequality.
Feminism is about paying attention to quantitative information, like statistics showing that Black people are more likely to be stopped by police, that women are at high risk of being raped or battered by men they know, and that gay and lesbian youth are at increased risk of committing suicide. And feminism is about listening to the brave voices of people surviving harm-like Black men wrongly sent to death row, or women in prostitution, or the woman you know from law school who is smarter than virtually everyone she meets, but whose intelligence is often doubted by people who assume she gets handed her accomplishments because she is Black.
Feminism is about opening your eyes to ugliness in the world, and believing, and standing by, survivors of hate and violence and disrespect. Feminism is about learning from them what should not happen, and it is about remembering that we can do better. Feminism is about seeing and fighting the privileges, as well as the indignities, that accompany inequality.
Anti- Feminism
However a result of the accomplishes of feminism there has been a predictable backlash from the supporters of patriarchy, their arguments are simplistic, some even absurdly so
- Feminism is no longer relevant (women have equality).
- Feminism is not about equality it's about revenge.
- Feminism is doing more harm than good.
- Feminists are misguided.
Here is a wonderful example of anti- feminism at it's best.
"change anything in history, it would be the introduction of the Feminist Movement. Coming from a female this could seem shocking, however, because of the great implications and changes that the Feminist movement caused I frown on the movement.
The Western and industrialized countries have been greatly affected because of this movement. Problems like greater divorce rates and the re-defining of the institution of family and gender roles have had a major impact on our society.
Through out my life I have witnessed the advancements of feminism. In school, I was able to see many examples of what the feminist movement has accomplished. The accomplishments of feminism have been many. For example, women obtained the vote and have an opportunity to advance educationally, which are major accomplishments. I would not be in college right now were it not for the advancements of the feminist movement. With new freedoms, however, came new problems. The family witnessed the most changes. Women are now competing with men at all levels of professionalism. They have left the home and have put in jeopardy the future of younger generations.
Gender roles that were before clearly outlined and defined have now been confused. Questions, such as, who is to stay home and take care of the children, and who to become the main bread winner have now caused a great debate between men and women. Women are no longer compelled to stay in monogamous relationships like those found in marriage. Divorce rates have increased drastically because of the new freedoms of women. They no longer have to exercise energy to save a marriage and keep a family together because society does not have that expectation on women.
Our society has had a great impact on feminism. The more power women have in our society the more problems arise. Women are different from men in many aspects. The feminist movement advances on an unfair principle, the principle that men and women are equals. An unfair principle, because women and men are not "programmed" the same. Physically women are weaker than men are. Women are driven by their emotions and less rational, a problem the feminist encounter.
Men have run this world for centuries and, in my opinion, have done a good job. Men have sought the protection of women and families. Women need to be in the home and taking care of future generations, instead of competing with men and making our society worse. The beginning and advancements of the feminist movement continue to give sprout to new problems. There is no wonder why the Eastern countries refuse to allow a feminist upbringing. Even women themselves in other countries view feminism with great apprehension."
Apart from it's obvious victim blaming, complete lack of evidence and phobic base, all anti- feminism has to say is was better the way it was. This is the view also taken by many organised religions/ churches and radical clerics that use passages taken from their religious books to support inequality and the oppression of woman and minority groups.
Biblically, a Woman's Place in Still in the Home
"I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned aside after Satan." —1st Timothy 5:14
Anti- feminism and religion found an easy ally in the growing numbers of men (mostly from lower socio-economic groups) who with the decline of the worlds economy are finding it more difficult to compete for jobs and maintain their belief in their own worth. This has led to the rise in the "masculism movement". A movement who's basic premise is that for every equality women or other minority groups achieve, results in a loss for them.
A movement which began in the 90's over concerns with men's rights. Masculists believe in equality for men in areas where they are currently not receiving equal rights or are unfairly treated and stereotyped.
They like to use the " look it happens to me too " stance against feminism by addressing only issues regarding men’s rights in areas where they are discriminated such as child custody, health expenditure, insurance costs, spousal abuse perpetrated against males by females and rape of males by females both not being taken seriously, male genital mutilation (circumcision) being socially accepted in many countries as opposed to female genital mutilation and other concerns such as suicide rates amongst men, education and employment and further criticisms of the media, such as lack of positive reinforcement and role-models for young boys in the media, while presentation of positive female figures is a large aspect of much of the media.
They use this to argue that feminists don't want equality but really to oppress men and that feminism is not representative of woman, its just a theory, whereas masculism is representative of men and real issues of equality.
So how do we move forward together ?
