FEMINISM: A MISUNDERSTOOD IDEOLOGY
Usually when someone hears the word “feminist”, what comes to their mind is that a feminist is a woman who hates men, as men cannot be feminists! Duh! Don’t you know, a man being a feminist would be a man being against his own gender? And dear people, I pity you for living in this 21st century, thinking yourself to be no less than a stud, lacking the basic knowledge of what a feminist is, inspite of being educated enough!
Feminists are not women who think they are cooler and better than men. Let me also tell you they don’t believe that all men suck and should rot in hell. Feminism is not a concept that was defined by a group of women who sat around in tea parties and gossiped about men and how the women deserve to have power over them. This is an age-old ideology that has progressed over the years to create a force that is to be reckoned with. Historically speaking, feminism was advocated by women who fought in suffrage movements and promoted the equal right to vote. But this was not the only factor that contributed to such a powerful movement. Women across the world were equipped with the mind of revolution against the discrimination that was shown against them in different ways, such as- “being a woman” meant that you are weak or “being a woman” meant that you had no voice or “being a woman” meant that you had no reason to live after your husband dies. The reason feminism is mostly seen as a difficult ideology to process is because it goes against the social and cultural norms and also tackles atrocious old religious text that constraints women. In many parts around the world, women are expected to work or function according to certain standards and rules. And most of these norms do not apply for men. In fact, the men are seen as privileged and the women are seen as supporting these privileges of the men. And the problem with such cultural norms is that women are born and taught these things which conditions them to teach their daughters that there is no equality amongst men and women. And that is where the feminist movement is trying to bring a change. No longer are we living in a world that is one-tracked. We live in a world where people are coming up with new ideas and changing the face of mankind in a more evolved sense. Cultural and religious constraints can no longer hold women who are strong, intelligent and have a sense in achieving what they believe in. It is true that now-a-days women are given more opportunities, seen as equal to men in whatever work they do and have an identity that was once impossible to imagine in the earlier days. But there are still many cases and places where women are tortured, abused and treated like dirt. Feminism can still be seen as a struggling social change because there are men(mostly) who think feminism is just another way to give women more power when that is really not what it is. In fact, a few months back there was a movement on Twitter that was started by a group of idiotic people who advocated the term-“Menimism”. It was stupid because it was made to ridicule the thinking behind the feminist movement.
THIS clearly shows how misunderstood the concept of feminism is. People think it’s about women being superior, but it’s not. It has taken a long time for women to come to a position that we see them as today. But even though this may seem like a better time than it was many years ago, women are still seen as UNEQUAL. That is all. And it is because of that inequality, women suffer. Feminism is only trying to level the playing field, not give women extra privileges. Feminism is the only platform that allows women AND men to function in a respectful and socially accepting environment. This is not a matter of power-driven ambitions of women but a matter of advocating equality amongst ALL genders.
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About the Author: This article is contributed by Joshua Moses, our intern.
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