A Response To Women Against Feminism By A Geeky Feminist

A Response To Women Against Feminism By A Geeky Feminist

A Response To Women Against Feminism By A Geeky Feminist

If you feel that you have so far lived your life unaffected by even the mildest form of sexism – anything from feeling uncomfortable when a man catcalls you in the street, to feeling scared walking home alone at night in a secluded area – and are treated with love and respect by every man in your life, then to you I say: I’m glad for you. If you don’t think you need feminism, then that is a victory for the movement. You have fulfilled all those dreams that every suffragette being force-fed in prison and every ‘witch’ burnt at the stake dreamed you would one day.

Related: Why Natalie Barr got feminism all wrong

But perhaps take a second to consider the life of the Pakistani woman who was beaten to death by her own family for marrying a man of her choosing. Or the life of the Indian woman who was raped, beaten, and murdered on a bus by a gang of men. Or the life of the little girl in Niger who was sold to a man more than twice her own age and forced to carry a baby that may kill her to deliver. Do they still need feminism?

If you don’t think you need feminism, then that is a victory for the movement. You have fulfilled all those dreams that every suffragette being force-fed in prison and every ‘witch’ burnt at the stake dreamed you would one day.

And perhaps take a second to consider this too: Even in our liberal, Western world, why do women still only fill 24% of senior management jobs? Why are more women than men domestically abused or even killed every week at the hands of their male partner or ex-partner? Why is there still a pay gap (in the UK specifically) of 15% for women doing the same jobs and working the same hours as men?

And what about on a cultural level? Have you ever noticed how comedy panel shows usually only have one female panellist compared to 4-5 male ones? That almost every dieting product on the market is solely aimed at women? How a lot of newspapers and advertising campaigns will use a sexualised or pornographic image of a woman to sell news or products that have nothing to do with sex?

Or perhaps on a personal level: Do you choose to wear certain clothes because you want to or because you feel ‘unfeminine’ if you don’t? Do you choose to cover yourself up because you want to or because you feel ashamed or intimidated by a man looking at your body? Do you shave your legs and underarm hair because you want to or because you will look ‘ugly’ if you don’t? Did your parents dress you in pink as a baby because they liked the colour or because you were born a girl? Do you want to have children because you want to or because you are a woman?

When you look at yourself in the mirror in the morning, do you see yourself through your own eyes, or through the eyes of the men that will look at you when you walk out the door?

The fact is, like it or not, you still live a world where gender matters. Where gender controls not just the entire course of your life – but the lives of women all over the world. Every second, a child will be born female in a country where she will persecuted for this random biological occurrence for the rest of her life. So before you hold up your anti-Feminist placard proudly and smile at your own sense of empowerment, think not what Feminism can do for you, but what it can do for that one girl. She needs someone to stand up for her. That someone could be you.

 

This post was first published on IWantedWings.

Featured image: Women Against Feminism / Facebook

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comments
  • Now imagine this, you’re a man who’s wife is divorcing you and taking sole custody of your child. You lose the battle by default based solely on your gender.

    Don’t give me your propaganda BS. Feminists don’t even fight for women in the 3rd world. They’re just a marketing scheme. When was the last time any of you were over there promoting equality? And don’t give me this “gender equality” BS either, because boys get burned alive in their own schools in Africa. Men die by the hundreds so their wives and families can escape. Your equality is broken, because you tunnel visioned on you and yours and forgot about the rest. You forgot the golden rule of equality, EQUAL. EQUAL attention to the sexes. EQUAL attention to all human rights violations. EQUAL inclusion of all persons regardless of race, sex, or sexual orientation.

    Imagine this, feminism actually stood for equality. Then it wouldn’t be called “feminism”, a gender specific term.

  • While I can understand the extreme examples, I don’t think sexism should be portrayed as something that happens in developing countries. There’s plenty of it going around in the developed world, including big and small examples. White women with jobs are not immune to it. Women who don’t get feminism should also not be stereotyped as privileged whites. Stop simplifying and stereotyping.

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