Not Every Feminist Is A Feminazi...Who Knew?
When I go back to the beginning of last week, to my views and ideas surrounding feminism, they were...not great. I suppose I can blame the media for portraying feminist as men-hating, rally- gathering, angry women. When I thought of feminist, those were the images that came to my mind. Thousands of angry women who believe that men are the devil and should all be banished to eternal hell. Turns out, that's not the case. Who knew?
After reading the first chapter, and talking in class, my views and ideas about feminsts have changed, slightly. The shared idea is that all human beings, men or women, of any color, any religion, any sexual orientation, ALL deserve to have equal rights- and that is something I can get behind. It's about uniting as a whole to fight for being treated equal.
In the beginning, I guess I wasn't sure why we have or need feminism when we do have rights, we are allowed to work, to vote, to get degrees. With the understanding I have now, we need feminism because we send girls home from school for wearing tank tops in the summer, because they are a distraction to the boys- rather than teaching boys not to view girls as objects. We need feminism because people still use phrases like, "Oh, you run like a girl." implying that doing something "like a girl" is a bad thing. We need feminism because there are people who view woman as weak simply because they are a woman. We need feminism to prove to, not ourselves, but to the world, that we ARE strong.
Learning goals? I would love to learn more about feminism as a whole. What it stands for, what they believe in. I would also like to take a look at the radical feminists, and talk about why they feel the way they do; because I feel like they have the same desire to be treated as equals to men, but they bash men, and shame them. Feminism is not about shaming, in fact, I believe it's the exact opposite.
Gender does not define strength, and ability.
I agree, I had a similar view and similar change in perspective when I spent some time reading and listening in class. Nice to know I'm not the only one
ReplyDeleteYou have no idea how good it is know that I am not the only one. I still have a few questions in regard to what it is, exactly. However, I think as the class goes on, we'll gain a little bit more knowledge, and potentially have different views at the end of the semester.
DeleteDefinitely, I agree. I think this is gonna be a super interesting class
DeleteI like that you included how girls get sent home or scolded for what they are wearing at school. Sure there definitely should be limits on what's acceptable, even just in high school, but it shouldn't matter, if we're not viewed as sexual objects.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think it's dumb that girls are literally sent home for showing shoulders, and actually missing class because of a dress code that caters to guys being "distracted". Like, guys. You're literally making people miss class because of this? It's dumb
DeleteTHANK YOU! It also doesn't help being tall, the shorts that are meant for people who are 5'5 do not fit me the same, seeing as how I am 5'9. If it's hot out, it's hot out, we should be able to be comfortable (within reason).
DeleteI have the opposite problem, I'm always too short ;v;
DeleteI know that we will probably cover this in more detail, but "run like a girl" and the concept of the gender "norms" is what the social construction of gender is. Which to be honest I love and hate all at the same time, so I will settle that I find it interesting and something that I hope we can eventually get to a general understanding or abolishment of all together.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the way you conveyed why we need feminism. While certain things have indeed become less of a problem, women are sadly not on an even playing field with men. While this may be due to any number of reasons, you did a good job in your writing illustrating the small things that make a major difference in terms of that metaphorical playing field. I believe that the small things are just as important to fight for as the big things, if true equity is to be achieved. Do you think the small things carry as much weight as some of the larger issues, or do think bigger things should be focused on more?
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for anyone here, but to me both seem to be important in some way. The bigger issues are things that should probably be dealt with first, such as the mistreatment of women int he middle east and other areas around the world, but also the little things kind of build up and create this environment that's not very friendly, if you get what I mean. I think it's this mindset and subconscious bias that sort of holds back progress, if you get what I mean. Though, I'm not really sure that's something that can ever be fixed
DeleteI feel like, even though they are small issues, they still carry a lot of weight. They work hand in hand with the big issues. In order to be equal on every level, we need to stop viewing each other as opponents, who we constantly beat down and say the other person isn't qualified simply because they were born with a different genetic make-up. We need to work together, towards the same goal, bettering ourselves and better those around us. Help each other, regardless of gender, or sexual orientation, those factors should not play a part in whether a person gets a certain job title, or rights.
DeleteIf that makes sense.
That's a really good argument, I really like how you worded that
DeleteYou include some great examples here of everyday inequality, like school dress codes. One thing I'll say about radical feminists is that they are also not a monolith, and that label has been used in a variety of ways by insiders and outsiders to create perceptions that might not map on to reality.
ReplyDeleteWhat i mean is that folks use the label "radical feminist" as if everyone who is radical believes the same things, and that is not the case. within the feminist movement, we use "radical" to describe approaches to change that advocate for a brand new way of doing things rather than just fixing the way things have been done (replace vs. revise, I guess you could say).
DeleteI had the same view of feminism in the beginning and I now have came to an understanding of feminism and what it actually means.
ReplyDelete