Yeah, I said it. I dropped the F-bomb. The word everyone hates to hear but can never actually define. Before you read this, you have to promise yourself to finish. You can't keep running around hating people whose movements you know nothing about. I saw your Snapchat... New year, new you, right?
For as long as I can remember, I've had ideas about oppression and how it operates, but I didn't realize that these concepts had actual names until college. And here I am three years later, a double-major in sociology and women and gender studies... Oh, and single as ever.
According to my personal experiences as a heterosexual Black woman, I have found that men find opinions quite sexy and intelligent... Until those opinions question their morals and the ways in which they take part in systems that negatively affect other people. I know that last part was a lot, but keep reading, I swear this will all make sense. Before I even continue, we must first ask ourselves what does gender even mean? What is a woman? Who can be considered a man? If you've ever taken a women and gender studies course, the first class is dedicated to understanding gender as a social construct, or something that is collectively defined in a particular society, or to put it simply... It's not real.
Sex is your biological makeup, and gender is your socially constructed identity. Think of gender as a performance. It's the way we dress, talk and act on a daily basis. But it's not only that; it's about producing behaviors that vary from context to context. If people present themselves as a member of a particular gender, then we perceive them in that way. Therefore, if gender was biological, we would automatically know how to be men and women instead of having to learn.
We are taught that physiology is the basis of gender, or that having a penis or vagina (even though some people are born with both) will define how you will interact with others. So far you're probably like, what does this have to do with feminism? What is she talking about? Well, let me put it this way: we look at gender through an oppositional binary (penis versus vagina), and this perception of difference assumes that to be a man is to not be a woman. These limited statuses are inherently heterosexual and force people into boxes that they don't always wish to fit into. How we do gender shapes our access to opportunities and institutions. It is fundamentally a power system.
But women have the right to vote, so why are y'all still complaining?
Another misconception about feminism is the history behind it. There are several different waves of the feminist movement, and each one had different goals. However, throughout each wave, certain groups of women were left out of the narrative and off of the agenda. For example, when white women were advocating for the right to take part in the labor force, Black women had already been working outside of the home for centuries and were facing different issues than their white counterparts. Because of this trend of privilege, feminism is often referred to as a white woman's movement, though women of color have always and continue to take part in different forms of resistance. To me, feminism extends beyond the classroom and the voting booth. It is my mother teaching me how to braid my hair; it is her mother and the way she hugs her Bible every Sunday morning; and it is me, writing this article.
When trying to understand oppression and how it operates, it is easier to refer to what scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw calls "intersectionality." This term is used to explain how different social identities such as race, class, gender and religion overlap. By using this lens to analyze political, economic and social issues, it becomes easier to understand how people's social positions shape their perspectives and realities.
But... Feminists are a giant cult of lesbians who wish to take over the world!
Wrong.
Feminism is a movement to end sexism and sexist oppression, which is not exclusively a women's issue. While men benefit from patriarchy, they are also oppressed by it. In patriarchal societies, definitions of masculinity are often very narrow and few men can access it (think of how race and class shape masculinity). It is usually tied to wealth, sexuality, aggression, violence, etc. These definitions are very detrimental not only to women, but men as well. They cause emotional and physical distress, and more often than not, death or jail.
Sexist oppression happens on both personal and institutional levels. It also intersects with other axes of domination. Feminism is not about framing women as victims and men as oppressors, and I think that's where a lot of people get confused. We are all privileged as well as disadvantaged and we must learn to analyze how our lives frame opposition within other intersecting structures.
But feminists make issues out of everything; y'all are always so angry.
Well, like racism and other systems of oppression, they must be acknowledged on a daily basis. Think of it this way, misogyny is not something that can be washed off. It is something that must be unlearned. And don't get me wrong, women take part in this as well, but men must confront, expose and transform the sexism of their peers. Though not all men benefit from patriarchy, all men do work to maintain it. It is apparent in the ways in which you refer to women, police their bodies and watch them in the workplace. It is also apparent in the ideologies that are perpetuated through memes on Facebook. For many, especially men of color, it is easy to understand how racism is a disadvantage, but in order for your revolution to truly be valid, you must realize that sexism is also an issue. You must correct your fathers, brothers and friends. And you must also learn to treat women as equals, not because you have a mother or a sister, but because we are human.
Unfortunately, this is only a snippet of a much bigger discussion, but I hope to have positively influenced your perspective on what it means to be a feminist. And please, never be afraid to tell people that you identify as one. Think of feminism as a filter, and the world as a photo—when you apply it, things look a whole lot better.
