As a feminist, I'm used to having to defend my ideologies. I don't "shove them down people's throat", or harass them. However, when articles like "I Am A Female And I Am So Over Feminists" gain popularity, I am saddened by the completely inaccurate assumptions that are often made about Feminism. I'm all for differences in opinion, but my biggest problem with this article is that the author, and a lot of the people who shared and commented, have no idea what Feminism is. So, as a proud Feminist, I would like to debunk some of the false statements made in that article.
People often think that identifying as a Feminist means you're a "man hater". Let's get some vocab, shall we? The term for hatred of men is Misandry, not Feminism. In fact, some research on Feminism or even a simple Google search will show that Feminism is "the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men". Keyword here is EQUALITY. Feminists don't think they're any better than men, they just want the same rights. In fact, Feminists often fight for male equality as well. Feminists believe in challenging conventional gender roles that tell men that they have to be masculine or they're considered weak. Feminists have fought for increased paternity leave so that men can take time off work to be with their babies. Thinking that Feminism is only beneficial to women is extremely damaging and completely misses the point of what it means to be a Feminist. If you claim to be over Feminists because we "hate men", it's not really Feminism that you have a problem with, so please do your research.
Another particularly troubling part of the article is that the author says "Women have never been more respected". That's funny, considering on October 19th, 2016, #repealthe19th started trending on Twitter. Or, better yet, we have a candidate running for president who says he gropes and kisses women without their consent. There is even an outpour of individuals who have dismissed these atrocious statements as "locker room talk", treating it like these words are meaningless. It's this kind of insidious talk about helping yourselves to women without their permission that leads to things like, I don't know, a Stanford swimmer rapist sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. We live in a society of many double standards, one being sexuality. Overlooking consent is NOT locker room talk, it is a perpetuation of rape culture and the fact that so many people fail to recognize that shows that women are not more respected than ever. You really want to tell me that we've reached gender equality when there is still a 20 percent wage gap? Just because we've scratched the surface doesn't mean the fight for equality is over. We could potentially have a female president for the first time in history, yet the sexist commentary that has been brought out during this election shows we're not as progressive with gender equality as we think we are. We need Feminism more than ever.
So, to the author of "A female who's so over Feminists", it's not Feminists you're over, it's women who support misandry. Feminists' don't hate men, and we don't blame men for all of our problems. Women AND men who misunderstand and misrepresent Feminism are a part of the problem.
