Dear women, you saying you do not need feminism using the argument that being a woman validates your stance is like me saying poor people don't need food because I'm doing fine even though I'm less well-off in my wealthy suburbs. Don't get me wrong, I hate a lot of aspects of mainstream media feminism. But there is a new feminism bashing by women who don't dislike what feminism has yet to improve, they dislikes what has already been achieved through feminism. You have already picked and chosen the aspects of feminism that others have fought for as your own and refuse to carry the torch for others. Once feminism becomes something that may require you to acknowledge any other privilege in your life and involves other aspects in which women are oppressed, you become uncomfortable. So then you believe it's okay to just say a little "fuck you" to the girl who gets acid splashed in her face for breaking up with her boyfriend and to the little girl who is already married at age 12.
Once the wealthy, white teenage girl feels she's equal, who the hell else could need equality? There are quite a few nasty little articles out there of reasons women do not declare themselves feminists. Women saying they are not feminists goes farther than a misunderstanding of "what feminism really means". It means gender equality, and everyone knows that. Now that the feminist movement has moved towards more intersectionality, it seems like many white women are gravitating away from it all the while hiding behind they're "Men deserve voices!" arguments. Many of these anti-feminist arguments claim feminism is hypocritical and promotes women over men. In leiu of the oh-so-horrifying word "feminist" they call themselves a "humanist" and use a historically incorrect definition of the word that basically is what feminism is.
I can see valid claims that mainstream feminism is ineffective or "stupid": lack of equality of women of color, disabled women, transgender women, etc. But those are not the claims being made. You are not a "humanist" you don't care about true equality. You are speaking out against feminism because you don't want equality. You have gotten what you need out of feminism and once you see that disabled women and women of color truly are routinely discriminated against, you turn a blind eye. You dismiss all who aren't like yourself. Anti-feminism has never been about promoting "real" equality, and the response to abandoning the feminism movement is to do nothing. The fact of the matter is Malala Yousefzai is not a historic figure. A mere four years ago, she was shot in the head for fighting for the right of education for women. Little girls are sold into sex trafficking and married off at age 12. It's similar to those who shout #AllLivesMatter. All Lives Matter activists do not speak out against the prejudiced killing of anyone, even white people who die unjustly at the hands of police are met with silence from the #AllLivesMatter group and outrage from Black Lives Matter movement. Similarly, denouncing feminism is not a tactic to promote true equality. Feminists care that men get longer sentences for the same crime, anti-feminist "humanists" do not. These contrasting movements are not a race to progressiveness or change, they are to antagonize and divide.
Everytime a women proclaims she is not a feminist because she believes in "true equality" someone interjects, usually with something along the lines of "You actually ARE a feminist! That's actually what REAL feminism is!". You are not for true equality. You know what feminism is. You're prejudiced and privileged and like it that way. You aren't a feminist. Congratulations.
