Do you fear Feminism?

“The Fear of Feminism”

By Sabba Hussain

This is what many people initially think feminists are:

Ugly, Hairy, Angry,Pretentious, Lesbian, Female chauvinist,Man-haters.

This is because the majority of us were taught this, from an innumerable amount of outlets. So it is not surprising that usually when the ideology of feminism is brought up, I hear different people bring up the same antagonistic comments which they think are edgy and unique, but in reality, are predictable and nonsensical. I find it entertaining when people try to argue against feminism, because those people always exhibit blatant signs of not understanding it. Unless, of course, those people are misanthropes, in which case, congratulations, at least they know what they are arguing against. And I deliberately use the word, “misanthrope” instead of “misogynist” because feminism pertains to women’s and men’s issues alike. I’ve heard the argument, “Maybe, if the title itself did not make it seem so inherently biased towards women, more people would be drawn towards it.” While there is probably truth to that statement, we shouldn’t blame the name of the ideology because that provides a justification for ignorant people to make assumptions about something without learning about it. Do we immediately presume that the Civil War was civil simply because that word is in it? No, but that’s because we are actually educated on the Civil War at some point before college. And no, it’s not like I just took a few women’s studies courses and all of a sudden I felt the right to self-proclaim myself a feminist, I’ve been enthralled with this topic for years before I came to college.

So maybe that’s why I’ve found that, somehow there are people who have taken a gender studies course, which has explained to them the definition of feminism (equal rights and treatment for and of men and women), yet still manage to not get it. And yet, when explained to them again, they still have these inbred negative stereotypes which are ironic and quite humorous. The following are some memorable quotes that people have either said to me or said in general. And I could have gone for the more unabashed anti-feminist statements, but I think there is much more to be said about the comments/questions that first make the claim that they support and/or understand the idea, and then go on to either belittle it or make an inaccurate statement about it.

We are only concerned with women…

Included among the endless number of funny things I’ve heard people question about feminism is, “What’s the male equivalent of a feminist?” Well, is it, A) A male chauvinist B) A silly goose or C) A feminist? Believe it or not, the answer is C, because feminists can be females and males! This ideology enlightens people to the negative consequences of gender stereotyping of both sexes and teaches people how to respect and value everyone regardless of their differences. This is far from a female-only relevant theory and the issues that fall under it affect all human beings.

We are prudes who abhor sex…

“Don’t feminists hate sex?” I’m assuming that this one comes from the media-driven perception of feminists being only females who are “butch” ugly, and man-hating. Well, this concept is completely contrary, because this ideology is actually one of the rare bodies of thought that advocates genuine, pleasurable, responsible and healthy female sexuality. Feminism promotes choice, freedom, and equality of treatment towards all people. So how does it possibly make sense for this concept to not allow women the freedom of choice to have or like sex, when in almost all societies it is perfectly acceptable and understood that men will enjoy this freedom without any criticisms?

We don’t revere the women we came from...

“The problem with feminism is; I don’t think there’s anything wrong with housewives. I can’t agree with this ideology because I want to be a homemaker, or I want my wife to stay at home in my future family, or my mother was a homemaker.” This idea probably stems from the perception that brainwashed the majority of us into thinking that feminists are angry, pretentious, female chauvinists. Feminism does not restrict women to only the work field, if that was the case, then it would be just as repressive a principle as the one it was opposing. This, again, is a lack of basic knowledge of this theory. Feminism promotes awareness; awareness of why we make the decisions we make, and whether or not these decisions are socially constructed or actually what we want. Also, this ideology urges respect for all human beings, and it would be pretty damn hypocritical if we did not appreciate stay-at-home moms, or mothers in general, for that matter.

Feminists are all ugly…

“I don’t know; I just like being a girly-girl. I can’t be a feminist because they are gross, dirty and don’t shave!” Mm… not so much. I guess, this individual was thinking of the stereotypical negative portrayal of “ugly” feminists from the 70’s who refused to shave because they realized that it was just one of those things that was forced upon them and unnecessary. There are innumerable ridiculously-good-looking feminists (wink, wink.) No, but seriously, because feminists are aware of the fact that beauty norms in our society are completely made up and have very little practical or beneficial use, these people tend to be more confident and comfortable with themselves and with their appearances. Also, this ideology does not put down any sort of lifestyle so long as people are knowledgeable of why they are doing what they are doing. You can be a “girly-girl” and be a feminist. This is one of those concepts that many people have trouble grasping. There is such a wide range of appearances of people who claim to be feminists. There is no standard predictable look. And about the shaving, it’s as simple as an individual preference.

We have nothing to fight for...

“Isn’t it pretty pointless now, I mean aren’t men and women equal? Women have the exact same rights and are treated the same as men, at least in America, so why are feminists still around?” The problem with people thinking that women and men are equal in America is the fact that- assuming these people actually believe what they’re saying- they are most likely comparing the treatment of women in the US to the treatment of women in Middle Eastern and North African countries. These are not places that we should be comparing ourselves to and then patting ourselves on the back for being so much better than. In the US, women are still not paid the same as men for doing the same job. We are still denied contraception in pharmacies in some states based on our marital status whereas males would never be questioned on this if they were to buy condoms in those same states. We are charged for indecent exposure when being bare-chested in public, whereas men enjoy that freedom; and there are still an insane amount of sexist laws that prohibit us from making decisions regarding our own bodies.

We burn bras…

This last quote worries me the most because it came from a feminist article which was written accurately and was thought-provoking, up until the conclusion, which stated something similar to, “we’ve come a long way since the days of bra-burning!” I was dismayed at the writer’s naiveté, because this person did no research regarding the concept of bra-burning, considering… it never happened, ever. Look it up. It’s just a perfect example of a stereotype that portrays feminists as crazy, unorganized savages who don’t know what they’re doing or saying. This just shows how wrong the information that we learn about feminism is; some feminists still believe incorrect information about it.

As I originally claimed, the only reason anyone insults feminism is either because they do not fully understand it or because they do hate all human beings. Males are disadvantaged in many aspects of society in America along with women, and if people were just aware of the fact that there are an equal amount of male issues that feminism deals with, people would be much more accepting of this ideology and of all of the positive things that they could be enlightened by, too. Therefore, my main gripe is the fact that there are so many people, who have either made comments directly towards me or just in general, who feel such a blatantly strong contempt towards feminism, and who hold such a belief of entitlement to bash on an idea that they clearly know so very little about. And I could bring up an excessive amount of historical analogies related to my aforementioned affliction, but I’ll let you realize the general problems that arise when people feel the right and even, the need, to trivialize a movement for human rights because of a prevalence of inaccurate information. So, I strongly urge all people, including myself, to not spew their unformulated opinions on subjects in which they have not done enough of their own proper research.