Hello Steemians.
It's been a minute.
Been so carried away with life, I put Steemit on hold, but never again! I'm back.
I am super excited and to share my opinion on a very sensitive topic; feminism.
What Feminism is:
Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve political, economic, personal, and social equality of sexes.
How it all began
The history of modern day feminism was divided into three waves:
The first wave comprised women's suffrage movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, promoting women's right to vote.
The second wave campaigned for legal and social equality for women.
The third wave is a continuation of, and a reaction to, the failures of second-wave feminism, which began in the 1990s.
Okay, now cut all the gibberish from wikipedia, I'm going to give my opinion.
You see, in the eras past, women were most likely treated terribly. They were called the weaker sex, the inferiors, and all what not. Derrogatory phrases were used on women. It was not uncommon to hear things like:
"women should be seen, not heard"
"a woman is only half without a man"
"women education ends in the kitchen".
Women were being treated unfairly and frankly, the birth of feminism was a breath of fresh air. It was here to liberate women from the constraints of the society.
Feminism was meant to be synonymous to equality of the sexes.
Pardon me but in my opinion feminism has been blown way out of proportion.
The other day, asked if I had seen the interview between renowned feminist, Chimamanda Adichie and former US presidential aspirant Hilary Clinton.
Apparently, the former had a problem with the fact that Hilary Clinton's twitter bio had "Wife" as the first description of her person. The secondary problem was that her spouse's bio didn't start with the corresponding "husband" description.
Let me organise my thoughts. I really did think the whole feminism movement would liberate women and enable them do whatever they wanted without the limitation of the confines of the society but that is not what feminism is these days.
Modern Feminism
Modern feminism has got it wrong about men
Today's feminism teaches women to see themselves as victims and men as perverts, bullies and misogynists.
-Natasha Devon
I saw the above quote on "the telegram" and I couldn't agree more.
The Faults
Female Superiority: Excuse me, but wasn't this the reason feminism became a thing? To prove equality of the sexes? How has it turned into a "women are better than men" movement?
It's not uncommon to hear stuff like "what a man can do, a woman can do better".
Now it's not wrong to defend yourselves when some dim-witted members of the male and female folk are trying to undermine your intellect based on your sex/gender but besides that, there's nothing to prove to anyone. We are equals. It's just what it is.Male Hatred: The feminism movement has actually spurred women to see men as competitors, which is absolutely unnecessary if you ask me. It has also made us unnecessarily biased about men-related issues. We go out of our way to do things just to convince ourselves that we have a "living, inner, feisty feminist"
Faulty Ideologies: So what if I can't change the car tyres? What if I can't move the couch to find my favourite pair of earrings?
Women are not necessarily equal to men because they can do all the stuff that men can. Far from it. Besides, the effects of testosterone and estrogen are too different, there is no basis for comparison. We are equal because we complement each other. Women are capable of a wider range of emotions and compassion than men. Men generally have more physical strength than men. So there really is no superiority.
- The confines: Expectations birth disappointments. Before feminism, we had a certain confining role. We didn't like this, so we embraced feminism.
Now we are trapped in another box, the box of trying to be "feminists".
What if I'm tired of boxes?
What if my family is my greatest achievement?
What if I want to have a fulfilling career and still be back home by 5pm to make dinner for my family?
What if I'd rather be home watching my children as they hit all developmental milestones?
What if I prefer beautiful family time to long hostile office hours?
Heck, it's nobody's business!