Do you consider yourself a feminist? Can men be feminists too? If the word has got a bad reputation, why do
you think this is true? Do you admire
Emma Watson for speaking up about it?
If these are the false definitions of feminism, what is your definition?
This comment is from Alexandra Rampašeková,
ReplyDeleteI am trully satisfied, famous icon Watson brought up this serious problem to public. I, personaly, have been interested in problem of gender equality for a long time, now. When I firstly heard about young Harry Potter’s girl speech to this topic, I became very sceptical. Turned out I have underestimated her a lot. She portrayed the problem of feminism perfectly in her speech for the HeForShe campaign. In something over than 12 minutes she managed to deny all stereotypes associated with feminism and defined feminism by it’s true meaning, on which I completely agree with her.
Focusing also on the men and boys, in the question of gender inequality, is a great way how to achieve the change. We DO NOT want to put genders to any conflict or even to compare them. We want just equality, in the countries of third world, so no other young girl is sold to her future husband, who would sexualy or somehow differenly abuse her. And in developed countries of America and Europe no other woman would recieve lower salary for the exactly same work as man do. There is a lot of inequality in political, economical, social, familiar and many more concrete spheres.
According to my opinion, this huge problem originated from the past of no human’s rights, slavery and oppressed diversity of individuality. But society has already changed! We can’t keep on living with limited principles form the past. People fight for education for everybody and unmodified information. They fight aginst government iniquity. They fight against children’s work or for animal rights. I do not see anything bad on woman fighting for her rights. I do not see the mistake in advocating social position as an equal human being to man. Feminism is just THE WAY how women are trying to change the reality. It is certainly not man hating, not even by definition as Watson said. If somebody tells you opposite, he or even she does absolutely not know enough about the problem and cover his or her unknowing under feminism. What me as a girl find degrading is the fact, that the men or the society can think I am less of a person just because I was not born with male sexual characteristics. Ineqality is happening and lasting, because women still get less oportunities than man. The importance of equality for me is the importance of respect and gratitude between genders. Nonetheless every son has a mother he loves endlessly. There are quantum of mothers in the world, all of them deserve to be full-valued by her son, husband and society.
Couple of days before I saw this article I watched Emma Watson speech on the internet. There was a big discussion on this topic, and immediately as I found this article, I decided to take opportunity and express my feeling about feminism too. Firstly, it’s hard to define myself as a feminist. This word has got many degrading meanings such as bra-burning lesbians or the fact that feminists hate men. According to these meanings I would definitely not be able to describe myself as a feminist. Because I do not hate men, moreover I honestly consider them as essential part of my life. And I simply cannot agree with the idea of avoiding them for the rest of my life. On the other hand, Emma Watson defined term feminism as a fight for equality of both genders. I think this is the original meaning of this word and that is the meaning I can identify with. I am person who would fight for the equality between men and women, not the strict rule of women which is something often collocated with feminism. The fine balance between men and women is needed. Therefore I admire Emma Watson for speaking up about this topic, for having speech about original meaning of this term and for showing the public the proper way of being a feminist.
ReplyDeleteAlthough as I mentioned before, feminism is equality of sexes, I do not think a man can be a feminist. This word had always been the female part of fight for equality. I understand it must be hard for men to describe them as a feminist although they believe in the equality of both genders, because society simply connected this word with the birth-giving half of population. Probably, because in the past, there had been constant domination of men and therefore women started to feel oppressed. But as Pharrell Williams said in his interview even if men are not capable of considering themselves as feminist they can support them in many ways. Also Emma invited men in her speech to participate. And I believe in future they will change their minds about feminist being a complaining anti-men figures and join the fight for the equality of genders.
Equilibrium, the fine balance between two sexes, sought for decades since the rise of men superiority awareness. Unfortunately, even after many attempts to finally equalise women and treat them the same way in every aspect of life, we still find ourselves in era where women serve as slightly inferior. When I think of this topic the word feminism inevitably pops into my mind. Not very long time ago, I was having this conversation with one of my male friends, we were discussing feminism and saw it as a manifest against men. I declared myself as a non-feminist and condemned the policy of feminism, despite the fact that I have always believed in gender equality. However, little bit of interest in this topic have shown that I was also the victim of negativism and scepticism of biased society.
ReplyDeleteThis misperception of this movement amongst people is truly outraging. Further analysis made me believe that media, the weapon of those with might, in this case men who want to remain in the stronger position made feminism the unattractive movement which is trying to extinct men from society. Emma´s strong but uncontroversial speech was the element, which was missing in today society. She redefined the word feminism and also opened a whole new topic about men becoming feminists too. On the other hand, I can see a logical mistake, if someone is trying to overcome double standards in society (what Emma was pinpointing in her speech), he cannot relate to feminism. I believe the better strategy would be direct statement: Men, you have to fight for women!
Another aspect I would like to look at is the question of enhancing women´s position all around the globe. Emma in her speech tackled the problem of the way women are treated in various cultures. Although, I believe in ethical relativism, I am also a supporter of global moralism. Let me explain, if some culture believes in certain social or moral values it is acceptable for others to tolerate them, but on the other hand there are certain rules and obligations in social equality we should obey. Therefore, there is nothing else left to say except that I strongly agree with Emma´s idea of making social and economical equality vital part of the purpose of feminism, but I would put more stress on underdeveloped countries and cases like the one of Malala Youszafzai, so that the message and legacy of women everyday´s fight against oppression would appear far more embodied and subsequently more legitimate.
To conclude, I believe that Emma´s passion and world´s desperate need for change will finally lead us to the society where gender equality is the cornerstone of functioning in the manner that determines humanity. However, I need to be sceptical and say that the effort of one person is not enough for the drastic change, the vulnerable yearn. Power is in the unity.
Vanessa Maderová
This comment is by Veronika Zrubakova.
ReplyDeleteWhy it is not okay to pay less to black people, but it is perfectly acceptable to be paid less if you are a woman? What is the difference? In fact, there is no real difference. Then why are people supported, if they fight against racism, but people (sadly, I wanted to write ‘women’) who are for gender equality are unwanted? I honestly think, that the biggest problem is, that people do not truly understand the word ‘feminism’. The majority (and mainly I speak about men) thinks those are strong women, who want to rule the world, women who think they are better than men, or even lesbians. But this is not what feminism is about!
Feminism speaks about discourse (which means accepting society’s opinions without thinking about them) and differences between genders created by society. They ask: why cannot a man adopt a child? Why do men have to be the stronger ones in the relationship? Why do men get a job - higher position - more easily? That when you send application with the very same CV, though only difference is in the name - one is John Brown and another Jane Brown. He is accepted. This means that even though, you are formally free, it does not happen in the society. Against this feminism fights, this is what it is about.
So who are feminists, if they are not ‘men-haters’ like Shailene Woodley thought? Indeed, they are normal women, who wear dress, who can marry men, and even conservative tea-party women. Furthermore, feminists are not suposed to be only women. Labeling yourself a feminist means that you support the idea of social equality. Consequently, I think that if people knew the real meaning of feminism, the word would not be that unpopular as Emma says. Additionally, more people would label themselves as feminists – even men.
I strongly disagree with what Pharrell Williams said – that men cannot be feminists. Of course they can! And they should. Because lf this, what Emma Watson did - their formal invitation - was needed. Truly, this is the first time I remember someone speaking about the real feminism, until her speech, media had only talked about the extremists – like the case in Sweden, when women wanted to make urinals illegal. Thus, the reason why people do not label themselves feminists is that they do not know what it is. However, a lot of people still support these ideas.
Honestly, I was disappointed by reactions to Emma’s video. This speech was exactly what makes us different from the underdeveloped countries. Here can a woman stand up, talk about social problems and be respected, while if Malala Yousafzai wants education for women in Pakistan, people shoot her. We live in developed world, where women are already formally equal, we only need the very last step to do – we have to remove the discourse and unjustified privileges of one gender. This is the difference that we are proud of, so why does not everyone support her? Why have people threatened her that they would release her naked photos because of what she has done? Maybe because they are afraid, maybe they do not understand. Truly, people are not used to statements like this from women. But it is necessary to get used to them. And what Emma did, was that she became a possible role-model for other women. Therefore, I consider her one of the most important women of this time. She has become a proof, that feminism is not unglamorous or ‘a movement against men’. We see that even Spice Girls could stay the same and be feminists at the same time, they should not have been afraid.
This is the continuation of Veronika Zrubakova's comment:
ReplyDeleteIn summary, most of people are not feminists only because they do not really know what it is. It is about erasing the discourse from society. Because of the extremists, and that the media only speak about them, people have wrong picture of feminism. Therefore, men are not interested and think it is only for women. It is sad, that probably most of the comments here will be from girls, if not all of them. Moreover, not everyone has understood the meaning of Watson’s speech. She has become hated by some people, anti-campaigns have appeared. On the other hand, I believe she has already become a role model for thousands of women all over the world, and she has got my biggest admiration.