Feminism, and why you should support it.
Now, I'm sure we’ve all heard of feminism before, but do you really understand what its about? Because, where I'm from at least, most men and even some women don't understand feminism and think that its just women thinking that they are better than men. They are wrong. It’s so much more then that.
Feminism is not about women being seen as greater than men, it’s about us all being seen as equal. Feminists challenge social norms to try and abolish the patriarchy.
You might be thinking, “well I'm a man so why should I support feminism?” and if you've done your research you might be thinking, “well men's lives matter too, there are more male suicides then women’s!” I fully understand where your coming from, and this is where feminism can help you. In the paragraph above I mentioned that feminists are trying to abolish the patriarchy, well believe it or not, the patriarchy is why there are more male suicides. The patriarchy enforced this stereotype and this normality on us that women are weak so they can show emotions but men should be strong and not show emotions, therefore, men feel like they have to bottle up their emotions which scientists have proved is extremely bad for your mental health.
Because of feminism us as a society have come so far, but unfortunately we still have a long way to go before people are treated equally. Because of feminism, women can: vote, work, wear what we want, drive, etc. These are all things that men have always been able to do.
Unfortunately, as I mentioned in my fourth paragraph, society still has so far to come until women are treated equally. Did you know, there are women being murdered purely because of their gender? Women are also more likely to be victims of domestic violence. Globally, 35 per cent of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence. This figure does not include sexual harassment. Some national studies show that the number can be as high as 70 per cent of women. Also, 137 women are killed by a member of their family every day.
In this paragraph, we will be talking about rape, please skip this paragraph if you know you can’t handle it.
As of 1998, 9 in 10 American rape victims are female. Rape is still happening at an alarming rate and it needs to be talked about. When someone brings up women being raped or shares their own experience, don’t invalidate their experience by telling them that men also get raped or by asking them what they were wearing/ how they were acting. Yes, men do get raped, but because of the patriarchy, men get their experience invalidated because “they should've liked it.” Feminists are trying to abolish the patriarchy, support feminism and abolish the patriarchy. Also, what a woman is wearing/ how they are acting is never an excuse for rape. 100% of rapes are due to rapists not clothes. Are you going to tell a child they are dressing too provocatively? Don’t tell women what to wear or stop them from being themselves just because men cant control themselves.
Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. Its about changing the way the world perceives that strength.
— G.D. Anderson
What can you do? Don’t be a part of the problem, be a part of the solution. Don’t make sexist jokes or rape jokes, because that just normalises it, and if someone else does educate them on the matter. You could also educate yourself more and don’t be afraid to ask questions about feminism if it will further your knowledge and understanding. Go to protests. don’t worry if you can’t though, you could get involved at home by signing petitions or donating.
