Firstly, a quick survey:
Raise your hand if you would describe yourself as a Feminist.
Now, raise your hand if you believe in all people having equal rights.
If you raised your hand for the second but not first statement, then I have something to tell you.
Feminism is the fight for equality. Sorry to break it to you.
Many people recognise that we’ve come a long way since the 1400s, the 1900s even. Women can vote, they can have high flying jobs, an education, wear trousers…
So, has Feminism become an outdated concept?
Today in 2020, what does it mean to call yourself a Feminist?
In answer to my first question, all I have to say is this: the leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world has openly bragged about “grabbing pussy”.
If Donald Trump is still getting away with saying these things and his supporters still adore him, we have a long way to go.
I am fortunate enough to believe that if I work hard enough, I can be and do anything I want.
But there are so many girls my age who don’t have that outlook.
Women are still regarded differently by the press. Films with a predominantly female cast are still practically unheard of when compared to movies with central male characters, there are girls in some countries who are not allowed to be educated or are brought up being taught that their sole purpose in life is to marry and have children.
So yes, we still have a way to go.
But what does it mean when I call myself a Feminist?
Feminism now seems to have connotations of angry, aggressive, men-hating women.
Why?
When did Feminism become such a taboo word? When did announcing you’re a Feminist have to be accompanied by, ‘but I still shave my legs and I don’t think all men are evil’.
One of my teachers once told me she wouldn’t describe herself as a Feminist because she was an ‘Equalist’. Finding out that a woman who, as a teacher, is such a significant role model to young people, didn’t understand that to be a Feminist means to want equality, shocked me.
Why is it that when opening up conversations about Feminism with some of the boys in my year group I have frequently been met with the word “feminazi”? As though feminists are an extremist group of women intent on bringing men down.
This is not what Feminism means.
Nor are Feminists one specific group of people.
In the same way that different genders should not have to conform to certain stereotypes, to be a Feminist doesn’t mean you have to fit a set of descriptions.
Being a Feminist isn’t an expectation to riot on the streets, or attack anybody who says something that could be considered sexist.
Feminism isn’t limited to people who have encountered gender discrimination, it isn’t limited to any age, and it isn’t limited to just women.
So why do I feel that if I were to do a survey in my school community that so few people would actively declare they were Feminists? What is it about the word that has become so off-putting and toxic? Is it that fact that the beginning of the word comes from “feminine” and “female”?
Does the ‘ism’ on the end connect the word too closely to ‘extremism’?
During the Suffragette movement women had to resort to extremism in order to achieve change. Peaceful protests weren’t enough to convince the men around them that they deserved a voice. That they deserved respect.
It is because of their extremism that so many of us are now so busy taking advantage of the benefits of Feminism that we don’t want any association with the word. Where we live, we have control over our bodies, the right to marry out of love rather than obligation, freedom to express ourselves, to vote… These things are as a result of the actions of women who starved themselves in order to be heard. Women who felt that defending their rights was more important than life itself. And yet today, so many people have no interest in being associated with these people who pioneered the world as we know it today.
I think fear comes into it. Fear of speaking out and admitting that yes, there are times when women don’t receive the respect they deserve. I think there is a tendency to look around and think, actually, there are a lot of wonderful things that are perfectly accessible to people regardless of gender.
That doesn’t mean that we can sit back and consider the whole equality fight done and dusted.
As I write this I can’t help but be concerned about the way in which I’m trying to articulate this message. I’m not even entirely sure what my message is. But Feminism matters to me. The misconceptions and lack of communication and conversations frustrate me. I want to feel like there is a better understanding of what it means when I say, ‘I am a Feminist’, and I don’t want to feel that this title must be accompanied by an explanation. But then maybe the fact that those four words cannot come unaccompanied is a positive thing. The fact that it raises eyebrows and questions allows conversations to begin.
I set out to write this blog and naively titled the document on my laptop, ‘Defining Feminism’, thinking that I would write this post about what the word means to open up the topic and then write future posts about some of the other many aspects of Feminism that I feel need to be discussed.
Now I’m sitting here feeling totally swamped by the enormity of the Pandora’s Box which I have just opened.
I want this to be an invitation for people to tell me their views on gender equality. I am not aggressively asking people to start shouting from the rooftops ‘I AM A FEMINIST’, having read this.
Defining something as vast, and as important to me as Feminism is like trying to define a friend in three words.
So, what have I achieved in writing this? I don’t know. I’ve realised this is a far greater challenge than I expected. But nothing really worth talking about has ever been easy.
However, I hope if you’re asked about the difference between Equalism and Feminism, you remember they are the same. I hope you might be more drawn to asking questions about people’s response and take on Feminism rather than jumping to assumptions.
I hope, more than anything, I have made you think.
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