Happy International Women's Day!
A very big and happy International Women's Day to everyone!
I hope we can all take a breath and look back at the successes of all the women before us, who've paved the footpath for so many of us today. I hope we can take both pride and solace in the journey we've made. I hope it inspires us, but mostly, I hope it reminds us that we've yet to peak the mountaintop.
I wish it were true, but many of us think that we've 'made it' and 'we don't need feminism anymore' because we've succeeded in narrowing the gender gap - from winning the vote for women to having female Prime Ministers. Yes. This has been progress! But, realistically this accounts for the bare minimum and contributes to the overestimation of gender equality.
This is not where we stop.
Today's feminism has evolved and extended to take a stand against all forms of discrimination - including race, ethnicity and sexuality. It considers the justification of that division and, more importantly - why it still exists.
It's about honing in on the issues embedded so flawlessly in our system, that we often overlook them, without acknowledging their inherent sexism or misogyny.
Like, why a woman's choice of clothing is more important than the rapist's assumption of his entitlement.
Or why a working mother is shunned for "neglecting her children", whilst a housewife is criticised for "being lazy".
Or why a woman's decision to wear makeup is a sole determiner of her 'professionalism' or self-regard.
Or, ultimately, why this subtle, yet powerful attitude still exists to hold a woman responsible for the way in which she chooses to live her life.
Yes, not only women get raped. Nor are they the only ones who are validated by societal norms and expectations, which brings me to my next point of feminism being a fight for women and men!
Today's feminism recognises the subtle prejudice against men - the first one that comes to mind is: 'real men don't cry', breeding the idea that to be a man, is to suppress emotion, even at the cost of his mental stability. These ideals pressure men into believing that vulnerability and, specifically crying, is a feminine trait.
But...crying is not female.
It is simply human.
So - how do we justify the shame in being human?!
Not only that, but so many men silently suffer as the victims (not perpetrators) of domestic abuse but don't speak out, in fear of the repercussions - including the shame he would have to face for "not being man enough". This overlooks the real issue of domestic violence being just as wrong when it's men on the receiving end and the fact that it should be treated with the same severity! Because of the promotion of this toxic masculinity, it makes it harder to police these issues - but that's not to say that they don't exist.
Sadly, most people don't describe the feminist movement as this and hold their own preconceived ideas. 'Man haters' and 'trying to dominate men' are among the many...
But these apparent stereotypes are nothing more than a misguided premise that anti-feminists feed off, derailing the true meaning of feminism but, ironically, proving why we still need it!
But, of course, the prominence of these ideas can't really be flushed out so easily! Especially since the all-powerful media encourages their circulation. The huge platform granted to this beast and the regularity from which we consume it results in it profiting from the preservation of most stereotyped ideas. Some of them being the objectification of women, reinforcing unrealistic body types and sustaining the notion of male entitlement. Most people seem to agree that the inclusion of women in the media means that ‘women now have representation and so, feminism has achieved its aim'. But I don’t think that’s true. It's incredibly superficial. I don’t think the sexualisation of women in the media is, in any way, empowering for women. Instead, I think it is a form of regression and a painful relapse to everything that feminism has stood to eradicate - including the setting of certain beauty standards and the representation of women as passive and submissive.
The fact that this needs to be stated should be enough to understand the need for feminist advocacy, not any less than any other time in history! The media does no favours on men either, through the safeguarding of the 'manly' image, supposedly tainted by anything else that is remotely 'female' - which, by the way, includes having emotions. The definition of strength reduces men to machinery, forbidden from unbinding from the vessel of masculinity as determined by the media.
The media forges these ideas on us and encourages a form of internalised misogyny upon us to criticise men and women when they don't conform to criteria that are set out.
So maybe we thought we had beaten the patriarchy, but it reincarnated into a bigger monster and maybe, that monster lives within us all, and thrives on our ignorance.
Not to undermine the celebration of the day, but let's also not dismiss the fact that we fought to get here, and where we are, is but a skim of the surface.
We are yet to take the plunge.
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Image 1 source:
: http://chibird.com/post/79014835872/happy-international-womens-day-2014-for
Image 2 source
: https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-243627f7aaa5171860bf8ee6c2d3688a-c
