2 years, 2 months ago-
The real meaning of feminism as I have perceived it to be is the belief that men and women should have equal rights. It’s about acknowledging both the genders equally, none more or less than the other. It’s about assuring that girls and women get the same opportunities that boys and men get in their lives. It’s about learning, unlearning, and relearning the basic concept associated with women’s equality. It’s not about hating men. It’s not about women’s superiority. It’s about accepting women as equals whether in a political, economic, or social context. Feminism is about fighting for equality and addressing issues faced by both genders. It is not necessary that feminists should be females, they can be of any gender. True feminism supports both men and women and understands that both genders have problems that need to be solved. Feminism is about accepting and empowering women to stand up for their rights and not about ridiculing other genders or hating other genders. The radical thoughts of feminism gave birth to Pseudo-feminism. Pseudo-feminists want a world that is ruled solely by women and they use feminism as a tool to propagate their idea of superiority. This is a reason that many people do not support feminism and call feminism a fake movement, there are also many gender clashes because of the false portrayal of feminism in society. The truth is that the whole movement cannot be defined by only a fraction of pseudo-feminists. Women deserve equality, not superiority. Feminism is for everybody. Both genders have the right to feel vulnerable or strong. It is a movement that fights against the inequality of women and it is about all genders deserving an equal chance. Everyone needs to know the real meaning of feminism and should not be misguided by the false narrative set by pseudo-feminists.
Annie Lennox said, “Feminism is a word that I identify with. The term has become synonymous with vitriolic man-hating but it needs to come back to a place where both men and women can embrace it” and “Men need to understand, and women too, what feminism is really about”.
I believe it’s hard to put feminism into simple words and so simply it can be understood as the empowerment of women to stand up for themselves actively. Feminism in contrast to patriarchy stands for recognising equal rights of women in par with men. It refers to provide equality to women be it financially, socially or politically. Feminism empowers women across globe to fight against the evil practices being followed up in society in the name of culture.
I believe it’s hard to put feminism into simple words but here it can be understood as the empowerment of women to stand up for themselves actively. Feminism in contrast to patriarchy stands for recognising equal rights of women in par with men. It refers to provide equality to women be it financially, socially or politically. Feminism empowers women across globe to fight against the evil practices being followed up in society in the name of culture.
The real meaning of feminism is – equal rights to women as men. Men and women should have equal political, social and economical rights.
Feminism= equality.
This is how simple feminism is.
But we often tend to get a wrong idea of feminism in turn giving rise to pseudo feminism- a believe where women are considered as the supreme beings and men are quashed for all the injustices done to them. Where it is believed that the only reason for a women not being able to rise above and be successful are men. How ridiculous! When on one hand we preach equality between men and women through feminism, on the other hand we say that Men are the problem to all the injustices faced my women. It is due to the sole reason that the real meaning feminism is misinterpreted. We must know that the goal behind feminism is to bring equality and not to thrash men. But as long as we do not put an end to assigning responsibilities, duties and opportunities to a single gender, we won’t strive for true feminism.I don’t think it is possible to actually know the “real” meaning of feminism. People perceive feminism in different ways, and there is no way of actually knowing what constitutes as “real”. In my opinion, feminism stands for dismantling of patriarchy and the fight for liberation of women. While a lot of people these days equate feminism with gender equality, I don’t think they realise that there is no point of equality as long as there is patriarchy in our society. What will we achieve from getting “equal” rights as men when they themselves are the victims of patriarchy? Granted they are not as much affected by the patriarchy as much as women are, but they definitely aren’t free from the shackles of patriarchy.
The only way to achieve a society where everyone is treated with equality is when we fully dismantle the patriarchy from its roots. And when we say feminism is about everyone, I don’t think it is and nor does it need to be! Feminism is about women getting the rights that they were never given. Men will automatically get to live in a society free of judgement, once the first goal of feminism is achieved i.e. once the patriarchy is dismantled. But women? Women’s unequal treatment does not just consist of them not being allowed to cry or being judged for taking a profession that is traditionally male dominated. Women’s unequal treatment is in them not even being given the status of a human being, it consists of them fearing getting raped every time they step out of their house and sometimes getting raped in their own house.
We cannot stop such treatment of women just by dismantling patriarchy, people need to understand that women are not objects! Women are either raised too high on a pedestal or they are treated like animals. People need to understand that women are not “goddesses” that dignify their household status and nor are they “toys” to play with. Women are human beings, and should be treated as such!
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