Final Paper

An Analysis of the Modern Feminist Movement
The feminism movement has a complicated movement in the United States, and many view it as an obsolete form of social justice, or as largely unnecessary. In fact, in TIME magazine’s poll of which word should be banned in 2015, feminism was briefly voted as the winner before the magazine removed the word from the poll and issued an apology. Many people feel as though feminism is a bad thing, or else they will claim that because women have far more rights than they used to, feminism is no longer necessary. However, this assumption is utterly untrue. Inequality between men and women still exists, meaning that feminism is as necessary as it has always been, and the events of 2014 alone are enough to both prove that feminism is still an important movement, and to show that it is growing stronger.

Feminism has been portrayed in a variety of different ways over the years, which has led to different groups perceiving it in vastly different ways. Some view it as a group of woman trying to make themselves stronger than men, while others take it to mean that woman must be independent of men completely. With so many different definitions circling around, it’s no surprise that it has – for some people – received a negative connotation.  Which is why, when one speaks of feminism, it is important to clarify which definition is being used. For the purpose of this essay, feminism is a movement that focuses on equality between men and women. At its heart, feminism acknowledges the fact that there is a difference in the way that men and women are both perceived and treated, and seeks to eliminate this gap for the sake of both genders.

There has been much focus on the way that the gender gap affects women, because in many ways, the effect on women is worse than the effect on men. Women are more likely to experience sexual assault during their lifetime than men, and on average, and studies show that women earn a far lower wage than men in the same field. However, though the negative consequences on women sometimes appear to be far more visible than the negative consequences on men, it doesn’t mean that men aren’t adversely affected as well. For example, there is an attitude within American culture that men are stronger than women, to the point where it is common to hear you boys insult each other by claiming that they “throw like a girl”, or to imply that male children are weak if they cry, though female children receiving this same criticism is, on a cultural level, less common. Though it’s easy to see how being perceived as the weaker sex is harmful to women, the perception of men as stronger is also harmful to men and boys who don’t fit the typical constraints of what is considered masculine behavior, which proves why feminism is necessary for the sake of men as much as women.

In this modern age, it seems ridiculous for people to assume that men are inherently better than women, or that men deserve more rights. Growing up, many children are shocked by the fact that women were not given the right to vote until the twentieth century, when it seems to obvious to many people that women deserve this right as much as men. However, despite the fact that many would view this belief as obvious, there are still many people who believe that men deserve to be dominant over women. It is easy to find people expressing these opinions online, in the comment sections of nearly every website, or through social media.

A recent example came during May of 2014, when the hashtag #YesAllWomen went viral on the social media website Twitter in response to the murder spree by Eliot Rodger this past spring. Specifically, the hashtag was created as a response to the hashtag #NotAllMen, which was meant to express that men in general shouldn’t be blamed for the actions that a small amount of the male population perform. Though it is true that the behavior of some should never be used to judge an entire group, the “not all men” argument is viewed by many as negative because it focuses on absolving blame from those who were never truly accused instead of working to end the problem at hand. The #YesAllWomen hashtag was an attempt to show that even though not all men harm women, nearly all women have a story of being threatened or harmed by a man.

The hashtag itself is a very good step in the right direction, and did much to raise awareness about the changes that need to be made in society. A cursory search of Google images brings up countless instances of women sharing their own personal stories to show how society needs to improve. However, though the majority of the response was overwhelmingly supportive, there were still those who felt otherwise, and not all of the reactions were positive. In fact, the anonymous woman who originated the hashtag began asking people to stop using it due to the number of death threats that she had received, and ended up closing her twitter account to avoid the hateful messages.

One thing of interest, though, is the fact that many of the main critics of the #YesAllWomen hashtag share some aspects of their ideology with the feminists that they are criticizing. One such case came from a post on the website A Voice For Men, a Men’s Rights website that published an article titled “#YesAllWomen is Complete Nonsense.” At one point the author, Christopher Cantwell, states that “If a woman is being harassed or attacked in a bar for example, it is far from unheard of for other men to intervene, even resulting in physical violence between the two men while the woman walks away to safety.” This statement is problematic in that it does nothing to address the root of the problem. Instead of stating that men should not harass women, the author is saying that because there are cases in which another man intervenes to aid the woman in question, women as a whole should not view this type of harassment as a problem.

Another of Cantwell’s problematic statements is his claim that the #YesAllWomen hashtag was “feeding into this insane narrative of an over looming, ‘patriarchy’ victimizing and oppressing all women”. Cantwell denies the message sent by the #YesAllWomen and refers to women as insane for sharing their personal experiences. If nothing else, the sheer number of women who support this tag should lend some credence, and make a powerful argument for the fact that there is a problem that must be fixed. Instead of believing that the multitude of tweets hold some amount of truth, Cantwell states that the thousands of women who are protesting their everyday treatment are doing so in an attempt to demonize all men, and claims that the women in these tweets haven’t suffered any sort of victimization.

However, the most striking aspect of this article is the fact that Cantwell made several statements that were absolutely right, and several of his arguments showed complete agreement with feminist beliefs, despite his clear misunderstanding of what feminism stands for. One strong example is the fact that Cantwell linked to the #ViolenceIsViolence video, which was a hidden-camera recording to show how the reactions of a random crowd will differ when faced with men and women being abused in public places. In the video, many bystanders step forward to help a woman who is being emotionally abused. Once the roles are reversed, though, the crowd remains silent. Nobody steps forward to aid the man who is being abused by his girlfriend, even after the situation escalates into physical abuse as the woman begins shoving the man.

As Cantwell pointed out, this video exposes a large double standard within society, and emphasizes the fact that women are not the only victims of abuse. What Cantwell does not understand, though, is that feminism focuses on ending violence toward men just as much as it fights for the rights of women. Cantwell also points out the number of men who are victims of sexual violence, which is another issue that feminism seeks to address. The fact that feminist ideology is found even within the arguments of some of its biggest critics is a strong indication that many antifeminists are against the movement not out of disagreement, but because of a lack of understanding about what they are arguing against.

A similar case was the CNN’s catcalling video that recently went viral. When the non-profit company Hollaback! secretly videotaped a young woman walking through the streets of New York City for ten hours and created a video of all of the catcalls that she received in that time, it received a large amount of media attention. However, the video that attracted the most controversy was the recording of CNN’s interview with comedian Amanda Seales and author Steve Santagati to discuss the video, and what lessons should be learned from it. This video went viral specifically because of the outrage caused by what Santagati said regarding the video. During the segment, Santagati argued that all women want to be complimented by men – ignoring Seales’ protests to the contrary – and went so far as to claim that women should carry a gun if they wanted to avoid harassment.

It is ridiculous to claim that the opinions of the negative voices given in the examples above are a reflection on what everyone believes. A group should never be viewed based only on their worst members, and these comments and statements do not speak for American society as a whole. However, the fact that these opinions exist – coupled with the sheer number of people who have voiced them – does point to the fact that a problem exists, and shows that feminism still has a long way to go in order to fight back against these views.

It is often difficult to discuss feminism, simply because there is a prevalent attitude that feminists are attempting to demonize men, which can lead to worry that one’s words with be misconstrued, or that one might come across as supporting these actions when that is not the intention. In my own case, I was nervous about writing this essay, and took extreme care with my words because I did not want to run the risk of coming across as man hating or sexist. There is still a stigma associated with the word, as though it is something shameful that must be avoided. However, my reluctance to write this essay is the precise reason why I chose to do so. The only way that the stigma is going to be erased is if people make the decision to speak out and spread information, despite worrying about how they may be perceived as a result. At its heart, feminism is about equality and justice, and it is important that everyone is able to understand its message, because it is only through fighting for change that any improvements can ever be made.
Works Cited

Cantwell, Christopher. "#YesAllWomen Is Complete Nonsense." A Voice for Men. N.p., 31 May 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

CNN. “Catcall video goes viral.” YouTube. CNN, 2 Nov. 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

ManKindInitiative. “#ViolenceIsViolence: Domestic abuse advert Mankind.” YouTube. YouTube, 22 May 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

Miller, Claire Cain. "Pay Gap Is Because of Gender, Not Jobs." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Apr. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

Murray, Rheana. "#YesAllWomen Campaign Gains Steam on Social Media." ABC News. ABC News Network, 26 May 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

"Myths and Facts." Roger Williams University. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

O'Connell, Carly. "#YesAllWomen Is Not a Threat to Men – It Is a Call to Attention to an Issue That Is Consistently Ignored." The Daily Geekette. N.p., 12 June 2014. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.

Ohleiser, Abby. "That Time CNN Asked a ‘Bad Boy’ Expert to Give His Thoughts on Catcalling." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 3 Nov. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

Steinmetz, Katy. "Which Word Should Be Banned in 2015? Vote Now!" Time. Ed. Nancy Gibbs. Time, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

Reflection

As stated in my final paragraph, I had my worries when I began writing this essay. However, I very much enjoyed both researching and writing it, though admittedly I still struggled with putting the words on the page. I found that often, I knew exactly what I wanted to say; it was writing the words that was the difficult part.


It took me far longer than anticipated to write this essay. There were several times when I was convinced that I would finish the essay that day, only to end the day with it still incomplete. However, in the end, I did manage to put together an essay that I’m happy with, and I’m very proud of the results.

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