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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