FEMINIST UNVEILED: By A Non Feminist

When I wrote my blogpost, “women=clowns?” A lot of my male followers weren’t interested, particularly cause they thought I was on the path to feminism since so many females were really engaged and sharing it, I remember one male acquaintance commented on one my girls posts sharing my blog posts saying “feminism, feminism, repent” I was a little buffled, like first of all what does he mean?

Unbeknownst to him, In that same blog post I talked about my problem with feminism and how although I had respect for the movement, it’s the shortcomings and hypocrisy of it all that baffles me. Allow me to change my statement, at this point, I’m not a feminist because I DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT IT. I’m not as well informed about feminism as id like to and thus, I can’t be a feminist. I do have a little knowledge on the matter and respect for those who practice it.

I have come to realize that people’s idea of feminism is a little biased, allow me to define feminism :

Feminism- The advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of equality of sexes

Feminism is NOT the fight against men, it does not fight for the superiority of women. Patriarchy has made us believe that any female revolution and fight for equality is an attack to men. Feminism is the actual fight for change, revolution and ideas that make situations were women are considered as equal to men.

To me, feminism is beyond wearing T-shirts, cussing out boys, reading novels and following celebrity feminists religiously. Quite frankly, how’s that helping the problem Susan? Are your posts helping the eradication of our patriarchal society? What about your personality is feminist? And this ladies and gentlemen, is why I’m not “feminist” , I will not be the textbook idea, if I had to be a feminist, my character and ideologies would be feminist like, not an excuse for sexual liberation and hating men, thank you very much.

In an article, Phyliss Chesler indicated how modern day feminism is all about the face, memes and rants, and is dimming the light on the actual feminist revolution.

“Postmodern ways of thinking have also led feminists to believe that confronting narratives on social media or signing petitions are as important and world shattering as rescuing living beings from captivity,” She said.

Feminism is a broad topic and like I said, one I’m not well versed on. I have come to understand that there are various forms of feminism ranging from radical feminism, which fights for the elimination of male supremacy and attacks its core in all context, to liberal feminism, in which women actively maintain and fight for their equality through their actions and lifestyle, and also socialist feminism that looks at how patriarchy and capitalism work hand in hand in women oppression and gender based inequality. There are more types of feminism that I shall not get into in this post.

If you declare yourself a feminist, it’s important to ask yourself what you really believe in. How much do you know about feminism? The “men are trash” movement is not the same as the feminist movement. What are you doing to shed light on feminism? How are you living your life feministically? By the way, men can be feminist too.

“Feminism does not involve hating men, that’s just my personal hobby,” Anon

I recently started listening to a podcast called The guilty feminist, and I’ve come to understand that feminism is beyond the stereotypes, it’s an actual movement and one which needs everyone to be well versed on and understand it. Being a feminist does not mean one should hate men, not wear pink and it certainly is not an attack to men. A feminist can be in a happy, respectful and loving marriage, IT IS ALLOWED. Don’t let societies misconception of the movement make you hate something you know nothing about.

Please don’t misconstrue me, I’m not an anti feminist. I hate patriarchy, I hate the oppression of women, I just don’t label myself a feminist because to me, it’s a movement bigger than myself and maybe one day I will, but best believe I would have done a lot of growing and evolving as a woman to take up such an amazing title. Love and light to all the amazing feminists out there, you’re doing an amazing job and I applaud you for it.

On the topic of feminism, if you’d like to know more and read blogs on it, kindly check out my friend Marian’s blog, she’s an unapologetic feminist who has led me to explore the topic more. Check out her blog site by clicking here.