I’ve tasted Feminism, I don’t like the drink.
The 10 deadly Fem-mandments.
Feminism. A concept that I consider skewed and perhaps profitable if you know what you’re doing and most importantly how you do it.
Feminism is a controversial ideology not only because people struggle to define the term but also because the ideology takes a positioning to say “We know the struggles of ALL women because ALL women are the same”.
This positioning may be partially true if we want to approach it from a historical point of view in terms of weighing the various injustices that ultimately saw women saying, “Hey”, Me too...” However, it is also worthy to note that not all women are benefiting from this so-called ‘equality movement’ especially in this modern day in time. And in fact, I would even go on further to say that the movement does not advocate for equality at all but rather, the ‘’illusions’’ of what people think equality ought to look like.
One could say that feminism is as similar as the concept of democracy in the sense that both ideologies have loopholes that no one wants to tackle or at least take the responsibility to acknowledge that those loopholes exist in the first place.
Please note: the views that I am about to express here are solely based on opinion, mixed with a bit of research and perhaps personal experience. Therefore, how you choose to process the information given to you is at your own discretion.
Here are the 10 Reasons why I find the concept of Feminism cringe-worthy:
- Feminists fail to define or come to some sort of agreement in terms of what the movement is and what the movement isn’t. Everybody has this thing called “Feminism” engraved in their minds, but they haven’t really come to terms with what exactly it is and if it’s being operated the way that it should.
1.1. Now, I’m not saying that every movement is perfect and well-defined but what I find interesting about the majority of people who identify themselves as feminists is that often times they don’t even know why they identify themselves as one in the first place. In fact, most feminists have not taken the time to do the research because the trend often interferes with people’s rationality. “The concept sounds cool, the brand sounds cool, the word ‘women’ sounds cool so I’ll just go along with it anyways”. We are a generation that assumes the research is done for us and therefore there are no further questions that need to be posed. And as a result you have feminists who feel excluded even amongst themselves.
2. Feminism favors the West more than it favors the Rest.
2.1. I am an African Christian Black Woman… get my gist with where I’m trying to go with this?…
3. Feminism can never be a concept equated to equality on a global scale because not all women were raised the same, educated the same or value the same things, knowledge or practices in life. To achieve equality in this instance is almost impossible when the term itself is dependent on many MANY variables.
3.1. What if I’m a woman who actually enjoys some aspects of patriarchy and deems it as a necessity in our world but also enjoys the idea of women being empowered in their own autonomy? I’m pretty sure this would be the quickest way to get kicked out at sea by the Feminism cruise ship. No life jacket included.
4. Feminism often promotes exclusion, even amongst its female followers.
5. Feminism, like all other ideologies fail to account for its lack of integrity when it comes to addressing widely stated loopholes from the general public. In fact, feminists do not like being questioned unless you want a taste of ad-hominems thrown at you. (Warning: Don’t try this at home. Social Media is the better option, haha.)
6. Feminism fights for equality and dismisses the concept of equity. Two different concepts with two different impacts.
Feminism fails to consider those who DON’T align with the ideology but are pioneers of equal rights for all. It’s almost as though every action of kindness requires a title and if there’s no title attached to it, then your kindness is invalid. Advocating for a woman is not feminism. It’s moral obligation. Advocating for equality is not feminism. Its a moral obligation. Someone not being a feminist has absolutely nothing to do with their lack of desire to uphold that moral obligation.
7. The movement has become a profit gain than a social investment.
7.1. Some people see dollar signs even at the expense of another person and that is unfortunately the society we live in.
8. Feminists often have conflict with one another which in turn, takes away the legitimacy of what they are trying to advocate for.
9. The feminist movement is propelled by the idea of victimization. “ If you’re not a victim of something, you’re not considered a strong woman but rather a privileged one” is the mentality perpetuated very often by the movement but ironically the movement is supposedly a symbolism of tenacity and commonality?
10. Yes we talk about male accountability... but hold on…didn’t Eve eat the apple?
I’m all for men being held accountable but can we please stop pretending like women are the best thing since seasoned roasted chicken? Some of you ladies suck, let’s be honest. Some of you suck at motherhood because we read stories of you hurting your own children. Some of you suck because we read stories of you using violations as serious as rape to falsely accuse a man just because he didn't want a relationship with you. We read about you when you blatantly bash and put other women down on social media platforms simply because you think you can. You then become the same women who host cliquey “Women Empowerment’ forums when you don’t even live up to the term yourself. So please, let’s just be real with ourselves..just this once…
Bonus…
11. Feminists fail to realise that everybody has been through some sort of injustice regardless of Gender.
Story time: A really good awesome friend of mine who runs a male victim organisation that helps young men who have been victims to war crimes had been invited by the UN so that both parties can explore future collaborations. Long story short, as he was explaining the plight of young male victims in need of various incentives within the Asian regions, a feministic official scoffed at him, dismissed his claims to being false despite the fact that the organisation is victim orientated and the evidence was on full display.
At first it really pissed me off because I just didn’t understand how anybody from a notable organisation could give such a childish response but then I realized something. She did what she did because she was not only ignorant but insecure too. Believe or not, human rights violations have become in competition with one another. Everybody wants to weigh pain according to their own measures and standards so as to dictate who deserves the help and who doesn't. And its because of this that we have more problems more than we do solutions. We have more victims more than we have leaders.
Anyways to conclude, I have partially showed you why feminism is a bit of a weird movement for me and how I don’t see myself resonating with it. That’s not to say that I don’t respect the people who identify themselves as one, however from an outsiders point of view I still say it needs a bit of work and that works starts with the people within the movement first before anybody else.
As for myself, I am and will continue to raise my fists against injustices committed to women, men, children and the LGBTQ community and all of this will be done whilst being content about the fact that I am who I am.
Let’s say yes to the kind of Justice that doesn't require an ideology, a label or a political association as a form of confirmation that something needs to be done in our broken humanity.
