Summary
Feminism means so much to me now. I always believed in the importance of equal rights and although I didn't have much run ins with anti feminists, I saw a lot of anti-feminist propaganda on social media with a lot of their reasoning being that women were just using Feminism as an excuse to be angry and hate men, I also saw a lot of things being taken out of context and I was lucky enough to realize that. It was only recently this year I had actual run ins with Anti-Feminist men who used the excuse that because they were men they deserved more opportunity and respect than women just because of their gender. That is when I really became a feminist. Chimamanda Adichie defines feminisim as, “ a man or woman who says yes, theres a problem with gender with gender as it is today and we must fix it, we must do better.” Adichie talks about feminism especially from an African and specifically Nigerian experience. Giving examples of how the putting down of one gender, females, has affected many women greatly from stereotypes, to lack of respect if not associated with a man to women having to pretend to be things that they are not in order to respected in their society, such as doing housework so that you woul be worthy of marriage.
5 thoughts on “conversation 4”
Hey Zaria, I agree with you. I believe gender should not bring inequality. As human beings, we all have our own values (women and men). Superiority should not have anything to do with gender.
I 100% agree with you! People gain nothing by putting women down. Women have been supporting men for years but women can’t get an acknowledgment. I love the quote you picked. Adchie did great in her speech, she opened my eyes to acknowledge women are being treated unfairly in different ways, a lot of countries treat their women more poorly. The women day will come one day, we are always making change and women are taking over, all we need is a female president now.
Hi Zaria,
I can heavily relate to your experiences having run-ins with anti-feminist men. I feel that for most female-identifying people, those kinds of interactions are what typically give rise to pro-feminist beliefs. With today’s wave of overwhelmingly misogynistic rhetoric on social media, most cisgender men have adopted such beliefs with the idea that it is normal and perfectly fine to see female-identifying people as less than themselves. I heavily agree with your emphasis on stereotypes hindering fem-identifying people as well. The stereotypes that are commonly perpetuated typically do lead to fem-identifying people being seen as subordinate and incapable of holding the same role as someone of the “male” gender in both private and public settings.
I totally agree I feel like feminism is inclusive of all people. I do feel many men always make the mistake of assuming feminism is used as an excuse to hate on men. Luckily I have never had to run into any anti-feminists even through media however I know there are many countries and cultures in which misogynistic behaviors are still viewed as acceptable and for this exact reason I think it is important to remember change can only achieved when an issue is recognized and addressed within a culture.
I definitely agree with you! Especially with the stereotype scenarios, how woman’s should be doing this and that in order to gain respect while man \’s go out and work, at the end of the day we should all have the same respect, no one should be putting each other down.