5 Confusions about Feminism

       “Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong.” EMMA WATSON

The word ‘FEMINISM’ you all must have caught it somewhere. But I am very certain that many of us don’t know the exact meaning of feminism. There are many misunderstandings and confusion about this very term. This term is made very controversial however it has simple theory of treating each and every gender equally. But for a patriarchal society like ours it is made a bit disputed. Everyone has their own interpretation about feminism. For some people it is a good idea to believe in feminism while some are against it by saying feminism is ruining our culture and there are many more speculations about it.

So if I search this term on the internet then FEMINISM “is a theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes”. It is very simple but hard to get thing I guess.

If we go in the past and check how it all started. Initially   it was a fight for women’s right to vote. But then its perspectives changed. Back then women were not allowed to study much and their prime duty was to be a good wife and a mother latter. But not every woman was happy with being just a wife and mother. Some of them wanted to make their own identity, and a career. Even they wanted to be financially independent. They wanted to have their own voice, express their own opinions. But they were not allowed so they started a movement for their freedom and that’s how it all started.

So main idea of feminism is to let everyone have equal opportunities and have equal rights. For example: Do men ask for permission from someone to go out and work? No, right? then why women need to have permission to go and work out. See that’s the point I am talking about.

May be in present times many women are working out and making their careers but you will see some of the so called broad minded aunty saying “Yeah we don’t mind our daughter in law working out. She can resume her career after marriage too”. Here if you see, so a girl needs a permission to work out. But why she needs a permission from someone??? Asking for a permission for your own life’s decision is not equality. It simply means you don’t get to make decisions for your own life. The authority of making decisions is not in your hands. Someone else will be making for them. And this mentality has to be changed. Similarly, you will find many more people asking a working woman “Your husband is wealthy enough to take care of you and your children then why are you working?” But my question here is, why a woman cannot work for herself?  She doesn’t have to have a specific reason to work. Whether she needs money or she just want to work. It should be her choice not anyone else’s.

So, basic idea that I want to give from the given examples is that we aren’t still used to believe in equality. We act that we are progressive minded but unfortunately many of us are not.

 And there are still many women in this world who are even fighting for their basic rights. There could be many more examples where you will find lack of equality like gender pay gap, access to reproductive healthcare, protection against sexual assault and violence and gender representation in media. But let’s skip that for now and know some basic things about feminism.

So I will try to explain feminism by answering most common question that people generally have about feminism and feminists.

1.Do feminists hate men?

This is the most ordinary fallacy that people have about feminists that they hate men. But that’s not true. Some people may hate men and call themselves feminist but that’s their opinion. Feminism is not about loathing men. Hating men is misandry.

2.Do feminists stand for men’s rights?

Yes!! Feminism is about equality for all the minorities. LGBTQA, ethnic, disabled, racial marginalised groups. Feminism is not only about changing the negative mentality for women.

 A large aspect of feminism is understanding stereotypes about masculinity and the effect these stereotypes have on our society and what it means to be a man. It encourages man to rethink outdated masculinity standards and encouraged men’s right to become nurses, teachers, model, airhost and other so called ‘less masculine’ jobs.

3.Can men be feminist?

Yes, men can be a feminist. After all feminism is about gender equality. In fact, many prime feminists in history are male.

4.Does feminist movement aim to make female domination?

No! In fact, feminism aims to make a world better place where male and female can coexist equally. Where gender don’t dictate your preferences in your occupation or your likes or dislikes. Where a man may like pink and woman may like blue. Where it is okay to be a man and a homemaker and women working out and earning for her family. Where they work together to create a better world with less judgement and more understanding.

5.There are so many women out there misusing their rights and plucking innocents.

This is against the ideology of feminism. People who seek advantage and misuse such laws should be equally punished. There should be laws made who make fake allegations on someone. Equality is not one-way thing. Not everything is expected from man. It is expected from the other side too.

People who misuses such laws just need a little bit of counselling so that they don’t ruin the main cause of the movement. Because many people genuinely need such laws but if the number of pseudo cases increases then it would be very difficult for the real victims of the action.

I hope this article was helpful and the message I wanted to get through has been delivered properly.

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