Continued from last week
Last week, I talked about why feminists need to sit up and stop being extreme by holding on to wrong beliefs and practising misandry, which is an unfounded hate or contempt against men. It is time to stop putting personal bias in advocacies for feminism.
This is the time to stop men are scum and look into issues critically to determine if the man in the matter is the scum or the woman. Feminism does not preach putting down men or blaming them for issues even when it is obvious that the women are at fault just because of the belief that queens need to help each other grow.
Yes, women need to support women but not blindly or by being unfair to another person because he is a man. Before you jump into conclusion that women are the enemies of women, find out what happened, don’t think because you are a feminist, you should encourage women to embrace injustice and now band together to victimise another individual because he is a man.
Often, some women jump into judgment in issues; quickly apportioning blame on the man just because he is a man and not because of whatever role the individual plays in the situation. Feminism teaches parity, equal rights, a level playing ground and above all justice for all irrespective of gender, so a feminist must be objective and not turn feminism into a contest of which gender is better than the other or which gender is always at fault.
While fighting and supporting efforts to pave the way for equal rights for men and women, feminists must be careful not to become an extremist by losing their humanity and sense of right and wrong; these are misandrist tendencies that do not align with the principles of equality and parity that is the basis of feminism. This extremity is the reason many people who believe in equal rights find it difficult to support feminism because the action of many social media feminists doesn’t align with their personal beliefs or values.
For many that think women are asking for too much by demanding equal rights, their belief usually stems from cultural and religious sentiment but for others, it is because they have not faced serious issues of discrimination because of gender or they have been getting toxicity and illogical reactions from some ignorant women claiming to be feminists; negativity colours the beautiful message behind feminism and what it aims to achieve.
To fight the rampant bias against feminism, we need to step up and act right, speak with one voice against extremities from confused feminists and misandrists who are more vocal in issues and are making feminism to look like gender war. Feminism is a call for maintenance of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes in issues of politics, social, economic or availability of opportunities.
Why should feminism not be turned to a contest between men and women or a superiority issue? This is simple. Feminism mainly seeks to advance equality between men and women; it doesn’t preach that women should become men because God created each gender with specific strengths and weaknesses and peculiarities. However, the difference in the makeup of a gender doesn’t always mean that one should be taken for granted or considered weak as usually argued by those against equality of the sexes.
The core element in feminism is about equal rights and equal access to opportunities for individuals irrespective of gender. The truth is that men and women don’t have to be the same in physical attributes to have the right to equality and be heard. Some women have stronger physical attributes than men of their age, does that make them men? Or will the society limit a man that is frail and restrict them from attaining potential because they appear weaker?
If this is not the case, we must learn to allow every individual pursue their dreams irrespective of their gender.
To be continued
and then