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Women Against Feminism

By Hawa Patel

On October 17, 2014

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The glass ceiling and sexual harassment are only a few things feminists are fighting against. Feminism in the 21st century does not mean burning bras or not shaving your legs. Being a feminist in the 21st century means standing up against the belief that femininity is inferior and undeserving of basic human rights. A recent online trend against feminism is called Women Against Feminism, in which women post pictures of themselves holding a sign declaring why they are against feminism. This movement has left women who have always felt like they were the underdogs appalled. Are these women content with being treated like second-class citizens or are they simply men in disguise?

The Women Against Feminism movement claims it is not against equality among the sexes. They are against the “angry” and “ironic misandry” behavior of the stereotypical feminist. Women who consider themselves as proponents of equal gender rights, but who want to avoid the title feminist prefer to call themselves “egalitarian.” What the Women Against Feminism group has wrong is that it thinks feminists are trying to abuse, degrade or emasculate men. However, all feminists want it is to be treated as an equal gender, albeit some may lose their cool.

The women who are against feminism are generally unclear on what feminism actually is. In Beyoncé’s song, “Flawless,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gives a clear definition of what feminism is: a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. In order to double-check the validity of Adichie’s definition, it was defined in Webster Dictionary as: belief in the social, economic and political equality of the sexes.

Even though people in the Women Against Feminism group may want equality, they make up excuses for things such as the pay gap. They believe that it is a woman’s fault she does not make as much money as a man because she picks jobs that will allow her to divide time between her work and her family. The Women Against Feminism group fails to acknowledge that a woman is paid 77 cents to every dollar a man is paid for the same position. Why are women worth 23 cents less when they are hired for the same position?

The Women Against Feminism group is also notorious for denying rape culture. They like to say “I am not a victim” and “I can take responsibility for my actions”. That is the very definition of rape culture: blaming someone who is attacked on the basis that they “did not take responsibility for their actions” is exactly what attackers want women to think. How can the Women Against Feminism group forget about the 14-year- old-girl who was raped and called “promiscuous” by Judge Jeanine Howard who sentenced her rapist to a 45-day stint in prison? The judge blamed the girl for lying to her attacker, as she told him she was not a virgin and had given birth before. Does the Women Against Feminism group believe that her attacker had the right to her body just because she lied about her body being capable of performing normal bodily functions?

The next time a woman says she is against feminism, let her know that she is against equality and that she is endorsing a culture that seeks out every opportunity to push her gender away from basic human rights. Tell her she is letting down girls like Malalal Yousufi who are shot in the head for wanting to go to school. They are the oppressors feminists are fighting against. A feminist is not necessarily fighting a man; she can just as easily be fighting another woman for equality.