Edward Russell
The F-word. It’s word that a lot of people find offensive. A word that, if said in front of certain people will no doubt earn you a disapproving glare or a verbal reprimand. A word that a lot of young people use, including myself. Heck, I use it almost every day, even though it is considered aggressive by most.
I’m talking about feminism.
Notice the similarities between the word that you thought I was talking about and the word that I’m actually talking about? One is technically a rude aggressive curse word, and the other is an equal rights movement. That tells you something right there.
A lot of people, including myself sometimes, really intensely dislike the word feminism. So much so that they begin to argue endlessly about semantics and names, completely detracting from the point of what it is actually about. I agree that feminism perhaps isn’t the best term in today’s contemporary society, but to call it anything else would be an insult to all of those people (note I say people, not just women) who fought, and are still fighting, for gender equality.
So what’s with the F-word? Why are people so negative towards it? Many would argue that it promotes the sole idea of women and how they want to take over the world. Those same people would also probably argue that nothing is wrong in terms of gender equality and that women are overreacting and being their crazy hormonal selves. Proving exactly how important feminism still is.
A lot of people who do find the word feminism offensive often conjure up images of crazy bra-burning women who seem to openly hate men and genuinely want to rule the human race. Firstly, have you ever actually seen a woman burn her bra?? I know a lot of us would probably love to, but damn, those things cost way too much. Secondly, of course there are going to be extremists. There are those who take things quite far in any culture or belief system. Even in everyday life.
To make it more interesting/relevant to some of you, imagine a typical Saturday night in which you and your friends go out and have a teensy smidgen of alcohol. Okay, who am I kidding, a LOT of alcohol. Some of you handle it better than others. Some of you drink and have fun and dance and relax. And then some of you go bats**t crazy. You’ll be chilling and chatting and then next thing you know, your crazy drunk friend falls out of a tree and breaks their arm. How did they get in the tree? Who knows, but you still want to help them out. You know that they can be a bit crazy, but you still love them, right? And just because they react differently to others, doesn’t mean that everyone should stop drinking forever.
Weird analogy I know, but it makes sense. There will always be people doing crazy things that will change the perception of others. But I’m here to let you know that there are plenty of decent feminists out there who genuinely want to help both men and women. We really don’t hate men and we promise we won’t try to castrate you. And by the way, a lot of men are feminists. Many don’t like to admit it because of said misconceptions, but I think it’s awesome.
But I guess that still doesn’t change the word.
If you asked the right questions and dug a little deeper, I think you’d find that most people actually are feminists. They just don’t like to call themselves that. Or, as they say, they don’t want to be labelled. Which is fair enough. But supporting a movement without identifying as a supporter is a little confusing. And probably not all that helpful. It’s like saying that yes, you love water, you drink water all the time. But you don’t want to call it water. You want to call it H2O. Well as much as you try to call it something different, the message and meaning remains the same. Which is why people really need to stop arguing over semantics.
Feminism is feminism. To call it something such as humanism or equalism (I don’t actually think this is a word but you get it) actually detracts from the fact that women do still get paid less for the same work. That women do still suffer abuse at the hands of men. That women are still constantly expected to comply with the gender norms of a patriarchal society. Men are involved in this too because they do also experience abuse and the pressures of gender norms, however it remains quite largely an issue in which women predominantly need to be considered.
For those who do consider feminism threatening or offensive, I ask you to consider your female friends and family. They are able to choose their careers, their opinions and their freedoms because of feminism. Would you like your future daughter to be unable to follow her dreams because her husband was old-fashioned and insisted she stay at home to cook and clean? I do understand that many women do enjoy doing these things, but it’s about having the choice. I don’t always like looking at it this way, but it seems to be the most effective method of getting people to understand. Because women are not just your daughters, sisters, mothers, etc. They are people. And all they’re asking for is your help to make a society that’s better for everyone.
And I think that’s probably more important than getting riled up over a word – a word that a lot people don’t even have the chance to understand.
So let’s get out those label printers and show we are not afraid of a teensy tiny little F-word.
