A lot has been said about feminism since the movement began in 1848 in Seneca Falls, NY. However, as the International Youth Coalition begins its week at the United Nation’s Commission of the Status of Women, the subject has been on our minds a bit more than usual. As a 21- year old girl I have experienced many benefits of feminism, but I have also seen many negative side effects among both women and men. My ideas about modern feminism are based solely on what I myself have realized about it, and not on anything any old men or women, or even my mom, have told me. These are the ideas of an independent, liberated girl in college in the 21st century.
Feminism has manifested itself in modern society in several ways, but one of the strongest has been contraception and abortion. When they were legalized in 1972 and 1973, respectfully, the argument was that a woman should be able to do what she wants with her body. That is still the argument today. The root of the argument is true—people should be free to make their own decisions—but the application has been faulty. The freedom to make decisions is implicitly dependent on the idea that people will not make decisions that will harm other people. This, of course, does not always happen.
Feminism was founded with very basic, very important goals: That women could vote; have any job of which they were capable, even if they were traditionally male jobs; be paid the same as men; and not be seen as socially, intellectually, or physically inferior to men. (Physically men and women are different, yes, but that does not mean either is inferior to the other. Men can benchpress a few hundred pounds. Women can grow human beings inside them. It evens out.)
All of these goals are good. Women were right to fight for them. But things have progressed to the point of that when people hear the word “feminism,” they tend to think of something which is more accurately described as “radical feminism.” These kinds of feminists believe that women can and should be able to do absolutely whatever they want, when they want, where they want, without any regard for any men people who get in the way. They believe that men are stupid, that they are useless, that they are animals, and that they are just not as good as women. Somehow the very admirable belief that “women should be equal” has become “women are better.” For a movement that was founded on the idea of equality, this does not sound fair. And unfortunately, predictably, it has had many negative effects on men, which consequently then affect women.
But more on that in another post.
Media Source: reddit.com
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