This week in class Adam made a comment about gender neutrality in reference to the feminist movement and Rachel devoted 258 words of her reflection to feminism. Both of them, as well as other people in the class, had thoughts about feminism that I disagree with. I don’t know if my definition of feminism is different than other peoples, or even just plain wrong, but I thought it would be worth putting my thoughts out there.
To me, feminism is many things. It is the movement towards lessening the inequalities between the sexes, the action taken to alleviate the struggles of women, the belief that both sexes should be allowed equal opportunity, both in the eyes of the law as well as in the eyes of society. However, there are also many things that feminism isn’t (or shouldn’t) be. In my eyes, there are two major misconceptions of what feminism seeks to do. The first is that the feminist belief in equal opportunity for both sexes should lead to the belief in the sameness of both sexes. Biological differences influence both the physical characteristics and the cognitive process of the individual. Although these differences do not make one sex superior, these differences should be recognized.
The second idea that I see as anti-feminist is that feminism should try to change the way women are viewed in the sexual sense. Many women think that they are being objectified by men, but in all honesty, how many of you girls can say that you’ve never said a guy was hot, had nice muscles, or set Juanes as your desktop (ok ok, I’ll admit that I’m the guilty culprit on the last one). The problem does not come from women being seen as sexual beings, or even sexual objects to a point, but when rather when they are seen only in a sexual context. It goes back to the idea that gender differences should be appreciated.
After all of the talk about society’s perceptions, I actually don’t think that the main objective of feminism should be to change the way females are viewed by society. Rather, feminism should focus on women supporting women, especially when they break social norms. When women as a whole take each other seriously they greatly increase the power of each individual woman and in doing so change the perceptions as a whole in society.
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5 comments:
I think you said everything I want to say about feminism but more eloquently! :)
I agree with your post, humans will always view each other sexually, it's not the depravity of men or the righteousness of women. Your idea that "feminism should focus on women supporting women, especially when they break social norms." makes a lot of sense.
My question to you is, do you see a difference between feminism and the women's rights movement? Or are they both "movements towards lessening the inequalities between the sexes"?
hmmm.... well i think that the women's rights movement is part of feminism, but there are other important parts as well. I think that the way people feel about women is as important as changings laws. guess its like what Professor Jackson was talking about in class.
What about men supporting women? I personally feel that a female dominated society could be better off than what we currently have.
Your point regarding biological differences is crucial; such differences would, I feel, bring balance and stability to our government rather than partisanship and short sighted self interest. Women are, generally speaking, inherently more concerned with the collective well-being than men. At the very least, I would like to see more women in government.
And Juanes, are you serious?
yes juanes! i'll show it to you in class lol.
i happen to agree with your definition of feminism, furthermore i think it is important that you acknowledge that there are differences between men and women.
i do not think it is okay to have different standards for men and women i think it is okay to recognize a woman's additonal struggle if women have not been sucessful in a field, but not defined by the stuggle.
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