Many people are already feminists or, at least, support feminism and don’t realize it. Feminism, in general, has one basic principle: gender equality. Even though different chains inside the movement reflect on this issue with different perspectives, this equality is the common ground. Seems like something standard to support, but the term “feminist” generates a stigma and many awry statements, and Her Campus listed a few of those which are so commonly heard.
*May contain irony*
#1 “Feminists don’t shave”
Feminism empowers women so that they have freedom of choice about things regarding their bodies. Shaving or not shaving doesn’t make you less or more of a feminist. If you choose not to, you should have the right to do so without being seen as unhygienic. “Your body, your rules.”
#2 “Feminists only want to show their breasts.”
The Free the Nipple movement, which began in 2014 with a movie with the same title, intends on raising awareness and equality and opposing the objectification of the female body, not showing your breasts for fun. If a woman ends up exposing her breasts, even if she is simply feeding her baby, she shouldn’t be sexualized or penalized for it.
#3 “Feminazi”
Seems reasonable to compare a movement that raises awareness about the oppression of women to another one that killed millions of people.
#4 “Feminism is just another kind of sexism”
Feminism is not the same as femism. The latter is misandrist, which means that it preaches hate towards men, whereas the former preaches equality and questions the misogynistic (meaning hateful towards women) aspects of our culture.
#5 “Feminism comes from lack of penis/sex”
That makes absolutely no sense as many feminists are straight and sexually active.
6. “Feminists are lesbians”
Who you are attracted to is NOT a choice and should not be something to be judged upon. End of discussion.
#7 “Why can’t men be feminists?”
Men can support feminism, of course, but men calling themselves feminists is controversial because they don’t suffer directly with the issue. Also, they might end up stealing space for women to voice their opinions, even if they have good intentions. What feminists want is to be heard without needing help from a man.
#8 “Today’s feminists don’t do anything relevant, compared to the ones who founded the idea”
Times are different, so they call for different measures and problematical. An example: In the beginning, women wanted to work, period. Nowadays, women want to have their work valued the same as men’s. Every wave of the feminist movement is important and relevant to its own time.
#9 “Pretty girls don’t need feminism”
So, if a woman is pretty, she doesn’t struggle with patriarchy and sexism, she will have the same wage as a man doing the exact same job and she will automatically feel less threatened when walking alone on the street? WOW.
Now you know how to defend yourself from that no sense person.