Imagine yourself as a 30-something woman, juggling work and social life, doing the best you can in life. On your way to work, you see a poster saying that it’s all for nothing. How would you feel?
This is exactly what many women living in Toronto have experienced. On Thursday, Instagram user Andrew Cameron spotted a sticker from a men’s rights group, A Voice for Men, targeting women who are “unmarried, 30 years old and paying condo fees,” saying that feminism is to be blamed for.
Around the same time the poster was spotted, the University of Toronto warned its students, faculty and staff to be cautious after threats appeared from a user that went by the screen name “KillFeminists.” Toronto police have said that they are aware of these threats and have assigned a detective to the case for further investigation.
Montreal is not shy from anti-feminist attacks either. In 1989, 25-year-old Marc Lépine killed 14 women; injuring 10 others and 4 men in an event that was later called the École Polytechnique Massacre. Lépine killed himself after the attacks and his suicide note claimed political motives, blaming feminists for ruining his life.
As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie points out, according to the dictionary, a feminist “[Is] a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.” Just like women, men can also be feminists. Wanting equal rights and freedom shouldn’t be a notion that is associated with one gender; it should be something all individuals should want for themselves and others.
Feminism means many things to many people but in my opinion feminism gives us the right to choose and to be who we want to be. It allows women to be ambitious and strong, as well as allowing men to not be conformed to the classical idea of “masculinity” and express their emotions to the fullest.
So to answer the question “How is feminism working for you?”; feminism is giving both men and women freedom to be who they want to be and not what some political group or person thinks they should be. It could be better, but it’s working just fine for now.
Information obtained from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/09/11/sexist-poster-ossington-station_…
https://instagram.com/p/7b-EDVwA3A/
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/09/10/university-of-toronto-subject-of…
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ishmaeldaro/the-university-of-toronto-increased-…
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/12/06/ecole-polytechnique-massacre-25-…
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/13/beyonce-samples-chimamanda-…
Images obtained from:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/209874407/feminist-feminist-definition
http://www.andsmilestudio.com/blog/2015/3/6/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie
http://weheartit.com/entry/152478277/via/KarinMyhrberg?utm_campaign=shar…
http://www.buzzfeed.com/kmallikarjuna/signs-youre-a-misandrist?utm_term=…