You’ve most likely heard of the oh-so-notorious term “feminism” because it has been a popular discussion topic in the media. Recently, however, a new term has arisen on various social media platforms: the word “menism”.
So, what exactly is menism? What does it mean? I stumbled upon this term while scrolling aimlessly through tumblr one day. A lot people seemed quite infuriated by this concept, so naturally I had to find out more about it.
My research indicated that menism originally was a response to the third wave of feminism. It typically (but not always) involves males who feel as if their rights are being neglected due to the latest feminism movement.
One of the misconceptions about the feminist movement is that feminists are anti-men. Sure, some radical feminists might feel that way. I can’t speak for them. The actual meaning of feminism, however, is equality for both genders. Some people fail to realize this, hence the start of the menism movement.
Menism isn’t an entirely new concept. It’s been around for over five years, but has resurfaced in the past few months.
One of the popular twitter accounts, @MenistTweet, has almost 650,000 followers.
Apparently many of the new menism accounts, including this one, are parody accounts. They’re meant to be funny. They’re meant to encourage feminists to “lighten up”.
Whether these accounts are serious or not, I have a problem with the message behind them. Although they may not be intended to be offensive, it certainly comes off that way.
I believe the entire menism movement is insulting to feminism and all of the hard work that we’ve been putting into this movement. After years of oppression, we are finally making some leeway. Don’t get me wrong – we still have a ways to go. But there are communities now and safe places for girls to talk. Websites like tumblr offer salvation and are a way for supporters of the feminist movement to come together.
So my question is this: why do people feel the need to joke about it? Why do people feel the need to make up an entirely ridiculous “movement” to mock the oppression of women? I think it’s wrong.
Tweets like this one are extremely degrading and unnecessary. Yes, there are many issues with third wave feminism. Yes, the movement is far from perfect. Creating a parody twitter account, however, is just downright distasteful.
I hope that one day society as a whole is more understanding of feminism. I hope one day everyone understands the severity of the gender gap. I also sincerely hope that one day accounts like this will be obsolete.