Monday, September 28, 2009
Feminism or humanism
I would like to venture into a more generalist idea of the concept of feminism. Feminists are often looked at as ultra liberal women who feel that they should be considered as equal or better than men in society. I took a women and justice class last year and discovered that feminists are not quite who society and the mass media has made them out to be. Their name is often too misleading to make much sense to individuals who don't understand the true tenants of feminism. Feminist would be better termed as humanists, people who believe in equal rights of all individuals including people of different races, religions, creeds, gender, nationality, etc... They believe that white men are often afforded too much freedom to go about their lives and do not respect individuals who are different than them. It is hard to imagine that most members of society are not for equal treatment of individuals based on demographic characteristics. I would absolutely call myself a feminist, as in a person who believes that there are basic moral rights and privileges that any individual should have no matter what the are. A human, is a human, is a human no matter what they are called or what they do, we all have some basic rights.
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I do not know if I agree with everything in your post. I believe in equal rights for everyone but I do not think that I, being a white male, have been afforded too much freedom to go about my business. I wish I had more freedoms. If the only qualifications for being a feminist are believing in basic moral rights for individuals then sign me up. The only instances that I do not feel this way are with terrorists or enemy combatants, but maybe that is just me.
ReplyDeleteA feminist is defined as a person who believes in equality among all people. Their label came from a time when the most radical feminists had to take action to get their message across. The stigma associated with this group of women has stuck to the name ever since and the stereotypical “feminist” is not at all what the definition suggests. Since the 1920s, women have needed to take some radical moves in order to achieve the equality they have always deserved. At that time, those actions were necessary to get anything accomplished. If Alice Paul and the National Women’s Party didn’t take such radical action who knows how long it would have taken for women to get the right to vote. Same can be said for the same radical feminists or “bra burners” of the 1960s and 1970s.
ReplyDeleteAt the time it was necessary for such drastic measures to be taken in order to be taken seriously and complete any of the actions that helped promote equality for women in the United States. In today’s society, a feminist has a much different role within society. They are not man basher’s; they don’t want to remove their bras and throw them in a fire in order to prove a point. They want equality for all races, genders, sexual orientations, etc. throughout the world. But do we want to be labeled as feminists? No. The stigma attached to the word has kept many from accepting it as part of who they are. The courageous actions of those who have come before us were radical and necessary, but they are not ours.