Growing up I believed feminism to be a dirty word. It was a word I had always heard linked with negative connotations. “Ugh the feminists are at it again.” “Would the feminists ever give it a break?” I was never given any proper definition of the word but the world around me, both online and in real life, never had anything positive to say about feminism, only that it was something to stay away from.
Surely you can understand my confusion when thirteen year old me finally decides to research feminism and find out what all the fuss (hatred) was about.
Feminism, noun, the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.
What in the world could be so wrong with people fighting for the equality of genders? It seemed like such a basic instinct to me that all genders should be equal and it just didn’t make sense to me why anyone would be opposed to this. Despite having grown up in the conservative environment of rural Ireland I was lucky in a way that I had never been exposed to true sexism. I grew up in a house where both my parents worked and provided for us, where they both had a fairly equal share of household tasks. I didn’t have brothers so it was just me and my sisters who were all treated the same. My mother never spoke to us about the sexism she experienced at work. I was naive to the environment of sexism that exists in our world and thus clueless to the concept of feminism, why we need it and why people hate it.
However, as I grew older I became more exposed to and aware of the sexism in our world. Whether it was boys always getting sporting preferences in school, the lack of women in positions of power or even the lack of female faces on posters during election seasons, I quickly began to realise that the world we live in is not one where all genders are equal. I longed to declare myself a feminist but still the notion that it was a negative concept echoed in my mind. Thanks to the internet I was able to find feminist Twitter accounts, Tumblrs and Instagrams and fully learn what feminism was about. It didn’t take long before I overcame this fear of calling myself a feminist and starting teaching gender equality to anybody who would listen. However, I still couldn’t understand why people hated feminists, why people loved to give out about those who wanted something so simple as gender equality.
I have come to accept that there are many reasons why people hate feminism: fear that women are looking to take over the world, fear that men may become oppressed (like women have been for all of history), fear that men will lose their power, but mostly I believe it is a lack of education. People fear what they cannot understand and if people are taught that feminism is about women taking over the world it is then understandable why people would hate it. These people are wrong. Feminists don’t want to take over the world or oppress men. What feminists want is actually quite simple: equality for all genders, for men and women to be equal in all aspects and for the recognition and acceptance of all genders. It really isn’t that complicated, nor is it something that people should fear. With proper education and information we can teach the world what feminists are fighting for and overcome this misunderstanding of feminism that the world faces.
Feminism is important, it is necessary. Women deserve to be paid the same as men. Men should be able to express emotion without being judged for being “too girly” or “weak.” The idea that feminine traits aren’t desirable should be abolished. Trans and non-binary people deserve to be recognised and accepted by the world. This isn’t taking over the world, this is just fighting for equality, for what’s right and trying to make the world a more inclusive place for everyone.
Chloe Boland 