Feminist or a Hypocrite?

   

In 1919, thousands of women stood outside the White House and demanded that they be allowed to vote. In the next presidential election, they would. And this massive demographic shift paved the way to laws in the 1920s that would promote women’s health and education (as well as prohibition, but we’ll just pretend that never happened)..

In the 1960s and 70s, feminist protests resulted in a series of laws that guaranteed, under the law, equal rights in the workplace, in universities and colleges, in health care, and in the home.

And in the early 2000s, feminists valiantly fought against such oppressive forces as the  word "too", scary sports mascots, and patrachial cereal boxes. 

The feminist movement is usually broken up into three “waves.” The first wave in the late 19th and early 20th centuries pushed for political equality. The second wave, in the 1960s and 70s, pushed for legal and professional equality. And the third wave, in the past couple decades, has pushed for social equality.

But whereas legal and political equality are clearly defined and measurable, social equality is murky and complicated. The current feminist movement is not a protest against unjust laws or sexist institutions as much as it is the protest against people’s unconscious biases as well as centuries-worth of cultural norms and heritage that disadvantage women. Women still get screwed over in myriad ways. It’s just that whereas before it was an open and accepted part of society, today much of it is non-obvious and even unconscious.

This is a tricky business because you’re no longer dealing with institutions—you’re dealing with people’s perceptions and people’s brains. You have to confront belief systems and irrational assumptions and force people to unlearn things that they’ve “known” for decades. It’s a really, really hard thing to face.

And the hardest part about it is that there’s no easy metric in the social arena for what is equal and what is not. If I fire three employees and two of them are women, is that equality? Or is that sexism? You can’t say unless you know why I fired them. And you can’t know why I fired them unless you can get inside my brain and understand my beliefs and motivations.

Thus, today feminism has a measurement problem. It’s easy to measure whether boys and girls are receiving the same funding in schools. It’s easy to see whether a man and woman are being paid appropriately for the same work. You just pull out your calculator and go to work.

But how do you measure social justice?

Some Downsides of Feminism:

·        Gendering of Issues. When you gender the issue, you gender the solution. Feminists are known for gendering issues and insisting that only women deal with them. The popular one today is “Women can’t walk home at night in fear of being murdered!” Even the Obamas have said this publicly. The fact is that men are MUCH more likely to be assaulted or murdered than women. So it doesnt make sense to make this into a women’s issue. Quora is full of “women have to avoid dark alleys and have to check behind them. Men dont!” The assumption that men do not is wrong. They just dont voice their fear as loudly, not that men have nearly as many people willing to listen anyway.

·        Opposition to men’s rights and issues. Feminists have actually fought against men receiving aid and activism for issues they face, including men receiving a pittance of government funding compared to women, opposing gender neutral rape definitions, opposing government funded abuse shelters for men, opposing meetings regarding suicide, opposing activism for equality in child custody, opposition to reproductive rights for men, etc.

·        Bad empowerment. Unfortunately, in an attempt to empower women, feminism has created an environment where everything can be empowerment. The infamous female drug lord, who killed people and ruined lived in heals and dark red lipstick was considered empowering for women. She’s a drug lord. That should never be considered empowering. Toxic behavior and violence against men is also often considered empowering. and if you voice opposition to this, you are labelled sexist.

·        Fear mongering. As feminism is sort of known for spreading misinformation and misinterpreted studies, it is natural for people to start getting more scared. The earlier example of being scared at night being a women's issue sparks fear. Feminist Award winning Professor Mary P. Koss made a study on sexual violence that was heavily repeated and even mentioned in the recent presidential election. However Ms. Koss also holds major bias. Not only does she have a very loose definition of sexual violence and rape (such as a couple planning to have drinks before intercourse.), but she also believes that women are incapable of raping men. Her bias should have invalidated her study right then and there, but the misinformation spreads. The whole “believe the woman” thing that even Hillary Clinton supports, spreads misinformation that an accusation alone is enough for someone to be guilty. Innocent until proven guilty apparently doesnt apply here. Misinformation about suicide rates, depression, domestic violence, rape etc. Feminism has been known for spreading bad information for years. But when you are told that you have a 1 in 3 chance of being raped, you might start rushing for feminist protection. So at least it works.