Feminism is defined by Google as, “the advocacy of women 's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” America has been a patriarchal society from the very beginning and although there has been lots of progress towards gender equality, women are still seen as second class citizens. Women are given a unique set of cultural expectations by society to abide by and any deviation from the norm usually receives harsh criticism. Although there have been a lot of improvements and changes in society in this day and age, sexism and gender inequality are still common today. Gender Inequality exists and will continue to be prevalent in our culture if society condones it. On the other side of the spectrum, feminism plays
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However, in that exact same poll, when asked whether to agree or disagree with the statement “men and women should be social, political, and economic equals”, 82% of Americans agreed. This showed just how many people are unfamiliar with the term “feminism.” The definition given by Huffington Post is the truth but, for many, the term feminist leaves a negative and dirty connotation. There is a huge misconception of the word “feminist” , many people believe feminists are “ radical, liberal, man-hater, or pro-choice” (Shire). As seen on figure 1, it exemplifies the kinds of adjectives that people characterize a feminist as, but it also shows where the problem lies. None of these descriptions are accurate and is definitely not what feminism …show more content…
On their Tumblr page, they showed a collection of women posting photos of them holding a piece of paper listing reasons why they do not need feminism. One of the supporters of Women Against Feminism posted, “I don’t need feminism because I like when men say compliments about my body!” Sadly, that post shows how misguided society is in understanding what feminism is and just how badly we need it. Emily Shire, an advocate for women’s rights, wisely stated “[this] is a wakeup call for how poorly misunderstood our movement is. Just as we need to continue to advocate for equality between the sexes, we also need to remind women and men what feminism entails, rather than let our opponents claim to define the movement for us.” Shire is onto something, feminist must be open and inviting, which is critical in order to bring a positive change to the feminist movement. Many people would be more willing to listen, especially if opposing sides can find common ground on certain issues. This is why feminists must be accessible to everyone in order to truly make an
However, in that exact same poll, when asked whether to agree or disagree with the statement “men and women should be social, political, and economic equals”, 82% of Americans agreed. This showed just how many people are unfamiliar with the term “feminism.” The definition given by Huffington Post is the truth but, for many, the term feminist leaves a negative and dirty connotation. There is a huge misconception of the word “feminist” , many people believe feminists are “ radical, liberal, man-hater, or pro-choice” (Shire). As seen on figure 1, it exemplifies the kinds of adjectives that people characterize a feminist as, but it also shows where the problem lies. None of these descriptions are accurate and is definitely not what feminism …show more content…
On their Tumblr page, they showed a collection of women posting photos of them holding a piece of paper listing reasons why they do not need feminism. One of the supporters of Women Against Feminism posted, “I don’t need feminism because I like when men say compliments about my body!” Sadly, that post shows how misguided society is in understanding what feminism is and just how badly we need it. Emily Shire, an advocate for women’s rights, wisely stated “[this] is a wakeup call for how poorly misunderstood our movement is. Just as we need to continue to advocate for equality between the sexes, we also need to remind women and men what feminism entails, rather than let our opponents claim to define the movement for us.” Shire is onto something, feminist must be open and inviting, which is critical in order to bring a positive change to the feminist movement. Many people would be more willing to listen, especially if opposing sides can find common ground on certain issues. This is why feminists must be accessible to everyone in order to truly make an