Feminism is dying, and it’s our job — the job of men and women — to revive it.
Popular media often gives feminism a bad rap, especially when powerful women state that they are not, in fact, feminists. In 2014, Shailene Woodley, heroine of the “Divergent” action films, told Time Magazine she is not a feminist because, “I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from power’ is never going to work because you need balance.”
When a woman like Woodley, who in “Divergent” embodies a powerful female lead, states that she is not a feminist, you know that we have a problem.
Feminism is not about ending the tyranny of men, destroying masculinity or killing all men so women can rise to power. Rather, according to contemporary feminist bell hooks’ essay “Feminism Is For Everybody,” feminism “is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression.”
According to Dictionary.com, feminism is the “doctrine advocating social, political and all other rights of women equal to those of men.” So feminism is not about usurping men; rather, it is all about gender equality.
Today, much still needs to be done. Some would like to think that equality has been met. However, women in the workplace still face obstacles.
In 2013, women made 78 cents for every dollar a man earned — a gender wage gap of 22 percent according to the Institute For Women’s Policy Research.
Sexism is also rampant in the business world of Silicon Valley where it’s largely a boys-only club. Bringing sexism back into the realm of the public, Ellen Pao, now interim CEO of Reddit, recently lost her gender discrimination case against the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers.
Although Pao lost her case, she is still a success for many. Daring to challenge a large firm like Kleiner takes some real grit, and many in the tech industry and public are praising Pao for her willingness to fight. According to the Wall Street Journal, the issue of gender discrimination has long been an issue in Silicon Valley, and Pao illuminated the hidden and secretive sexist world of Kleiner Perkins.
Pao warned in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that “you can’t just hide” from the issue of workplace sexism. “You need to work through these issues because they are here and they’re not going to go away.”
Pao’s personality was the main object on trial in the three-year case, with the opposing argument being that she was fired because she was ineffective, passive-aggressive and disloyal. The attorney for Kleiner cross-examined Pao and brought to light her affair with a partner at the firm and emails in which she criticized co-workers.
Whether or not Pao was actually fired for being a woman remains up in the air. However, what is important is this: Pao has brought the issue of workplace sexism back into the public media sphere, and that will have a lasting impact on the future of women in the workplace in Silicon Valley.
We need to bring back feminism; we need to bring back the fight for gender equality. Sexism still persists in business, politics and everyday life, and the only way to fix it is if we all work together.
So, be a feminist. Tell your family and friends that anyone can be a feminist. As Gloria Steinem said, “a feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.”
Be like Pao and stand up for yourself; stand up for gender equality, for feminism and for your fellow human being.
Elle Butler • Jun 23, 2015 at 8:47 am
Shailene Woodley did not say she wasn’t a feminist, she said that she hates the misunderstanding of feminism. Many parts of our generation and society have lead people to believe that feminism is the hating of men, not the belief that men and women are equal. Also, she said that she hates the labelling of people, which is completely understandable; why should people be labelled as a feminist? Shouldn’t we just assume that people are feminist and accept it?
Kevin • Jun 4, 2015 at 9:34 pm
Feminism doesn’t need a revival it needs to cease to exist. Gender feminism has done irreparable harm to male/female relations in our society. Even a man looking at a woman is considered creepy if the women considers it so. That is not equality. That is supremacy. The false statistics used to support the feminist agenda are debunked yet still are used to send the “message”. The very definition of sexual assault has been altered to fit their narrative. Feminism today is a shameful waste of everyone’s time and a huge drain on our society’s resources. Luckily people, men and women are starting to realize that it is a sham. The anti-feminist movement is not going to slow any time soon despite the cries and whining by feminists. It truly is a case of the Girl cried wolf. Instead of owning their mistakes the feminists have doubled down and are proving on a daily basis that they are not about “equality”. I’m going to go get some popcorn and enjoy the fireworks.
Desert Mouse • Apr 13, 2015 at 8:47 pm
“When It Comes To Feminism And Reproductive Rights, Survey Says Labels Don’t Work”; The Huffington Post, Alanna Vagianos Posted: 04/10/2015 5:58 pm EDT States a survey from VOX found that only 18 percent of Americans consider themselves feminists. Fifty-two percent of survey participants said that they didn’t consider themselves feminists, 26 percent were “unsure” and 4 percent refused to answer the question. Vox found that a whopping 85 percent of participants responded that they do “believe in equality for women.” And 76 percent of participants believe there is still work to be done when it comes to “equality for women in work, life and politics.”
18% declare themselves FEMINISTS, while a whopping 85% declare themselves egalitarian.
Feminism has a lot to answer for: equality is not built from hate and fearmongering.
Third Wave feminist pioneers highjacked this noble cause:
Andrea Dworkin: “All personal, psychological, social, and institutionalized domination on this earth can be traced back to its source: the phallic identities of men”
Kate Millett: “I don’t believe in monogamy […] Let’s always be having an affair. Wherever we meet, however many times a year – let it always be an affair.” {from Sita}
Catherine Comins: Men who are unjustly accused of rape can sometimes gain from the experience.
Mary Daly: If life is to survive on this planet, there must be a decontamination of the Earth. I think this will be accompanied by an evolutionary process that will result in a drastic reduction of the population of males.
Sally Miller Gearhart: The proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10% of the human race.
Linda Gordon: “The nuclear family must be destroyed… Whatever its ultimate meaning, the break-up of families now is an objectively revolutionary process.”
Robin Morgan: “I feel that man-hating is an honorable and viable political act, that the oppressed have a right to class-hatred against the class that is oppressing them.”
Note these people are all results of abusive/neglectful male role models, it is in their biographies; the basis of Modern American Feminism is anger and resentment over personal abuse, not true equality. I would say these personal agendas distorted the “true equality” standard of feminism to a ideological POV that women are inherently superior. NO person or group is superior.
National NOW Times, January, 1988 : The simple fact is that every woman must be willing to be identified as a lesbian to be fully feminist
fem·i·nism ˈfeməˌnizəm noun 1. the advocacy of women’s political, social, and economic rights
e·gal·i·tar·i·an
iˌɡaləˈterēən/ adjective adjective: egalitarian 1. of, relating to, or
believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal
rights and opportunities
See the difference?
The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn. – Gloria Steinem
Sara • Apr 13, 2015 at 4:50 pm
Less than 20% of women support feminism. I wonder why?
This article is so ridiculous that I laughed out loud until I queefed
Dexter Koinzan • Apr 13, 2015 at 3:00 pm
I’ll agree with feminism fighting for up gender equality when they actually do just that again. It’s been roughly two decades since they did that. Now, you can’t do a search for feminism without seeing the 9 pages of feminist radicalism. That will quickly turn you away from such a group.
If you want the rest of the world to join feminism maybe you should iron out the kinks. Because as a guy with a healthy appetite for self preservation. There is no way I would join a group with a good fraction of that group saying “die men die”.
This article should be about how feminism is dying and we need to bring the original feminism back.
Anthony Miller • Apr 13, 2015 at 7:37 am
The trouble with Bell Hooks “Feminism Is For Everybody,” is it contains sentences such as:
“While it was in the interest of mainstream white supremacist capitalist patriarchy to suppress visionary feminist thinking which was not ant-male or concerned with getting women the right to be like men, reformist feminists were also eager to silence these forces”.
I concluded that it was not for everybody but for people with longer attention spans than me. Still credit where it’s due it’s £85 Hardcover and £18.99 Paperback and £12.95 on Kindle. There must be something of value in it because it obviously sells for something above the average amazon tome…
The loadstone of feminism is that women are oppressed by the “patriarchy”. Like all identity politics movements it is at its core a victim ideology. Should the patriarchy ever cease to exist then feminism immediately becomes a conceptual void. It strikes me as just another secular religion like socialism or conservatism. Something a lot of insistent people tell me is there fore me and I should be part of but is really just a curious amusement to me … Zzzzzz
“a feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.”
It also strikes me as odd that a lot of people who’ve spent a large period of my life trying to get us all to use gender neutral language what me to sign up to using a word to describe myself and/or sexual equality which is clearly not gender neutral.
“Whether or not Pao was actually fired for being a woman remains up in the air. However, what is important is this: Pao has brought the issue of workplace sexism back into the public media sphere, and that will have a lasting impact on the future of women in the workplace in Silicon Valley.”
This says it all. Whether she deserved to lose her job or not – and a jury decided that she did – doesn’t matter to you. All that matters is “raising awareness” of whatever the political issue of most import is in your mind. A far more interesting question of whether or not her sacking was down to sexism is perhaps the status of people in “At-will employment” but that of course is more complicated than women vs the patriachy so let’s forget about it.
regina • Apr 12, 2015 at 11:59 pm
I dont need feminism cause i dont need people lying to me about how oppressed i am #womenagainstfeminism
PolishKnight • Apr 12, 2015 at 10:48 pm
The author is well aware that the 78 cents on a dollar statistic isn’t for the same work but rather an average of all wages regardless of what the women and men do. In fact, considering that women work less hours than men, comprise 99% of stay at home spouses, and do a fraction of the work men do, it would appear that they are highly overpaid when compared to comparable work.
And feminists know this.
Yet they continue to claim that feminism is about equality while they only address women’s issues while attacking men as privileged or members of the patriarchy and overlooking, and even justifying, women’s own sexism. This is the nicest part of feminism: Simply goodie grabbing and implying that men are bad. Most feminist organizations outright call all men rapists or advocate throwing men into jail as a precautionary measure and celebrate the destruction of men.
In the meantime, most young women, inconceivable to feminists, want to actually marry men and have children with them. Many even LIKE men. Yet, when they see that men now have to earn less in order for women to earn “equal” and that men are less likely to look the other way at their sexist demands of men, they reject the feminist label as not working for them as they should. That’s why womenagainstfeminism has been such a huge hit!