Feminism

The Webster dictionary describes Feminism as, “ The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.” When we type the word feminism the first description which pops up is the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes. Most people think of Feminism to be simply the advocacy of women’s rights, women empowerment, facilitating women, conveniently ignoring the later part- the purpose, which is nothing but simply Equality of both the Sexes.
Often people, mostly men tend to think of women who propagate feminism as Misandristic. I am sure many people are unaware of what misandry means and its difference from feminism. Misandry is dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against men (i.e. the male sex). I have seen people often confusing the meaning of feminism with that of misandry and having a negative idea or connotation about feminism.
My dear readers advocating for the women and being against men is not feminism it is misandry, and with this comes Pseudo-Feminism.
India is a patriarchal society, here we women have to battle daily against many odds ranging from sexual harassment, eve-teasing, to rapes. We women need to fight for equal pay in offices, we need to fight for our right to dress up according to our choice. We need to think before we venture out late at night or even at evening in some places, we need to think before we drink, we need to think before we smoke, we need to think before we speak and we need to follow decorum- We are expected to speak less, our tone must be soft and in general submissive. But it is also the society where a woman expects her husband to earn more than her. It is the society which expects that the man has to be the principle bread-earner. 
Pseudo-Feminist is a person that claims to be a feminist yet ignores the main point of feminism i.e. equality. Pseudo-Feminists will tend to blather on about how terrible men are, or assume how men do not face social issues in regards to their gender. A pseudo-feminist is a person who claims to be a feminist but has little idea what equality means. They talk about equality but want everything more than what men get.
The following instances explains the above.
In a crowded bus a woman perfectly capable of standing throughout the journey, expects a man to give over his seat to her, irrespective of him being tired and exhausted or him having some carriage with him.
"She called him fat? Well, he is fat!"
"What? He called her fat? That is female objectification!"

Similarly on a date expecting the man to pay the bill is not feminism. ”Why should I pay the bill? He should”- NO.

On a lighter note it is the guy who is expected to propose and as well rejected. Well feminists don’t expect that or do they?

Please note that the above are examples of sexist views and not of feminism.
My dear women I don’t mean to offend you or the women race in general, for I am a girl too and I don’t wish to be “the bird who hath foul’d her own nest”, but seriously we women ned to consider the above and many other things where we expect men to do it all, simply because they are men.

It is Pseudo-Feminism to speak only of women rights or harassment against women only. It is high time that we realize that men too face problems they are harassed too, they are often accused of false rapes and atrocities against women. Many women wrongly take advantage of their rights to accuse men and ruin their life. Women readily accept seats reserved for them irrespective of their requirement. I agree, that that we women have long been oppressed and still are, We should raise our voice for our rights, for equality, but at the same time we shouldn’t criticize and be too judgemental about what men say, we need to consider their point of view, we should relate to and understand their problems. Only then can you term yourself as a feminist.

This is my personal request to all women when a gentleman offers you privileges and says “Ladies First”, be courteous enough to be a feminist and politely ignore the offer.

So are you a Feminist or a Pseudo-Feminist, or are you Misandrous or a Misogynist? 
By,
Sanhita Pal
A NeoPhyte (^_^)





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cow Vigilantism

Cow Vigilantism  India is a country that is full of surprises. I mean to say the things that persist in India cannot be seen easily in other countries. Here, most of the people use to decide what is right and what is wrong by themselves. They themselves decide whom to punish and in what manner. They behave like they are above the law and in course of that some innocent people have to face whip of tyranny of people. Recent time has seen a new uprising in case of lynching of so- called wrongdoers. Some of them have also taken a toll of life of people. Many of them have potential to kindle riot also. One of the most common practice in present time is doing anything in the name of cow. These cow vigilantes pretend of chauvinism and from behind the veil they create an atmosphere of tension and unrest. In recent incident in which a person name Akhlaq was allegedly caught for keeping beef in house was mercilessly beaten till his last breath in UP by crowd. Later, it was found a r...
Read more

The Truth Shall Set You Free

National Institute of Technology , Durgapur is an esteemed institute of national importance, Formerly known as the regional engineering college ( which is highlighted right at the entrance, a little more boldly than the actual name !). Established is the year 1960 , and later converted to an NIT in 2003, NIT DGP is one of the oldest Institutions. Now all of this can be found on Wikipedia and other informative sites , but alas none of this really shed light on the true nature of this “esteemed” college . Fellow first years , I formally welcome you to a rollercoaster of a ride in this college! Let us start with the hostels. Every hostel (or Hall of residence, yes its that sophisticated) bears the name of some well known Bengali ( duh! ). My advice to you? Remember the name! apart from this bizarre tradition , you’ll find that the numbering and placement of these hostels make no sense whatsoever ( which is a recurring theme in this college). Hall 11 ( first years) Just like...
Read more

A Necessary Evil

Sports are often referred to as the opium of the masses. It’s simple- Pick your preferred team on the basis of varied criteria, ranging from analysed and collated performance data all the way to the exact number of bodacious cheerleaders.  Now support this team to death and your 2-step program is complete. Unknown foreign players from distant unimaginable lands become household names. They’re praised in bundles for their success and insulted in truckloads for their failures. They’re boycotted, railed upon and in some cases even physically harmed in the process of proving your fandom. Clearly, a lot of people invest (Match fixers and bookies aside) a ton of emotions and expectations in sports. All this does is increase the pressure to perform. But the unfortunate beginning to our subject is that not everyone can perform under the pressure. They’re left with two basic alternatives. Retire a failed hero and spend your days reminding people why you look familiar. Or (the less drama...
Read more