I have had this post sitting in my drafts for months now, in dot point form. I’ve thought about writing it, but didn’t want to get too political on you all. But you know what? This is my blog and I’ve written before about my thoughts on various subject matters so this shouldn’t be any different. Why should I feel like I need to be silent on this issue?
Speaking of being silenced - something I noticed a few
months ago when this poster was advertising this movie – why the hell is Alyson
Hannigan’s character (the only female in the poster) unnecessarily being
“silenced” with tape over her mouth?
This is an ad campaign from Jane Pain titled ‘What you can’t
see is all you want to see”. Why do advertisers feel it is necessary to mutilate
women to sell their products? That ad was award-winning by the way – winning
Argentina’s highest advertising prize. Do you know what it’s selling? Lingerie…
Just want to point that out to you – have a look around for
other advertisements because these images seem innocuous. It’s only when you
notice that examples of dismemberment and objectification of women are
EVERYWHERE and how seemingly normal it is that you realise you should be worked
up about it.
Anyway – on to the real issue at hand. Last semester I took a
political ideologies class. And one week we covered the ideology of feminism.
That day, the tutor asked everyone in the class who identified themselves as
being a feminist to raise their hands. And, out of a class of about 25, 3 people
did. I was one of them, the teacher was another. When those who didn’t put their
hands up were asked why, here were some of the responses:
-
“Because I’ve never met a happy feminist” – man in his 50’s.
-
“Because I just don’t get the point” – woman in her early 20’s.
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“Because since women have had the vote, every other ‘campaign’ of theirs has just been whingeing” – man in his early 20’s.
That’s right. Because apparently once we were enfranchised that is
women’s issues done and dusted. When I brought up the issues of sexual freedom,
the right to choose to carry pregnancy to full term, the right for a woman to
decide what happens to her own body, equal rights in the workplace, the right to
not walk down a street at night in fear, the way that our own Prime Minister has
been treated in the media, and the way that advertisers treat women I was told
that these aren’t real issues, or that I was hyping them up with my imagination.
Or, they were real issues, but they didn’t come under “feminism”.
Just quickly also want to touch on the argument that I was
hyping up the issues with my imagination. That right there is a misogynist
reaction. Because as a woman, I am over-emotional, incapable of perceiving
things as they are. Don’t let anyone silence your arguments with a “calm down”
or “you’re over-reacting”. That is poor debate… in fact it is not debate at all.
Now I get why you would be reluctant to come out as a feminist, so
to speak. Feminism of the past has been militant and angry. And it had every
reason to be. Back in those times (because context is so important – remember
that) women had to take drastic measures to get heard. One woman, Emily Davison
even threw herself under a horse at the races in 1913 to bring attention to the
cause. “Feminism” brings with it an array of connotations and you might be
reluctant to identify as a bra-burning, hairy protester. I am here today to tell
you that you can be a feminist without prescribing to a certain dress sense. I
am here to tell you that you can be a feminist and not agree with all views of
the ideology. To me, feminism is about equality and the freedom to decide.
Equality does not mean “same as”. As a feminist, I do not want to
be “the same as” men. Biologically, chemically, we are different. However,
equality does mean not being treated differently because of my sex. (Notice
I didn’t use ‘gender’ there. That is a whole other topic in itself).
Equality means not having to justify my life decisions because I am a female.
Equality means getting paid the same as any other person in the same job
position as me, having the same opportunities in life as any male. Equality
means that I am not written off as being dumb purely because I am female.
As for where I stand on the whole affirmative action situation –
I’m not too sure yet. I still don’t feel I know enough about that to have a
conclusive opinion on it. I think it is integral to have the “right” person for
the job; however, it cannot be ignored that in Australia, we have the lowest
percentage of women in senior positions. (source)
The freedom to decide is the pinnacle, I think, of feminism. Every
single person should have the right to make decisions about their lives. To use
the contentious issue of abortion; it should not be up to anyone else to decide
whether I carry a child to term but me. It is my body (for the sake of argument)
that goes through the trauma and it is up to me to decide whether I want to put
it through that. It is not up to a male legislator to make that life-altering
decision for me. Similarly, it is up to me how many men I choose to have sex
with, and how often. “If I have sex with my boyfriend at 16 I’m a slut. He on
the other hand, is congratulated.” This argument (which also goes to the issue
of equality) has been heard time and time again, but still has not been
resolved. We are taught in school that our hymen will “break” or “tear” upon
first penetration. This is so untrue it’s not funny (the hymen stretches by the
way -there is already a hole there). The fact that we are telling young girls
that they are “broken” when they have sex is so fundamentally fucked up.
Violence and pain used to describe an act that is so natural and the furthest
thing from shameful. On a similar note – tampons and sanitary pads in Australia
are taxed under the Goods and Services Tax as they are deemed to be a “luxury
item”. Condoms come under no such charge, because they’re a necessary health
item. Conversations of our vulvas, breasts and vaginas are stifled. Recently, an
advertisement for Carefree mentioned the word “Vagina” on television during
prime time – the first time the word has ever been heard during that time slot
on commercial television. Crazy, right? What’s even crazier is that the station
received COMPLAINTS over the “offensive” word. We’re in 2012 – women make up
over 50% of the population and our vaginas are offensive. If all of this is not
evidence of a patriarchy for you, then I don’t know what is.
What feminism should be about is that it is okay for a woman to make her own decisions without judgement from anyone else (and yes, this includes other women – we really are our own enemies sometimes!). It was put forth to me that because I wear make-up and nice clothes I can’t possibly be a feminist. MAKE-UP OPPRESSES WOMEN, DIDN’T YOU KNOW? You know what else oppresses women? Taking away their right to make their own goddamned decisions. Vogue Australia recently asked on one of their instagram images whether it was okay for a woman to dress for her man:
That question was met with a resounding “no”. Probably by women with the best intentions, who have had it drilled into them “you don’t have to do what any man tells you to”. And this is true. But the key word(s) there is have to. In my opinion, it is fine if you want to. I like dressing up nicely for my boyfriend. I like looking nice for him. That doesn’t make me any less of a feminist than the woman who doesn’t shave under her arms. It becomes a whole other ballgame though if I dress for him against my will. Or against my own beliefs, or whatever. As long as *you* are okay with it, then that’s all that matters. I think the whole “to shave or not to shave” question can be answered the same. If you personally prefer to have no hair on your kitty, then you go hairless. You don’t need to explain that to me. But, keep in mind – it’s only okay if it’s truly what you want. If you feel the pressure to shave, (because of porn, because of society, because of your boyfriend / girlfriend / best friend) then that is not okay. And it goes the other way too. If you prefer being hairless, don’t feel like you need to go full bush because you’re scared being hairless is un-feminist.
So these are only a few examples of the inequalities (and not even the greatest ones) that women face in today’s (Western) world. They might seem insignificant, or not as worth fighting for as enfranchisement. But each generation has its battles, and just because women in the early 20th century had a harder life than women in the 21st century doesn’t make our battles any less important. The right to a fair wage, the right to sexual freedom, the right to be free from oppression are universal rights that should apply regardless of sex. Victim-shaming is never okay. Violence against women is never okay. Being silenced, or having your opinions written off because of your sex is never okay.
Now I mentioned earlier that gender was a whole other topic but I will quickly touch on it because it is kind of relevant and is becoming more of an issue for children today. Next time you’re at the shops, have a quick walk through the toy store. You might notice that half of the store is bright pink. That the dolls are overly-sexualised. The marketing around little girls’ toys seems to be “make it pink, make it about playing “house”, make it sexy”. And yeah, I will admit boys’ toys are more “hands-on”. But there is absolutely no reason why, for instance, Lego felt the need to bring out girl Lego:
source
These issues weren’t so big when we were children, which is why when I heard parent’s complain I rolled my eyes “But I turned out fine!” The thing is, it’s changing. If I have a daughter, I don’t want her to feel like she has to play with “girl Lego”. What the fuck is that about? She will be perfectly capable of playing with NORMAL Lego with the boys. Just as, if I have a son who wants to play with dolls – that’s fine too. But it’s an issue for both when those dolls are overly sexualised. Women are not objects.
And just for the record, I think there is most definitely a difference between being anti-men and pro-women. The “anti-men” feminists (Gail Dines for instance) don’t really do our cause much good. But it is possible to be feminist and pro men. I am most definitely not “anti-men”. I have various men in my life and I love them and need them there. My boyfriend for instance, is a huge emotional and physical support for me and I would be a different person without him. Admitting that does not make me any more or any less of a feminist. To me, men are not the issue here. Yes, we live in a patriarchal society, but I feel it’s gotten to the point where we are ALL so blinded by the way things have always been that it’s just normal for women to slightly be more oppressed. Men have “male privilege” and by that I mean – they will not always understand the issues that women go through. They probably have little understanding of how it feels to be considered “a dirty whore” for being in a loving, sexual relationship with another person. They probably have no understanding how confusing it can be to be told that your views are less valid because you’re “emotional”, when you’re really just passionate. They don’t understand necessarily, that it can be scary walking home alone at night. That is not their fault, and they should not be blamed. Educate the males in your lives. Explain to them what feminism is, get them on board. Because it’s only then that this won’t be an issue anymore and then everyone wins.
Okay, so that was a slight rant. The issue of feminism is a massive one, and one that I could go on and on about. I’ve tried to generally cover some of the issues that I’m most passionate about, but there are so many other issues out there in terms of women’s rights and equality – not to mention the issues that women in developing countries face (genital mutilation / honour killings / being regarded as ‘chattel’).
Now I really want to hear from you guys:
Do you identify as a feminist? Why / Why not?
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