There is this great Facebook page that has sprung up within the last few months called “Women Against Feminism,” and it has recently gained a lot of attention from different media outlets. Truly everything about it is disturbing and nearly everything about it screams out the reasons why we need feminism, and need it now.
Reading the comments on this Facebook page and seeing the photos uploaded to it honestly frighten me. The page is literally an advertisement for everything that is wrong with organized religion, worldwide education systems, right-wing extremism, and really just society in general. It is a page full of ignorant, biased, closed-minded human beings who do not even understand how ignorant, biased, and closed-minded they are.
I have written about the type of feminism these women seem to be against, and I see how and why they are confused and misinformed. I too, dislike that kind of feminism and think that the term as well as the movement needs to be rebranded. The problem is that the contributors of this page harp on the term “feminist” much more than they do on the content of what that really means. A number of the posts on the page advocate for gender equality but get all caught up on how the definition of feminism does not match the execution of it. Many of the posts contradict one another and create a very unclear message for the group. What is painfully obvious is that it is not “feminism” that these women are against – it is other women. So let us just all get this out in the open.
The women contributing to this page are basically trying to shame women who do not share their same values. They declare all over the page how much they love men. It is you they hate. You, the other women, the “feminists.” You, the slutty girls who sleep around before marriage and want to get abortions. You, the high-powered corporate executives who chose working over being stay-at-home mothers.
These women are against you because you are more than just a stereotype. They are against you because you are not conservative. They are against you because they are intimidated by you. They are against you because they are insecure. They are against you because they do not understand you.
It is not just women contributing to this page though. There are men too, and they fit the same criteria as the women I have described above. They hate women like myself because we scare the shit out of them, and honestly, any man who would look down on me for supporting feminism is an idiot that I want nothing to do with.
I know all the anti-feminists are going to have an uproar over this, but you know who told them to hate me? To hate “feminists”? Men.
Our moral values are based in the Puritanical system of those who first settled America. Even before these pilgrims, all organized religions today were created by men who decided that it was okay for them to sleep around and hold power, but hell no could women do that. God, the ultimate creator, is written about as a man, not a woman. In other words, people are raised to believe that the highest and most supreme power in the world is wielded by none other than a man.
Religions were used as tools to subordinate women, and while this is generally no longer the case in America, it is still very true in other countries around the world. Furthermore, just because women are not forced to be subservient to men here, does not mean that there are not residual effects of the past still in the present. Just take a look at the fact that many conservative women still let the words of some ancient men dictate how they view the world and how they live their lives. Enough said.
This is not to say that there is something wrong with being religious, wanting to be a stay-at-home mother, or saving yourself for marriage. These are all respectable choices, as are being an atheist, choosing to work outside the home, and exploring your sexuality. The point is that women should not demonize one another for choosing different life paths. Instead, we should be promoting feminism as a movement that has allowed women the right to make this choice.
Girls, Who Run the World? 