Feminism Dismissed by #WomenAgainstFeminism on Social Media
Equality, balance and respect, and the desire to integrate those merits into the workplace and home sphere both ignited and fueled the modern feminist movement, which purports to benefit every woman, everywhere.
However, "Women Against Feminism," a social media action occurring in response to the notorious social movement, claims that feminism reduces women to victims, stereotypes all men as predators and challenges women's traditional roles as females and mothers.
"I don't need feminism because it reinforces the men as agents/women as victims dichotomy" is just one remark in a sea of messages posted online.
These women, like female anti-feminists before them, believe that feminists don't respect women who adhere to traditional roles. They also believe that feminism relieves women of responsibility for their actions (particularly when under the influence of alcohol and narcotics) and it demonizes all men, presuming that they are rapists, violators or misogynists. These women have also challenged that there is no rape culture, and there is no patriarchy. And many believe the battle against sexism has been won.
Despite the way they perceive reality, political and social rights still haven’t been granted to all women, particularly women of color. Women spanning the width of the globe and the length of history have experienced and witnessed oppression. Women have felt discounted, disempowered, demoralized and objectified, and they’ve been subjected to the rabid effects of rape culture and the trials of the foreboding patriarchy.
Women of every race, ethnicity, faith and culture have blatant maltreatment by men somewhere in their stories, and that has prompted certain women to be wary of men who've been raised in an anti-woman society. But, women being aware of a history of systematic targeting and victimization doesn’t translate to them being doting victims. Nor does it mean that they can't be accepting of men, love men, care for men or hope for their sons to flourish.
"Feminism is a movement to acknowledge the inherent humanity in each of us, regardless of the socially constructed identities that have been used to separate us over the centuries," said Juliana Britto Schwartz, creator of LatinaFeminista.com, to Latin Post in an email. "Part of this work involves acknowledging that these identities now hold meaning, and making space for our differences while not letting them tear us down."
"Counter feminists are people who are desperately trying to believe that there is no inequality in the world -- because acknowledging it either requires acknowledging their own privilege, or acknowledging that they are not at the advantage they thought they were."
Feminism hosts a collection of movements and ideologies, ensuring that the feminism field is diverse and welcoming to a wide-spanning and narrow understandings of womanism. Feminism represents different camps, waves and sects based on race or individual politics, and there's even a place for women who aren’t supportive of mainstream feminism.
The anti-feminists flooding the Internet with images of themselves holding hand-scribbled statements, such as "I do not need modern feminism because it has become confused with misandry which is as bad as misogyny," and "Whatever I want to do or be in life, I will become through my own hard work" or "I don't need feminism because I believe in equality, not entitlements and supremacy," don't believe in the textbook definition of feminism, and resign themselves to demonize the women that they believe demonize their men.