Feminism: Is It An Essential Movement Or Just Crazy, Bra-Burning Women?

By: Victoria Gonzalez

    Feminism is not a word, it's a movement.

Those of you who keep up with the news and social media might've heard of the "Who Needs Feminism?" social media campaign started by Duke students back in 2012.

The point of this campaign was to shed light on a lot of common misconceptions about this movement such as:

"Feminists are lesbian, bra-burning radicals who hate all men."

"Women are equal now and there is no need for feminism."

"You can't be feminine and be a feminist at the same time."

And "Feminism is only for middle-class white women."

Unfortunately, the word "feminism" has acquired a very negative (and undeserved) stigma in our modern-day society.

A large part of this is because of people singling out radical moments that stray from the initial meaning of the movement, biased media reporting, and people accepting views that are presented to them without doing their own research.

But is there some truth to a couple of these so-called misconceptions? Is feminism still relevant in our world today?

There are more and more people nowadays who say it's no longer relevant.

And no, they're not just men.

A whole movement called "Women Against Feminism" was created in response to the "Who Needs Feminism?" campaign.

    So which side is right? Do we still need Feminism?

If we get down to the core of the beliefs behind what these people are saying, then both sides are "right".

Traditional family constructs shouldn't be demonized.

Men shouldn't be blamed for actions that women are responsible for.

And yeah, being whistled at or complimented on the street isn't oppression.

That's just the thing though. The reasoning behind anti-feminist sentiments is more often than not, based off of simple misconceptions like the ones I talked about at the beginning of this article.

    Debunking 3 Simple Myths and Misconceptions:

    (Based on the anti-feminist poster displayed above)

1. Real feminism is not about demonizing family constructs. This goes for everything else too. We're not asking all women to burn their bras, refuse to cook for their husbands, and sneer at any sign of chivalry from a man.
• Feminists are simply advocating for women to be given the opportunity to CHOOSE whether this sort of construct is something they want for themselves.
• Have you ever wondered why marriages today don't last as long as they used to? It's because prior to 1970, women couldn't even legally open a bank account. Now that women actually have a choice and are ALLOWED to leave a marriage if they're unhappy, of course, you're going to see higher rates of divorce. Does this mean we want all women to divorce their husbands? No, of course not. It just means that we want women to have the CHOICE to leave if they want to.
2. Now, onto the false rape allegation issue. Yes, false rape allegations are truly horrendous. Rape is not a joke. A false allegation has the power to take away someone's credibility and ruin future opportunities. How many allegations are actually false though? Only around 5 percent. Is this comparable to the amount of adversity a woman is faced with when she tries to report rape? I think not.
• Furthermore, according to Joanne Belknap (a sociologist, criminologist, and professor at the University of Colorado Boulder) and Sandra Newman (a novelist with extensive research expertise in false rape allegations), that 5 percent paints a very incomplete picture.
• This figure is calculated from studies done on college students. Why isn't this accurate? Because roughly 95 percent of this demographic do NOT report when they experience sexual assault.
• Only rapes that are reported can be considered false. 8 to 10 percent of women report their rape, meaning that around 90 percent of rapes go unreported.
• This means that the 5 percent figure only applies to 10 percent (at most) of rapes. This means that the actual false allegation figure closer to 0.5 percent.
• CLICK HERE FOR MORE ---> Analyzing Statistics on False Rape Allegations
3. Finally, let's move onto the final point brought up by our beautiful, anti-fem volunteer up there. "Being whistled at or complimented on the street isn't oppression," she says. Dang, she got us there. It's not oppression. It's just extremely rude and stereotypical. It normalizes the sexualization of women's bodies (especially young girls and adolescents who have no business being sexualized). It also promotes the narrative that a man's opinion is more important than a woman's comfort. But that's a talk for another time. Let's put all that aside for a moment and talk about why catcalling and whistling, even though it's not oppression, is not a reason to say that the whole feminism movement is invalid.

• WOMEN'S OPPRESSION DOES EXIST. It happens all over the world. Just because you may have never experienced it doesn't make it any less valid or any less important.

• Gender Pay Gap and Opportunity Gap:

• The gender pay gap does exist. In the United States in 2020, women earn 81 cents for every dollar earned by men. When we look at lifetime earnings and calculate this based off current trends, the average amount of money earned by women throughout their career is $900,000 less than that of men. This isn't all though. The gender pay gap worsens by ethnicity. The largest difference in earnings is for American Indian and Alaska Native women, black or African American women, and Hispanic women. They will earn $0.75 for every dollar a white man earns (this improved by $0.01 from 2019).     SOURCE = 2020 Pay Gap Stats
• There's also an opportunity gap. Women usually move up the career ladder at a slower pace than men. According to PayScale Data, "In 2020, 75 percent of men and 76 percent of women ages 20 to 29 are in individual contributor roles. However, by age 30 to 44, 36 percent of men became supervisors or managers while only 30 percent of women did." This also worsens by ethnicity.

• And we can't forget the oppression of women in developing countries:

• In Afghanistan, women have a 1 in 11 chance of dying in childbirth; 87 percent of women are illiterate, and up to 80 percent of girls are forced into marriage.
• In Congo, 400,000 women are raped each year.
• In Pakistan, 1,000 women are killed each year in what they call "honor killings." Families defending their "honor" also attack women with acid and disfigure them, stone them to death, or beat them. Forced marriages are also commonplace.
• In India, there are high rates of human trafficking and prostitution of both women AND girls. Not only that, but about 50 million women have gone missing because of feticide (the killing of fetuses) and infanticide in the past century.
• In Somalia, a women minister named Maryan Qasim told TrustLaw: "The most dangerous thing a woman in Somalia can do is to become pregnant. When a woman becomes pregnant her life is 50-50 because there is no antenatal care at all. There are no hospitals, no healthcare, no nothing. Add to that the rape cases that happen on a daily basis, the female genital mutilation that is being done to every single girl in Somalia. Add to that the famine and the drought. Add to that the fighting (which means) you can die any minute, any day."

So no, catcalling is not oppression (although that doesn't mean it should be acceptable), but after looking at all the women targeted oppression that does exist today, it is quite clear that feminism is still relevant.

I'm sure that our friend who broadcasted her reasons for not needing feminism earlier in this article has never experienced this sort of oppression (or if she has, because of the pay gap, has never realized it). However, just because some people are more fortunate than others does not give them the right to dismiss what so many must face on a daily basis.

Like I said before, it shouldn't have to happen to you for it to matter to you.

So, please, don't stay ignorant of the issues in today's world. Ignorance may be bliss for you, but it's the complete opposite for those who aren't as lucky as you might be.

In the words of iconic pop star, Michael Jackson, "If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change."

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT 8 SIMPLE WAYS YOU CAN MAKE A CHANGE TO HELP FURTHER WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND MAKE OUR WORLD A BETTER PLACE