Killing Feminism - Like a Girl

Feminism /ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m/ the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.

“Real queens fix each other’s crown, She needed a hero so she became one, Like a girl” it is an indubitable truth that you have heard one of these clichéd feminist quotes, if you haven’t been living under a rock. The feminism that we know as of today is a unique amalgamation of decades worth of gruelling fight against the bigoted society and the generation Z led #MeToo movements. From Margaret Sanger and Savitribai Phule struggles for basic voting, driving and educational rights to Malala Yusuf, Jameela Jamil and Emma Watson fearless advocation of equality in all aspects. Feminism, in true sense has travelled miles and still has are very long way to go.

But when information trickles down from one node (generation) to another it attains a different form, a form it was never meant to be, like a twisted game of Chinese Whisper and feminism has suffered the same fate. Though, in broader sense it still stands for ‘equality of the sexes’, feminism has somewhat lost its momentum owing to its misuse by pseudo-feminists. A face of feminism which thrives at the plight of other genders and uses the gender card to get an easy way out, a face that shouts when a poor ’ol lad sits in women only seats and remains mum at the site of her uncle raping her aunt, a face that shouts for women but remains mum for men, gays and lesbians, a face that puts women above all genders.

Pseudo-feminism is a cross for the feminists to bear which discredits every ounce of hardships they actually have to face just for that extra dollar an hour, just for that job interview, just for staying late at that party and just for that classroom program that she earned a full scholarship for. And all this in the name of ‘She is doing it for attention’, ‘She is doing it to get her way’, ‘These feminists man’, ‘Men suffer too’ and numerous such fickle-minded excuses.

Not that long ago all our Instagram was flooded with The Boys Locker Room stories, people from across the genders, ages and platform came out to support the girls against the misogynist teen chats and rape threats. There were stories, posts and videos after videos empowering these girls and condemning the boys for their odious behaviour but all of this disappeared in thin air soon after the real culprit behind the threat – a girl – was mentioned and the support stories turned into ‘men also suffer’, ‘fake feminism’ and ‘why I hate feminists’ stories. But why? Does the involvement of a girl in the case nullify the gravity of under-age girls being objectified, does it disapprove the fact that 1000s of innocents are raped country wide and does it disapprove the down-trodden condition of women in this country? No, it certainly does not and of all the things it only highlights the meek state of women as they are to be wronged only by men to actually suffer and gain empathy.

Hence, just like that yet another case which could have taught us the barbaric yet prime lesson of respecting each gender and their choices equally was turned into the classic case of killing feminism at the hand of pseudo feminists.

So, for the burgeon of feminism annihilation of misinformed gender-movements is imperative. Feminism is a lot of things but it’s certainly not the practice of stomping others for the sake of flourishing. It preaches nothing but equality, a flat platform for all the genders, a platform from which everyone can take off towards their dream without the prejudice of gender, because it is high time we view gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals.