Let’s start with WHY we still need Feminism before we go down the rabbit hole of those who think we don’t.
There is a trending topic on Tumblr called: Women Against Feminism. Before we look at some of their images and the reasoning of the person who founded the page let’s look at the Google definition of feminism:
The advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.
Let’s take a look at what some notable women have said about feminism:
- Audre Lorde: “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.”
- Malala: “We cannot all move forward when half of us are being held back.”
- Gloria Steinem: “A feminist is anyone who recognized the equality and full humanity of women and me.”
We should also not forget the work of women from the 1920s and through the Second World War and beyond to achieve some semblance of civil rights and equality in American society. One of the most iconic images in this country came from a WW2 photo of “Rosie the Riveter” and was even honored by the US Postal Service with a stamp in the 1990s.
In addition here at Liberal America, one of our writers has also collected several of his “favorite” pictures from Women Against Feminism here. All of this hard work has now led to a Tumblr page devoted to women holding signs explaining why they have either outgrown feminism or don’t need “equality.” Below are a few choice examples.
This poor “humanist” seems to believe that simply because she believes all people are equal that somehow it is so. Apparently there is no need for laws or any type of government “intrusion” into guaranteeing that equality. It somehow happens magically.
Which brings us to this picture which I consider typical of today’s religious people: proud to be ignorant and blatantly refuses to be exposed to ideas opposed to those spoon fed them as children. How exactly do you form real opinions if those thoughts are never challenged? If you don’t have to defend what you think with reason and rational argument how can you say that you actually believe it?
Which brings us to this poor dear. Perhaps English is her second language? To her credit the basic idea comes across:
1) If she were to embrace feminism her husband wouldn’t love her and she wouldn’t be able to choose to stay at home and raise her disabled child.
2) That being a feminist means she can’t be friends with her husband and it would prevent her from being treated like a queen? Does she even know how a queen is treated or what that would mean if her husband did treat her that way?
3) Finally she lets us know she will raise her daughter, if she has one, to be as uniformed and semi literate as she is! Wonderful. So looking forward to the cultural progress that little princess will make.
Which brings me to this wonderful quote from The Princess Bride:
Feminism doesn’t mean what these poor women thinks it means. Feminism has already been defined. It already stands for something and simply because you want it to be about something else your magical thinking won’t make it so.
Since no one Tumbr’s in a vacuum there have been some good responses. Notably: http://confusedcatsagainstfeminism.tumblr.co, which we have borrowed to post a few here and also: http://www.manfeels-park.com/comic/against-feminism, which takes characters from the world of Jane Austen to explain why they are against feminism.
The creator of the page also has a section called Why I Am Against Feminism that I would suggest you read. For the sake of brevity, I’m going to reply to the writer’s points but without posting all of their arguments. Not merely for the sake of brevity but sanity. According to the writer here is why feminism is not necessary:
- Equal Rights exist, right now. The person who wrote this begins by telling us that women don’t need any more legal protections because they are already equal. Nothing to see here ladies please move on to hair and make-up no need to worry your sweet little heads about legal protection.
- Censorship: So apparently feminists are evil because they organize boycotts based on offensive language in the media. We are accused of promoting “inequality of speech” by fighting back against Rush Limbaugh for his Sandra Fluke comments I guess. This person seems to be confused with the basic concepts of rights. Yes we have them, we are free to use them, and sometimes there are unpleasant results when you use your rights to offend or hurt someone else. The argument is that others are free to say whatever they want but feminists shouldn’t be free to point out the offensiveness of the action/language/media/etc…
- Helpless Victim Cult: They claim that feminists promote female weakness by asking the state to guarantee their rights. Now let’s be clear: It’s okay for Hobby Lobby to go get their rights protected legally but somehow it is wrong for a person to ask to have their rights protected as well?
- Inequality: Because, regardless of the DEFINITION of feminism, according to this writer, the PRACTICE of feminism is all about punishing men and creating a special class for women. If by punishing men you mean not allowing them to rape, murder, exploit, etc. women then, yes, I too think some inequality may be necessary because the VERY equality the writer claims women already have doesn’t seem to me to be as equal as the white male privilege I grew up with.
It goes on, and on, and on….
Let’s just summarize: There is no such thing as pay inequality, abortion is murder, and Planned Parenthood makes a fortune off of abortions.
Even though reading this Tumblr page almost makes me think some people deserve fewer rights than I do, I am reminded that taking away the rights of the feeble-minded and foolish diminishes us all. But it’s still tempting because there is just so much stupid in the world.
