Over the past few years, I’ve heard a lot about Feminism. It’s come up time and again in the media, and this trend actually seems to be accelerating. Despite the less than ideal conditions that has brought this issue such attention lately, I’m happy to see people discussing it.
Have you heard of GamerGate? If not, Know Your Meme describes it as…
…the online backlash against perceived breaches of journalistic integrity on video game news sites that occurred as a result of the “Quinnspiracy,” an online controversy surrounding indie game developer Zoe Quinn’s alleged affairs with a number of men working in the video game industry, including Kotaku staff writer Nathan Grayson.
I don’t want to focus on #gamergate, because it’s just one of many attacks on women, but the highly abbreviated version is that a group of people on the Internet (mostly men) are upset that a woman may have had sex with some men. They’re so upset, in fact, that they’re threatening to rape and murder her and her family.
As a man, I find this deeply disturbing.
Feminism has gotten a bad rap over the years, and I suspect it has a lot to do with the name. Simply put, Feminism sounds exclusive to women… in fact, it sounds a bit anti-men. Feminism, in my opinion, has a major marketing problem.
What Feminism actually means is equality for men and women. It’s a noble goal, something to strive for, not attack. I believe this should be self-evident, but apparently not everyone sees it that way.
I’m writing about this because I believe that more people – men in particular – need to say that this isn’t okay. Speaking frankly, I can’t stand the term “Feminist” either… I think it sounds militant. It conjures images of angry women hating on men. However, I believe that the idea behind it is vital to the continued success of our society. I believe it’s simply the way things should be.
Why shouldn’t women be treated equally? How does their equal treatment hurt me as a man? That we’re threatening women with death for simply having a different opinion is absolutely shameful. We’re supposed to be better than that.
Us men have been ruling the world for thousands of years now. I think it’s pretty damn reasonable that women want equal say in the matter, and I hope you’ll chime in the next time you see a man threatening a person with rape and death. Seriously, what are we, teenage boys? Man…
I appreciate the support of equal rights and everything, but that’s a ridiculously oversimplified and biased version of the gamergate scandal. There are some scumbags who are threatening rape etc and they should probably be in jail. However, the movement as a whole is not upset because a woman had sex with some men. To suggest it is that simple gives the impression you didn’t even read the know your meme link you posted. They are upset because a game developer had sex with several of the judges of a competition she won an award in. That’s pretty clear cut conflict of interest.
And honestly, if you want to know why feminism has such a big marketing problem, it’s because of garbage reporting like this. An issue that is objectionable for perfectly valid reasons, like corruption in a contest, is labelled as sexism and misogyny, and suddenly people who have no issue with women or equal rights are very put-off by feminism.
Thanks for this post, it’s important to share and remind people about what the actual issues are at play.
As far as the word feminist, I think it’s worth asking if the word itself is an issue, or whether it’s been long used as a pejorative by those who don’t agree with equality. In which case it doesn’t matter what word you choose, it will just get used to paint a caricature of what feminism is about.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with the name. And if somebody’s uncomfortable with a momentary perspective that it’s not all about them, then they may have a ways to go towards equality.
Feminism is something that was sponsored by the government for 2 reasons. 1) To tax the other half of the population that was staying at home. 2) To take control of your children and have the state raise them the way the government wants them to be raised. Our kids are being raised by institutions, not parents. Look at the family dynamics over the past few decades compared to the past.
Think about it and you’ll see it makes perfect sense.