I am not a feminist.
shocker? honestly, probably not.
The official definition of feminism is this:
"the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes."
Sounds good right? Who would disagree with the equality of the sexes? I completely agree that men and women are equal, and deserve equal rights. However the closer you look at feminism, the trickier it gets.
"The advocacy of women's rights" is the first part of the definition. These rights include {but are not limited to} the right to live free from violence, slavery, and discrimination; to be educated; to own property; to vote; and to earn a fair and equal wage. All sounds good, right? But these are just a small number of the rights that feminism advocates.
Let's look at the definition of feminism by a leading feminist.
"A huge part of being a feminist is giving other women the freedom to make choices you might not necessarily make for yourself." Lena Dunham
Now we're getting somewhere.
When feminism began, with the suffragette's movement, it looked very different from the modern day "third wave" feministic movement. It was about women gaining the right to vote, the right to have safe workplaces, and be treated fairly.
Let's take a look at some of the pillars & mottos of modern feminism.
1. My body - My Choice.
The pro-choice movement and the modern feminist movement are inseparably intertwined. Things weren't always this way. In fact, the suffragette movement was pro-life!
Elizabeth Cady Stanton said, “when we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit."
“The gross perversion and destruction of motherhood by the abortionist filled me with indignation, and awakened active antagonism.” Elizabeth Blackwell the first US woman to receive a medical degree.
Women have autonomy over their bodies. They can choose to do what they want with their body, but when a woman is receiving an abortion she is not terminating her body. She is terminating the life of a baby growing within her.
There is so much research and evidence about the biology of a baby in the womb, the harm abortion causes to women, and the brutality of abortion. I highly suggest you watch this video if you want more information.
Even since the right to abortion became a feminist "value", the stance has changed dramatically. No long is it is considered a "necessary evil", or something solemn and sad, but women are told to "shout your abortion", celebrate and be proud of it.
When a law allowing third trimester abortions with no restrictions was passed in New York, women cheered, and clapped overjoyed that they were able to kill fully formed babies that look like this.
And now they even refuse to pass laws to protect babies who are born after a botched abortion! This isn't pro-choice, this isn't about women's rights, this is murdering babies.
It's pretty obvious that pro-life women are not welcome in the feminist movement. When they try to join the women's march they are told they are not welcome, and a big funder of the march was planned parenthood.
Don't get me started on planned parenthood, which has been ridden with scandals and illegal activity. The feminist movement ignores and continues to support the company through it all. Even though the roots of Planned Parenthood was not pro-women {as it still is not}, and was and continues to be very racist.
Is this equal rights? Is this what the suffragettes were fighting for? I think not!
2. Believe All Women
Equal rights? Women and men being equal? We take their words equally serious? Right? Just take a moment and think about the outrage that would come from turning this phrase around - "believe all men".
Please do not believe all women. Women are not angelic beings who are incapable of lying, or being villainous. If I think about the women I have known throughout my life, I can't count how many have been prone to gossip - which at the very least consisted of stretched truths, and many times completely made up stories.
Reality is women lie. Some women are vengeful, and mean, just as some men are vengeful and mean. The idea that we have to believe all women when they come out with abuse and assault accusations is incredibly dangerous! Should we take them seriously? Of course, and their claims should be investigated and proper actions taken if they are true. But we should also stand by "innocent until proven guilty", and take into consideration men's statements.
There are quite a few instances where women have made up stories about abuse to get revenge on exes, or an upper hand during divorces. And they rarely face repercussions.
With this feminist motto comes a strange exception. If a women does not agree with the feminist agenda, or upholds that a man is innocent when another woman claims he is guilty, we shouldn't believe her. In fact the same people who shout this slogan will try to silence her!
"She's just being controlled and influenced by the patriarchy!" or "She must be scared to tell the truth!" or whatever other excuse is given as to why we shouldn't believe her.
This is not equality.
3. Nasty Women
Another common phrase that feminists proudly tote around is being that they are nasty women. This was rooted in a quote in which Trump called Hillary Clinton a nasty woman. I get that it's supposed to be a political statement. But it is serving a complete opposite purpose to what I assume it was meant to.
Nasty means "highly unpleasant, especially to the senses; physically nauseating."
Is this really what feminists want to be seen as? The last thing I would want to be remembered as is nasty!
This whole thing ties in with the inner power, and self-love movement that women are so readily embracing nowadays. "We are strong, we are powerful, we are perfect just the way we are." That's a total fallacy, you can read my past post about self-love for a more in-depth explanation.
It also ties in with the idea that to be a strong, liberated and powerful woman, means that you can/should be rude, show off more of your body, and reject traditional feminine ideals.
You can already guess that I disagree with all these ideas. Being a strong woman doesn't mean putting yourself first, or believing that you have power within yourself to do anything {because no-one does}, or being rough and harsh.
However - willing and proudly toting the label "slut", wearing your underwear or going topless in public, and claiming that there are no negative consequences of promiscuity is not equality or helping the cause at all. Neither is claiming that rape culture is a real thing in society, when it clearly is not.
Most of the quotes from signs at this event, are explicit, and I'm not going to share them on my blog. But, if you want to see actual {censored} footage of interviews with people at the SlutWalk here's a video.
Here's a sign from one of the walks.
"Vulgarity is not measured in centimetres of clothes, we are born naked, all dressing is hypocrisy. A man in tuxedo can be vulgar. A naked woman is a creature of God."
Seriously? Wearing clothes is hypocrisy? This is not logic, and this is not women's rights. Modern feminism just makes people not take women seriously, and does not change things in a positive way!
4. The Wage Gap | Pink Tax
Think about it, if the wage gap were real, why wouldn't business hire only/more women? It would reduce costs, and then women as a whole would be making more than men.
Even a feminist magazine posted a study that showed that women make at the most 6.6% less than men. Here's a study that shows that young women make more than men of the same age group! This just makes sense, as this is the age they are most likely single or not a mother, and as they grow older more stop working or cut their hours to look after children. Here's a pictograph explaining it in detail.
Some of the loudest voices against the wage gap are actresses. Some simple research will show that there are plenty of logical reasons why some actresses are paid less than their male counterparts. However, even if there weren't I find this so hypocritical. I can't bring myself to feel sorry for rich Hollywood elite, who are making millions of dollars for the movies they make. There are slaves all around the world working for nothing, and feminists care more about the millionaires!
If equality meant that they had to give up some of their money so that the slaves would earn a living wage, they all talk of equality would be gone!
Now to 'Pink Tax'. I'm not going to go into detail about this, if you want to learn more here's a great video on why it's not a real thing. In short, some women's products do cost more than men's. However, they contain different ingredients. And if this were a real thing, why wouldn't women just buy men's "identical" items, because that would very quickly end the 'Pink Tax'.
However, most women are much more fussy and willing to pay more money than men on their hair care products and clothing. For example, while we buy shampoo that is supposed to volumize, or moisturize our hair, men couldn't care less what theirs looks or smells like as long as it washes their hair. Women buy conditioner, which most men don't use.
Why do we need to make up issues to protest? There are plenty enough already! Slavery, the pornography industry, abortion, child soldiers, animal cruelty, etc. You will find all too often that feminists are silent on this issue.
5. Ignoring/Devaluing Men's Issues
However, when it comes to actual problems that men face, most feminists ignore or devalue them. Over 75% of homeless people are men, yet there are fewer shelters for them than women & children. {here's some stats}
The suicide rate of men is 6 times higher than of women. Men are more likely to drop out of school than women, and yet women's education is a much more talked about subject than men's. Men's health research has less funding that women's health research does, despite men dying younger on average, and being diagnosed with cancer more than women. {source}
Men receive longer sentences than women for the same crimes. In fact, in court, there is much more discrimination against men than against women. Men are far more likely to have their children taken away from them, and women in most cases receive no consequences for false allegations against men.
6. Equality = Women & Men are the same.
I completely agree that women are just as smart as men, and that women are not confined to working indoors or at office jobs. I've worked on a farm growing plants for the past three summers, hammering posts in with a sledgehammer, and working in the rain and mud. However men are naturally better than women at some things, just as women are naturally better than men at some things.
Women have 40% less upper body strength than men, and 33% less lower body strength than men. A study on highly trained athletic women, showed that they have worse grip than 75% of men. The faster female runner in the world wouldn't even have qualified for the men's olympic competition.
However, women on average are better multi-taskers than men, and better in social situations than men. Women are more nurturing in some cases, and more likely to be teachers and nurses. Women are better at remembering where things have been placed.
Women are asking to be part of boy scouts now {and are becoming boy scouts}, and are allowing transgenders to run in women's races - and subsequently win them.
Equality is accepting that there are differences between the genders, and not being ashamed of them. We need to accept that women are just not as good as men at some things, and that femininity does not equal weakness.
8. Feminist Icons
Another reason I am not a feminist, is because the faces of modern feminism do not make me proud to be a woman. They do not represent equality.
Women who wear white in a shameful parody of the suffragette movement to the state of the union address, where they refuse to clap when hearing that traffickers of women and children are being arrested. Yet they clap and rejoice when babies are allowed to be killed up to birth. Women who shake their heads and roll their eyes when drug cartels and dangerous gangs are called out and being fought against.
These women make me ashamed to be a woman sometimes. They are not strong, they are weak. They are not compassionate, they are selfish. And they are not changing anything.
I'm not denying that there are sexists in North America. Of course there are, but society as a whole is not sexist, and laws are not sexist. We do not need to fight for equal rights anymore.
The fact is the women are already equal to men in this part of the world. Instead of fighting against inequalities that don't exist, why don't we fight against slavery - which is real? Why don't we fight for the rights of men and women in other countries where they are persecuted and oppressed?
I could go on and on about feminism, talking about the motto "the future is female" and why I disagree, talking about so many more reasons I am not a feminist. But this article is already long enough.
What would a suffragette look like today? She would be on the front of the pro-life movement, fighting for the lives of the unborn. She would be fighting to end modern slavery and human trafficking. She would be standing up against the issues the plague men and women, the drug epidemics that are killing thousands of lives.
She would not be whining about non-existent issues, or priding herself in the killing of unborn babies.
Will you be a real woman or man of courage?
Happy Women's Day!
Sincerely, Rachel
Will you be a real woman or man of courage?
Happy Women's Day!
Sincerely, Rachel
