I love talking to my husband about different topics. For some reason last few weeks included the topic of sexism/ feminism since it has been in the news a lot lately. Now, normally it ends with me saying that although, I believe there are extreme forms of feminism which tend to bash men and make things worse overall, I consider myself a feminist. He hates that word (and he is not alone). I always add that” feminism/feminist” is a word that has been corrupted/ perverted from its original intent just like “submission.”
Last week, I changed my thoughts on that (hey we can all change can’t we?). After not wanting to bring up the growingly tired topic anymore for last week, I came upon an article by Glenn Harlan Reynolds that was published on USA today called “1 small shirt for a man, 1 giant leap backward for women”.
It summed up so many things I thought about concerning sexism and the frustration that many people, including me, feel when feminists take it too far and make everything a cause. Essentially, one of the scientists who helped place the first lander on a comet was criticized for wearing a shirt that had provocative women in not a lot of clothing. As astrophysicist Katie Mark put it “I don’t care what scientists wear. But a shirt featuring women in lingerie isn’t appropriate for a broadcast if you care about women in STEM.” He has since apologized for the choice in clothing he made for the broadcast. Before anyone goes crazy, I want to stress that I agree with Katie Mark, it was simply inappropriate.
My problem with the feminist ranting about it is that it detracted from what he and the team accomplished. As the article suggested, a day that should have been one of the happiest days of his life became all about what he wore. We can’t perpetuate this double standard. The article quotes Chloe Price as saying “”Imagine the … storm if the scientist had been a woman and everyone focused solely on her clothes and not her achievements.”
Anyway on to my main points/ beliefs on feminism/ sexism and why I am quitting feminism.
- Male bashing is not okay.
- This is an Ad hominem argument and it is considered a logical fallacy for a reason. The argument can easily be dismissed or not taken seriously because the person is simply attacking the other side.
- Man bashing hurts men and perpetuates a horrible view of men. Not all men think in those terms. Also, this type of bashing creates men that don’t stand up as leaders in our community but rather stay back and are uninvolved.
- Finally, as I said in a previous fb post “If people bring men down while demanding equal rights, what does that say about their view on women?” Are we saying “lets bring them down to our level” means our level must be a low place?
- Life is not fair
- I am sorry, I wish it was. David makes me frustrated when he says this, but he is absolutely right. Life is not fair and will never be fair. (I especially believe this as a Christian. We are born evil. People can achieve a form of good but it will not be pure without God whether that means motives or otherwise.)
- It will never, ever happen that women can walk home alone in a darkly lit street and not have to worry.
- It will never, ever happen that people will not judge women (who in general have a stronger desire to focus on beauty than men do) by what they wear.
- We must do our part to not continue creating an unfair world.
- I have come to realize that he is right and we must teach our children that life is not fair, HOWEVER, we should do our part (especially as Christians) to do what is right. We are called to higher standards and we are called to not follow the patterns of this world. We must work on ourselves to not be sexist, racist, etc, whether by accident or purposefully.
- We must work on protecting other women.
- We must work on not being judgmental.
- We must speak out on the injustices we see and act differently.
- (For example, the disgusting fact that 1 in 5 girls will be raped, and the frustrating fact that women are getting paid less for the same work. )
Although I will continue speaking out against injustices in the world (and working on myself to change what I can), I have come to realize that “feminism” does not mean fighting for women’s rights anymore. It is one of the many words in our vocabulary that has been tainted through misuse. I thought it was transformed, but no, it has been tainted. There is a history with the word both good and bad. At this moment, the bad has begun to scream louder. According to the article, Time magazine had an online poll that revealed that many people want the word “feminist” retired. This time, I agree.
Read this great article on relevant about 5 ways the bible supports feminism. Evangelical feminism to be clear. (could clarifying the types of feminism change the way we see the word “feminist”)
Escuelita Discover & Wonder 