I've never considered myself to be a feminist. I am not the kind of person to follow "trends" or to be that much influenced. I usually just react to what a feel. And lately I've been feeling particularly attacked.
That idea of fighting for "equality" of the sexes is a bit ridiculous, at my sight. Women are different from men in several ways, there's no way we can be treated with the demanded equality. And here in between us, let's be completely honest with ourselves and accept that equality between sexes is nothing but a utopia.
Now what I do defend today and always is not equality, but justice. That is the one and only thing we can fight for. And justice works not only for us, women, but for men as well. We are both victims in the end of the way. If you take only 5 minutes to think about it, you will understand where I wanna get.
And by justice I don't mean that I want to have the right to go outdoors as men do. Or that I want to be allowed to speak when I want to. No, I assume that part is obvious for any human being.
What I mean by justice is that I just want things to be fair.
I want to be paid what I deserve for the quality of my work - not less than that other guy, a Man, who isn't as committed as me.
I want to have the right to chose if I want to marry at the age of 13 or 50. Or if I want to get married at all. Or have kids.
I want to wear whatever I like without being verbally assaulted.
I want to be respected, specially as I am a respectful person who doesn't look for provocations. Even if I am a woman, even if I am young, even if I am pretty, even I wear tight jeans or show my skin in the sunlight.
I want any innocent victim of physical assault to be 100% protected and not blamed - even if it is a man.
I want to see people getting what they deserve, for the good and for the bad. No more, no less.
Speaking for myself, I also want to decide which path my life will take. And I don't want this power of decision to be taken from me.
Plus, I say "I want" instead of "I wish" because that is the point here. It's about what I want. I, me, myself, my own person. It's about my rights as a woman and as an individual.
I wish this World would be fair for all of us.
I mean, I want this world to be fair for all of us.
That's why I am quite-a-feminist.
I agree with your list of things you want but I'm not sure I agree about equality not being possible. Not all women and men fall into obvious gender boxes, so while there are some biological differences, I think trying to insist we separate genders all the time is quite an outdated view. Maybe if we didn't raise boys and girls totally differently we wouldn't have so many differences and people could just be themselves. Modern, intersectional feminism doesn't ignore the ways men are also victimised and suffer, it simply points out that most of the ways men suffer is actually because of stigma towards women (men cant report violence because they aren't being 'masculine' enough, don't get custody of kids because childcare is for women etc.) so actually, if womens rights improved we would reach equality or rather a better state for all. The everyday sexism project has some great stuff about MRA's that explains it a lot better than me, I do think equality is possible, we're just so far from it in most countries that it's hard to see right now.
ReplyDeleteOmg that just made a tear drop down my face, as I know how differently we are treated from men, and you just got all the things that we WANT to do as women in just one post! xx That definitely just made me think of me doing what I WANT to do, and be not what they want me to do or be!
ReplyDeletelast but not least I would love to stand up and give this post *and you of course* an applause of bravery and honesty *speechless*
Thanks again,
Shaima
Hannah, first of all thanks stopping by and commenting :)
ReplyDeleteI get your point, maybe you're right somehow and there is actually sense in fighting for "equality", and it's an obvious truth that not all of us fall into the stereotypes of genders. However I feel like the picture we are receiving of "feminism" is not the most correct (maybe due to this Pop culture of nowadays?). It kind of feels like a battlefield to me.
Anyway, even if I don't understand the true concept of feminism, it doesn't seem like it's going to be an unconditional truth very soon. As you said in some countries we are so far away from it. Too many people that just don't take it seriously.
I think in the end we are all responsible to make it work and become a reality by demanding equality and justice, isn't it?
Thanks for sharing your point of view! :)
Hi Shaima!
ReplyDeleteAww thanks for that! It was me just expressing my feelings, I'm glad you saw yourself in my words. Definitely be yourself and do what YOU want to do, don't let other people define who you are. And this is not about feminism, is about being yourself as a person.
Hope to talk to you soon :)
Hugs! *