My vision? A feminist movement that works toward a world where no one is limited or defined by their gender identity.
A quote from Miriam in her goodbye post to Feministing. Even if you’ve never followed her work, I strongly suggest reading about her thoughts on the future of feminism and where the movement needs to go in order to be successful.
Oh, how wonderful that would be. In our lifetime? Doubtful. But I’ll defend our rights, anyway.
Greetings Tegan,
Found your blog while stumbling, I started to look around and it started to make me think and from there I had to let my mind go free.
I am a young male (20) and within my sisters I often start the argument that while women “have equal rights” then are not treated as equals. There is an epidemic across the nation of women that don’t feel the need to participate in activities that typically a man would do.
For example: I recently went on vacation along with my sisters and brothers and we stayed with the grandparents, during that time my Grandfather asked us to paint multiple rooms in his house, as good grandchildren we did it. I found it astonishing though that when I asked my sisters “What are you doing?” they simply stated “Im a women, I don’t have to do that.”
Now the idea of EQUAL rights is the fact that males and females are both on the same pedestal….AT ALL TIMES. NOT WHEN IT IS CONVENIENT FOR THAT FEMALE. But that is what I see all over. Women that want the same pay and treatment as men, but that has never been the case!!
I suppose I say this to you due to the fact that I am feed up!! I can not speak to my women without this same reaction. Do I simply let it roll of my back because it will never change? Or do I keep fighting what seems a lost battle? How do I explain to these women in my life that equal means equal in ALL WAYS, not only when it will benefit them?
Hi Phillip, I’m glad you asked this. What your sisters (and other women in your life) are experiencing is internalized sexism. Because culture have always said, “x is a man’s job, and y is a woman’s job, you shouldn’t do x”, they have internalized this and believe that truly, x is for you and y is for them.
This is frustrating and you’re right to feel upset over it, your feelings are valid. Internalized sexism among women is very common and hurts themselves along with men. Equal rights means that should someone have the ability to do something, they should be able and allowed to do it.
Internalized sexism runs very, very deep. To the point that some women feel genuinely incapable of doing simple “man” things. Some internalize it as a “right” IE “I can do this but I don’t haaaave to!”. This sucks, and it’s a result of our culture’s sexism projected onto women that they are biologically weaker and therefore do not have to do certain things.
My advice to you, when a woman in your life says that her gender prohibits her from doing something, is to explain that her capability is valid. Her gender does not EXCUSE nor PROHIBIT her from accomplishing x task. What’s important is for her to realize that she is both capable and allowed to do a task “normally” assigned to a man.