Feminism is a highly misunderstood term today. While a lot of it comes from regressive thinking & ignorance, I have noticed that quite a bit of this misinformation comes from women. Let’s be honest, none of the genders know how it is to live like the other. And there needs to be education, lots of it.
If a man is around women who backbite, bitch about each other, pull other women down, have no ambition, believe that men have to pay for everything in their (women’s) lives, etc then for the lack of better examples to look up to, younger humans will grow up believing that that is how women are.
We have grown up with a lot of regressive conditioning, being told that sentences like ‘you are not like the other girls’ are compliments and ‘I don’t have female friends, I only get along with the boys’ is something to be proud of. Many of us have grown up and out of such thinking, but let’s be truthful, not everyone has the exposure and inclination to learn. So what happens now?
Do we take the onus and educate other women, or do we keep on outraging against men who have not had the privilege of being around women who take pride in being women, believe in picking each other up, understand intersectional feminism, etc?
The future is female, and all women should be on the same page.
So…what do we, as women who believe in feminism, understand that it means equality amongst genders, and fights for all genders equally if one looks at the bigger picture, do? A lot of us want to explain to our fellow women how they don’t need to hate on feminism, and that the rights they ignorantly take for granted today, are because of feminists from the past. How do we make disbelievers understand that fighting for equality of genders should come naturally to all, and if there are some extremist opinions, those should not be used to pull down the feminism.
As bloggers, we have a voice that we have worked hard to develop and many of us have always been at the forefront of raising & spreading awareness. Women’s day is a perfect time to come together and make noise to educate other women about the importance of having each other’s backs.
What can we talk about more and create conversations around, that could potentially lead to a change of opinions around us?
#Amplify women’s voices. Feminist voices need to be heard by all, mainly so that wrong information and ignorant opinions can be corrected. Help the world understand what equality actually means, and how feminism fights for men too.
#Hype women. Women are increasingly turning to be self-employed professionals and who knows better than us freelancers and bloggers, how much we depend on hypes. Promote them, its so easy now with social media. It takes nothing from us to spread the news about your friend’s business or work but would be rewarding to both you and your friend.
#Be nice to women. We know how difficult life is for each one of us, even the most privileged ones. Is it fair that we judge other women for wanting to be different? Of course not.
#Unlearn. And, relearn. Forget what you have learnt growing up, fact is that after an age, women friends are the best friends. Being like other amazing women makes us all amazing. And women do make some of the best friends a woman could ask for. So break the shackles of patriarchy, and learn to love other women afresh.
Here are five things I could come up with, I would love to know what else you’d suggest! Tell me in the comments below, or DM me on Twitter. Let’s start this conversation.
