preview

In Order To Be Classified As A Good Feminist, One Must

Decent Essays

In order to be classified as a good feminist, one must live up to the standards put forth by the definition of feminism. I believe that the definition of feminism is the belief that all women are and should be treated as equals to men. However, Roxane Gay defines feminists as “women who don’t want to be treated like shit” (Gay 169). I do not believe that is fully correct, because women do not want to not just be treated well, but also have the same rights as men. Roxane Gay makes many assertions on what a feminist should be, but she doesn’t act upon them herself. Personally, I believe that Roxane Gay is a bad feminist because she says “I…want to be myself. Bad feminism seems like the only way I can both embrace myself as a feminist …show more content…

It is fine if you think you can live that way, but I know personally, I would not be able to follow every single rule written by the feminist movement. The essay also touches on the subject of essential feminism. Essential feminism in the essay is stated as “anger, humorlessness, militancy, unwavering principles, and a prescribed set of rules for how to be a proper feminist” (Gay 169). This refers to the attribution of a fixed principle of women and how women should act. When other people insult me because of what I believe in, I often am not bothered by them. However, when they start trying to insult an entire group of people (i.e., an entire gender), that is when I am bothered. It pains me to watch people think they have the power to belittle and demean an entire culture and think that their actions will have no repercussions in the foreseeable future. And that is because there is none. Those people cannot be punished because of the Freedom of Speech rights in the First Amendment. It is completely different, though, when it crosses the line into hate speech, but people rarely ever notice it. They are too busy trying to fight back with protests, which are great and get the word across, but instead of protesting, actual work needs to get done. Legislation needs to be passed in state and federal houses of Congress. That is really where it is going to hurt people, not words on a sign.

Get Access