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.
From the article entitled The Feminist Critique – Four Questions for Theorizing across Disciplines by Cecilia Konchar Farr (Catherine Core Reader, 2011)
Mina Loy’s writing, “Feminist Manifesto”, is about feminism in the early 20th century. In this period, women were fighting for equality in their everyday life. Loy’s idea is that women should not try to be equal to man but to find a standard within themselves to live up to. This piece has modernism ideas as she is encouraging a change to society and women’s values. She repeatedly questions traditional values and beliefs about women’s roles in society. She was trying to make a historical change for all women in the 20th century. Loy says, “She abandons the suffragette movement’s central issue of equality and insists instead on an adversarial model of gender, claiming that women should not look to men for a standard of value but should find it
She continues to put her views out there for others, but she also shares this for herself. “At some point, I got it into my head that a feminist was a certain kind of woman.” (377 Gay). This goes to show that she was dropped into the generalization of feminism, and the viewpoint on how it is perceived. Roxane Gay gives us a ton of statements that could potentially cause an argument from readers and writers.
In this essay I will explore the different schools of feminism such as Marxist, liberal and radical feminism, who share the view that women are oppressed in a patriarchal society but differ in opinion on who benefits from the inequalities. Each school of feminism has their own understanding of family roles and relationships which I will assess through this essay.
The concept of femininity and masculinity is mentioned many times throughout the essay to highlight it
Growing up even I was confused with the definition of feminism, the one I was familiar with was the mainstream feminist. The mainstream feminist only deals with people like her who is promptly white, who are cis-gendered, in the middle class and are able bodied. The opposite of a mainstream feminist would be a intersectional feminist. bell hooks explains in, “Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression,” how feminism should be expanded to men, women and trans people because the things they experience on a daily are different from white people. Oppressed women do not like to be involved with feminism and see how the
I am not a feminist simply because I was raised in a feminist household. I am not a feminist because I am an independent, educated woman. I am not a feminist because I am a bitter female, nor because I am a “woman scorned.” I am not a feminist because I hate men, nor because I am a lesbian nor because I like to listen to the Indigo Girls. To the contrary I love men and I am not a lesbian. While I agree with hooks that “feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression” (viii), I believe that her definition of “feminism” states the goals of the movement rather than actually defining the term itself. In my mind, feminism is a synonym for equality. I am a feminist
Radical feminists have paved the way for so many women to stand up for themselves. Many rights were made available to all women because of radical feminists. Their presence, their energy, their ideology was desperately needed during a difficult time of oppression. Some feminine acts of oppression are still frowned upon today as a form of oppression. “I would rather be a bad feminist then to not a feminist at all”, a quote by Roxanne Gay, but in this generation why should feminists have to choose between being a “good” or “bad” feminist?
To quote Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, an influential modern feminist, in her song ‘Flawless’ she defines a feminist as “a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes”
What does it mean to be a Feminist? Does it automatically mean you hate men or does it mean you're an activist for women's rights? Contrary to popular belief, feminism is not about establishing a superior gender. It is about fighting for equality and destroying the social, cultural and historical norms set upon women throughout the world. The Twenty-first century has brought change and growth to female empowerment. Although, in many parts of the world women are given the same rights as men, they are still treated and viewed inferior to men. G.I. Jane perfectly illustrates the struggle women have gone through, even when given “identical” opportunities as men.
In this essay it will assess to what extent feminism has added to our understanding of society.
The idea of “Feminism” is seen in the eyes of many as “women who want to be more masculine” whenever its true meaning is just women who want equality and the same respect and opportunities that men have. This belief has been built up over time through many different perspectives which is why it had turned into the negative idea of what it is. This idea of “Feminism” affected the social hierarchy and system where people were categorized based upon their sex and the social impact it made created and resolved multiple social issues. The idea of “Feminism” impacted the interactions between men and women and the morals of society and through this created power in women as well introduce a long needed new peace amongst the sexes.
“The New feminism emphasizes the importance of the women’s point of view, the Old feminism believes in the primary importance of the human being” (19).
When one hears the term “Feminism”, she/he may have the idea that it is the urge and
To admit or to label oneself as a feminist is to accept a whirlwind of judgment from those around you. It is without a doubt that the word “Feminism” or “Feminist” turns heads, and not necessarily for the right reasons. Many have resorted to mocking, disagreeing, and/or hating Feminism without even having a good grasp of what it is. The stigmas that feminists face are that they are radical, extremist, liberal, lesbians who hate men, refuse to shave and enjoy burning bras (Lee).Conversely, feminists are principally advocates for social justice and equality as well as aim for the establishment of equally divided power between the sexes. It is obvious that many are unaware of and uneducated on the misogynistic injustices plaguing our world and the toxic environment we all live in- both women and men. Feminism is a positive concept that works to eliminate injustices between both sexes and to establish the value of women, thus should be treated as such a concept instead of being a forbidden idea.