What It Means To Be A Feminist Struggle For Women

Feminism can be defined as the belief that women and men should have equal rights and opportunities.

Feminists today are viewed as raging, man-hating bitches, but feminism in its true sense simply advocates women’s rights. While there are extremes on either side of the scale, most feminists fight

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.

Feminism is a living word. There can never truly be a one set definition for the word as the term has often shifted meanings to correspond to the time period. Feminists fight for the rights that men have under the United States Constitution and to have the right to not be discriminated against. Any action against any woman, intentional or not, goes against the principles that many women and men stand for.

At the beginning of the semester when I was asked if I was a feminist, I thought the answer was pretty obvious. I didn’t consider myself a feminist, nor did I ever think I would ever become a feminist, but what I didn’t understand about feminism, was that I didn’t truly understand what it meant to be a feminist. After months of studying gender, I now have a better understanding of what it exactly means to be a feminist. In my opinion, a feminist is someone who wants equal rights for women and men, and what I mean by equal rights, is equality across the board, which includes the political landscape, religious landscape, the free market, the jobs market, ETC. Although that definition is not one that is widely accepted in the academic environment,

The definition of feminism is very elusive. Maybe because of its ever-changing historical meaning, it’s not for certain whether there is any coherence to the term feminism or if there is a definition that will live up to the movement’s variety of adherents and ideas. In the book “No Turning Back,” author Estelle Freedman gives an accurate four-part definition of the very active movement: “Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently part of equal worth. Because most societies privilege men as a group, social movements are necessary to achieve equality between women and men, with the understanding that gender always intersects with other social hierarchies” (Freedman 7).

Feminism at its root is “the advocacy of women’s right on the basis of the equality of the sexes.” Despite various claims that declare feminism is trying to bolster women over men, fundamentally, feminism is simply working towards equality. However, the collective population does not necessarily agree with this. In “The Men’s Right Movement Is a Response to the Excesses of Feminism” by Bruce Walker, where he explores how feminism is unjust and out of place. Regardless of what feminism really is, people will object and take offense.

For the record, feminism by definition is: ‘the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.’ It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes. (Watson 1)

Feminism is considered to be controversial due to its beliefs and ideas. People tend to question what feminism does and how it affects others. To those who support feminism, believe that the movement gives them a sense of empowerment, purpose, and unity. However, those against the movement, strongly feel that the movement is nothing, but a radical idea and its purpose is to hate men and to create an overwhelming domination of women. For many women around the world, feminism is a way to express and speak out about how women are treated and to support the idea that women deserve to be treated equally to men. For most feminists their goal is to create equality between males and females and to resolve not just the issues that

As the topic of feminism has become an arising concern in society, lots of people have associated it with a negative connotation. For centuries, the mistreatment of women have been a constant battle, and some of our generation fails to understand the concept that women are equal to men. The misconceptions and stereotypes of feminism have led people to ignore and ridicule the importance of the feminist movement. The feminist movement is not just solely limited to proving that women are equal to men, we’re also busy killing the patriarchy, slaying misogynists, fighting the battle for women of color, actively promoting LGBTQ

Before I talk about what feminism means, I would like to discuss some of the many misconceptions associated with it. Firstly, feminists are usually stereotyped as being man-hating, hairy, white middle class women. People are also under the impression that they are ugly and a bunch of anti-male lesbians. Also, many people think that feminism is primarily focused on women wanting to be men. Some even argue that feminism has already reached its goal and that there’s no need for its existence anymore. Clearly all of these misconceptions and accusations are far from truth. They are inaccurately portrayed as such due to lack of knowledge on this topic.

One misconception that many anti- and non-feminists believe is that feminism is no longer relevant. Without the induction of feminism, many women might still unwillingly be housewives, mothers, or maids with no right to vote, no right to their own body, no right to a career or education, and even such limited rights to their own freedom that they would not be able to make choices for themselves without the counsel of a man. While that sounds completely insane to us now, that was the reality of the world we lived in merely one century ago. Looking back at all we have gained through the blood, sweat, and tears of first and second wave feminist activists, we are able to see how much further we still have to

The closest working definition feminism holds states: feminism is a social and political movement that seeks equality of opportunity for all people, regardless of gender; and when there is no equality of outcome, feminists wonder why. However, not everyone is aware of

Feminism has been defined as the advocacy of social equality for men and women, in opposition to patriarchy and sexism.

I would like to begin this speech first by addressing an issue that is gaining heat in today’s society. Words like feminazi and man-hater accompany the word feminist, and thus have equated feminists to disgruntled women whose sole purpose is to blame men for everything. As a result, many people – both men and women - have hesitated to associate themselves with the feminist movement. I want to ease people’s minds by providing the actual definition of feminism, as provided by the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Feminism is “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities”