By definition, feminism is the belief of social, political and economic equality of the sexes. Ninety-four percent of the 217 respondents of an anonymous survey conducted by The Rebellion believe that men and women should be seen as equal. However, only 48 percent of respondents consider themselves a feminist. What is the reason for this discrepancy? If feminism means equality of the sexes, then why don’t more people consider themselves feminists?
stigma
“Many people don’t understand that feminism isn’t about women being better than men— that’s misandry, and it’s as toxic as misogyny,” a survey respondent said. “Feminism simply fights for equality for all people.”
Walpole High history teacher and Feminism Club adviser Jamie O’Leary thinks of comedian Aziz Ansari’s analogy of feminism and dermatology when considering the stigma behind feminism.
“He gets into the idea that people don’t like feminism because they think it’s a really strong word, even though it just means someone who buys into equality,” O’Leary said. “He talks about how if you were a dermatologist and somebody asked you, ‘Oh, you treat skin disease; are you a dermatologist?’ you wouldn’t respond by saying, ‘Oh no, I’m not a dermatologist, that’s too strong of a word.’”
Ninety-seven percent of feminist respondents believe that others are misinformed about the definition of feminism. O’Leary recognizes that many view feminism as an anti-male movement or a movement seeking to assert female dominance; however, that view is flawed because feminism is beneficial to people of all genders.
“When we talk about feminism, people have a perception that it’s an anti-male movement that is something that hopes to bring down men in society, and that moving women forward comes at the expense of men. I don’t think that’s true,” O’Leary said.
In recent years, radical feminist groups such as Women’s Liberation Front that are often informally referred to as “femi-nazis” have made headlines for their controversial actions such as suing the United States Federal Government.
"Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) is suing the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Department of Education (DOE) in order to challenge their recent redefinition of “sex” in Title IX to include “gender identity.” This redefinition effectively renders sex meaningless as a legally protected category in federally funded schools and universities (which is almost every school and university in the country). WoLF filed lawsuit on August 11th, 2016," WoLF said on their website.
“Because they are afraid of the stigma or have misconceptions about its ideals, many people picture aggressive ‘femi-nazis’ or think that feminists believe that women are superior or countless other incorrect assumptions about feminism that hold them back from identifying as feminists,” a survey respondent said.
Although these radical voices are typically the ones that are most often heard, that does not mean that they are representative of the entire movement, contrary to what some may believe.
“The negative stigma about feminism as a whole has sort of grown out of extremists. Since the extremists are the most heard, the most vocal, the most newsworthy, the most ‘entertaining,’ that’s what people are going to be looking at more,” junior Chris Capozzi said. “If people have dedicated a lot of their life to it, then they’ll definitely be passionate about it, and that passion can come off as aggression, and that aggression can paint a bad picture of the feminist movement as a whole.”
However, even people who identify themselves as feminists recognize the flaws in this extremist belief that is generally more damaging than helpful to the movement. When radicals take feminism too far, it can get to a place of female dominance rather than its original purpose: gender equality.
“The feminist movement tends to simply focus on female empowerment. When we try to empower women to ‘be elevated to the status of a male’ so to speak, it already violates the belief that men and women are equal,” one respondent said. “Historically, males have been seen as the dominant gender, yet there are plenty of cases where men are victims of sexual assault, rape, being suicidal, etc.”
Of the people who consider themselves feminists, 64 percent have hesitated to call themselves feminists due to the stigma and stereotypes surrounding this word. Why would a word meaning gender equality evoke such a controversial response?
“I am often afraid that if I speak my voice and make my opinions known around guys that they will think I’m aggressive, bossy and rude,” a respondent said. “But I don’t want the fact that a man is uncomfortable with me being in charge to hold me back in life.”
In fact, this group’s often radical ideologies have even turned former feminists away from the cause.
“I used to consider myself a feminist, fighting for women’s right to stand as equals to males in this country,” a respondent said. “However, after falling victim to harassment from other [third wave feminists] for ‘not being invested enough,’ I threw in the towel and realized that there needed to be serious reforms made before I could consider myself a feminist again.”
FEMINISM CLUB
Last March, seniors Lily Ahmed and Erin Mouradian created Feminism Club, aimed towards discussing problems relating to feminism in the school community.
“At the beginning of 2018, there were a lot of arguments over feminism on social media,” Ahmed said. “[Mouradian and I] decided that we should take the discussion to a physical discussion rather than a cyber-discussion,”Ahmed said.
Since the club has started, the reactions have been mixed but overall positive.
“It’s generally a positive thing for [members], whether it’s that they came to a meeting just once and were chatting, whether we were trying to do something like meet a bigger goal, whether we were working with other clubs,” O’Leary said. “That being said, I think there’s a snark surrounding the Feminism Club. When we come on the morning announcements, sometimes kids roll their eyes, and I think it’s too bad that as a student body we’re not all supportive of each other.”
Last year, the club decided to put boxes of free hygiene products in the girls’ bathrooms; however, only one day later, the boxes and their contents were dumped into the toilets.
“This situation made me realize the impact our club had within the school and the power we have to spark conversations. Although the hygiene products were destroyed, I am happy people finally began to realize the impact these products have in students’ lives,” Mouradian said.
Even for those who are not involved in Feminism Clubs or other clubs that discuss equality, students are still generally supportive of what they are seeking to accomplish.
“I’m not a member of any of those clubs, but I’m all for it, all the power to them,” Capozzi said. “It’s good to get together and talk about these issues, and it’s definitely good to get your voice heard and know there are several other people who have the same opinion as you.”
Yet to some, the club is not a means of uniting but rather dividing; in their opinions, clubs such as these inadvertently force people to “take a side,” rather than unite people with differing viewpoints.
“I feel like having clubs that promote division in any regard in the school system is a negative thing,” senior Alex Maclean said. “I think that a feminism club, what that does is it turns the school into feminist versus anti-feminist. Overall, clubs that promote any identity besides your identity as a student and your identity as an American are extremely divisive.”
Through the male presence in the club, Mouradian has been able to see a new perspective on the topic that she may not have otherwise seen as a female.
“I’ve learned from [males’] perspective in a way. Although women’s issues are the key issue regarding feminism, I’ve been paying more attention to the male side of the issue, like the male suicide rates and the homeless rates. I think my knowledge is expanding in the sense that it’s not just a one-sided issue, it’s not just a one culture issue,” Mouradian said.
An issue people struggle with in regards to the feminist movement is its lack of inclusivity. Many—including survey respondents—believe that people of color and other minorities are not emphasized as heavily as white people are in regards to feminism; therefore, they are not as supportive of the movement. When asked why they did not consider themselves a feminist, one respondent said “mostly [because of] my race.” Another respondent recognized the importance of gender equality but does not consider themselves a feminist due to the importance of other groups’ equality, such as for race and sexuality.
“I think the ideas of feminism are very important, but there are more people beyond the binary who also need equal rights,” they said.
This year, the Feminism Club, formally known as the Intersectional Feminism Club, has made strides to become a more inclusive club. In October, they held a discussion with the Gay-Straight Alliance and Students for Equality clubs to discuss micro-aggressions in the school. And in December, the Feminism Club helped host the cultural luncheon with the Students for Equality.
“Intersectional feminism is feminism that involves every race and every sexuality, so I think collabing with Students for Equality and GSA has helped us be more intersectional,” Ahmed said. “It’s also showed me the different points of views and how even though we’re fighting for different causes, our causes overlap in some ways.”
Feminism Club hopes to partner with Students for Equality and Gay-Straight Alliance again to create a pamphlet informing faculty of the inadvertently damaging or stereotypical language that impacts students.
“I think that through that experience, a lot of us have been more conscious of other aspects of the feminism movement,” Mouradian said.
FUTURE
This year, the Boysenberry Crew in the Film Festival—directed by seniors Jess Ferguson, Emma Alosi and Jenna McDonald—is creating a documentary in collaboration with The Rebellion on the stigma and opinions surrounding feminism at Walpole High School.
“We believe creating a documentary explaining what feminism means is beneficial in creating an inclusive school environment and providing a platform for students and staff to share their thoughts,” McDonald said. “At the end, we hope people will come out of seeing it with a new perspective and learn more about what feminism really means.”
Going forward, students and faculty should consider the impact feminism has on the school community as a whole.
Despite the definition of feminism being something to unite people, the topic often does the opposite, as evident by the nearly 50/50 ratio of feminists and non-feminists at the high school.
“Feminism is often misconstrued, as uber-liberals have morphed it into a political divide between Democrats and Republicans,” a survey respondent said. “Since this is a controversial topic, members of our generation perceive it as a divisive force, while feminism should be about equality.”
Maclean believes that informing oneself on the definition of feminism and how it applies to today’s world is essential to formulate an opinion on the topic.
“I think it’s very important to see both sides of the story by whatever means necessary,” Maclean said. “If that means watching the news on two separate, opposing programs and using the facts that overlap to create a true opinion on the case, I just think that overall, both sides need to be taken into account in order to fully educate anybody on anything nowadays.”
Credits:
Photos & Graphics/ Jess Ferguson Created with images by T. Chick McClure - "Protest: Respect All Women"