Arjun Walia – Feminism is a movement that works towards creating equality between sexes and women’s rights. Though I fully support equality and all to have freedom and rights, I believe that aspects of this movement have created separation amongst us, stemming from over-identifying with gender.
If we look at gender issues, particularly women’s issues, we’ve seen massive amounts of inequality throughout history. For example, look at all of our founding ‘fathers’ of science, quantum physics, engineering, psychology, etc. Gender inequality exists within every field of academia. Many ‘groundbreaking’ discoveries have been attributed to men, and solely to men. Many have been stolen from women, simply because they were women, and many discoveries made by women have gone completely unacknowledged by academia. The wage gap is another example of inequality, but more on that later.
One of my favorite examples women in history is Rachel Carson, a major player in the environmental movement today. Carson sparked the entire movement in the 1960s with her book Silent Spring. She is a writer, biologist, environmentalist and ecologist. The book documented the dangers of pesticides and herbicides, something that we are still trying to create awareness about today. I wrote an article a few years ago regarding ‘female revolutionaries’ you won’t hear about in history class if you’d like to see some more examples.
It is my hope that one day we will have a book that details all revolutionary minds, regardless of their gender, or even race.
Candace Owens On Feminism
That being said, I still believe there are some important points to consider when talking about gender issues. A viewpoint that really resonates with me is one from political activist Candace Owens, which she shared in an article on the Stamford Advocate. Owens explains:
My first outward rejection of the modern ideals of feminism occurred accidentally, during a mandatory women’s studies course in college. My professor had just gone over a staggering statistic that some 89 percent of people suffering with eating disorders were women. “This,” she explained, was “due to the unrealistic expectations placed upon us by the patriarchy.” “What then do you make of all the men that do steroids?” I surmised aloud, “… be it the fault of the matriarchy?”
This is a great point, and it comes out of questioning the blame culture we have in our modern world. Candace’s question highlights the pressures society as a whole puts on both genders. Both have been given ‘identities’ within society, and both are subjected to sexism. For years, elitist groups and corporations have created narratives surrounding gender norms in order to capitalize on gender identification.
She then goes on to describe how it was the above mentioned exchange that sparked her thesis on why feminism is broken, and how women are being taught it rather than experiencing it.
Women are being taught it, rather than experiencing it. In fact, in many cases we are being encouraged to override our experiences in favour of indoctrination. At best, the movement denotes a selective musketeer mentality: it’s a pledge that a bad experience had by one ought to be broadcast and accepted as the reality for all, but a good experience had by one? Well, that woman ought to just shut up and keep it to herself. Yup. Let us hand a microphone to the woman who was beat by her husband, but muffle the one beside her who might wish to thank her own for the role he plays in her happiness.
I thought this was a very interesting point, and one that I can relate to. I myself am an ethnic minority, but have not directly experienced racism. Although I know my parents and many others have, I believe we’ve also come to expect this behavior from others, rather than observe it when it actually happens.
This behavior, on both sides, comes from a narrative of separation that has become so ingrained within society that we sometimes perceive experiences as being racially motivated even when they may not be. Many women have also grown accustomed to distrusting men, feeling hatred toward men and acting from the same sexist mentality they feel inclined to fight against. Does this not simply reinforce hatred and inequality, and lack empathy as a whole? Does this separated behavior in society not benefit our political overlord’s power? Separatism, gender and racial issues are frequent subjects within media, and although they deserve to be discussed, they are also overblown and hyped up for political purposes. More on that below.
SF Source Collective Evolution Mar 2019