..Feminism. I read an article today which blatantly reminded me why the world needs feminism. Because men like Mukesh Singh (who is one of the convicted in a case where a 23 year old female student was raped, attacked and ultimately killed in India) still believes it is the victim's fault as she "should not have been roam[ing] around at nine o'clock at night".
My friend told me that her ex-boyfriend had often said that women shouldn't wear revealing clothes and expect men to not hit on them/harass them. This is scary because it is the same defense that rapists use - women shouldn't have dressed/walked/spoken the way they did if they didn't want to be harassed/attacked/raped.
And my response was that the problem isn't the woman or her clothes; it's the act of rape. How a woman chooses to dress her own body is up to her. It isn't an invitation for a man to treat her how he sees fit. Each person is responsible only for what they do, not for what others do to them. A woman shouldn't have to dress for how a man would react to it and, likewise, a man shouldn't act on how a woman is dressed. Women (generally) don't harass a man based on how they are dressed so why is it any different?
To put things simply, if I stole something out of an unlocked car, the problem isn't that the car was unlocked. The problem is that I stole. Likewise, don't blame the victim for doing what she wanted to do to her body, blame the person who violated her body and her rights.
What are your thoughts on the article or feminism in general? Do you think it's okay for women (and men) to be harassed based on how they are dressed? Are they "asking for it"? I'd love to know your point of view even if it's different from mine so feel free to leave a comment below or tweet me @SundayWardrobe!
Disclaimer: Before people get all #NotAllMen on me, I know all men don't blame the victim - a lot of the men I personally know believe that this is wrong. The point isn't that all men do this, the point is that all women have felt this way before.
I am a Feminist. I am not a lesbian, I do not hate men or marriage and I do not burn bras (here). By definition, I want to "to define, establish, and defend equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women". I am a feminist because I believe that all humans, men and women, deserve equal rights.
I became a feminist when I learnt about and began recognizing the blatant biases that women face at school, work and in life. I was blissfully ignorant and accepting of the way women were (and are) being treated and oppressed. I thought it was just the way things were and that was that. I even once stupidly told my male friend (a feminist too) that women shouldn't dress provocatively and then get offended when men leer and hit on them.
Before I get into why the world needs feminists, I want to dispel some stereotypes about feminism and help clear this unfair and bad rap the word seems to have:
- Feminists are man-haters and/or think that women are better than men: feminists are against the gender discrimination that women face, which has been taught to and easily accepted by both men and women. They don't think women are better than men, they think women are just as good as men which, unfortunately, is a concept that not everyone has grasped. Giving rights to women doesn't take away the rights of men.
- Only women can be feminists: this would mean that only women can and should care about equal rights. This is entirely wrong, the feminist that introduced me to feminism is a man (a 23 year old, 6'1" football playing engineer).
- There is no sexism and so there is no need for feminism: if this were true, why are women that have the same jobs as men paid less? Why are female victims of sexual assault so afraid to report the perpetrators? Why are women who are raped blamed for the clothes they wore? Why are women judged for how they look rather than what they say? These things still occur so that must mean that feminism is still needed.
For more stereotypes on feminism, see here.
What are your opinions on feminists and feminism? Are you a feminist? Why/why not?
