Man-hating, unhappy, husbandless, lesbian, ugly, angry—feminists. The misconceptions about feminism are boundless, including the stereotype that only women can be feminists. It is this rhetoric towards feminism that blinds people from seeing the true purpose and meaning: “a man or a woman who says yes there is a problem with gender as it is today, and we must fix it, we must do better.” This definition of feminism comes from a Ted Talk in which Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks about being a feminist from the perspective of a Nigerian woman.
The battle for gender equality has raged on for a long time now and while we have made good strides, true equality is the goal for feminists. But this equality derives heavily from the equal power of choice and respect, not necessarily that women want to be men. When I do not like to do something that is able to be labeled as “masculine,” I am frequently prompted with the question: “well, don’t you want to be equal?” Certainly, I do want to be equal, but that does not mean that we as people must be equal in all tastes, interests and preferences. This is where I believe that much of the confusion around the meaning of feminism derives from. There is a broad assumption and correlation that our society makes for anyone that attempts to give themselves a label. There is no limit to the labels that are reduced to stereotypes and these labels range in political ideology, sexual orientation, gender, race, or religion. No one is safe from societies judgements.
It is through these stereotypes that society has heavily begun to turn on one another. More importantly, it is through our technologically connected world that people have been able to gain a new perspective of society. Through technology, people have been able to connect and learn that they are not limited to the narrow perspectives of their home town. While this has caused many positives, it has also caused just as many negatives. Also, because it is those with the most extreme opinions that make their voices heard on media, those with more moderate inputs see everyone as having those extreme stereotypes. While this may not be the cause of all of the aforementioned problems, it is certainly one of the largest. Even further, new advances on social media goes as far as to only show people what they think that they will want to see, further limiting their perspectives.
Focusing on feminism, gender and perceived gender roles affect everyday life for each and every person in this world. Our society’s gender roles are so longstanding and deep-rooted within society that they have influence on just about anything that you can think of. A common misconception is that, because some women do not believe that women as a whole can or should be equal to men, that they would know best. I argue that these perceptions are largely because of these deep-rooted perceptions that women are not capable, so much so that women believe it themselves.
In the Ted Talk, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie depicts her experience as a feminist woman in Nigeria. One of her biggest conflicts is trying to portray herself positively as a feminist. She found herself constantly having to defend herself against different stereotypes about feminism which ultimately is drawing away from the main issue: gender equality. The struggle for feminists is to bring the focus to the issue that they are passionate about—equality between the genders. Instead, they are fighting a battle to eliminate the stereotypes and negativity associated with the label of feminist. You should be able to proudly proclaim yourself as a feminist no matter your gender, race, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, etc. because women make up half of the population and are capable of making contributions to society equally to men, which calls for them to have equal benefits and representation. Once people start focusing on the positives rather than negatives, I know we will see a significant difference in society moral.