It's clear that I make no attempt to mask my views on feminism; I am not a fan of the term itself and some of its recent concepts - yet, seemingly, I can't stop talking about it regardless! I don't believe in women supremacy or that we should encourage a 'matriarchy' to compensate for female power in a once 'mans-world'. I believe in equal rights. Both men and women should remain on an equal level, with equal rights, equal opportunities and equal treatment -just as it applies to different religions, race and sexuality. However, some contemporary feminists have adopted extreme ideologies concerning women's rights, and it is leaving women feeling as if they have to conform to certain standards in order to reflect on their gender in 'the right way'. This could be seen as continuation of women oppression - from conforming to the role as an "objectified, inferior and subordinated" character to then having to conform to the "feisty, strong and cynical" follower of the feminist movement. When, in reality, we should be encouraging women to be who they want to be and do what they want - fill the role they wish to fill and refrain from conforming to anything instigated by someone else. Therefore, these are the following things a women should still be able to do (or not do) without being accused as being derogatory to their gender or diminishing the feminist movement: 1. Show off their body. It is true when people say "It's what's in the inside that matters", but if you are feeling good and confident in your own skin, then flaunt it, pose it and post it all over Instagram as much as you wish. It shows you are proud of the shell you came in or, if you're into your fitness and nutrition, the shell you have worked hard for, or if you're into body enhancements, the shell you paid a lot of money for! Showing it off is not promoting a false representation of what a female body must look like nor is it necessarily degrading other women, but it is embracing the idea that we all come in different shapes and sizes, and feeling confident on the outside does masses for your confidence on the inside. 2. Be with or sleep with whoever the hell they want. As an avid reader and studier of literature, concerning both historical and cultural texts, I have noticed that female repression is a common theme - whether enforced by patriarchal or religious standards. And a part of this is sexual repression - double standards between genders, inability to be in control of finding your own partners and relationships, and suffering social condemnation for going against these "norms". But even concerning modern day, referring mainly to our UK society, a female remains to be socially persecuted or branded with derogatory terms (such as "slut" or "whore") if they have had multiple relationships or sexual partners. I'm not promoting infidelity or anything polygamous by saying this, but I feel that women should have sexual freedom (as long as it is safe and not harming anyone in the process). Nowadays, having one partner for life or having sex purely to conceive is a very dated value - people fall in and out of love as they age and gain more experience, and people have the odd meaningless sexual encounters just out of desire, and well, fun! I don't believe that women who have had multiple sexual relationships or partners are doing anything to counteract female empowerment, but they are encouraging a form of freedom and enjoyment which was not accessible to them throughout history. 3. Being a domestic goddess. The cooking, cleaning and washing "stay-at-home-mom" who looks after the kids and waits for her husband to come home from a hard day at work - is it slightly adhering to the traditional role of a domesticated house-wife? Yes, but there's nothing wrong with that. Some women purely enjoy cleaning and cooking, and would rather not venture into the world of work - personally, it's not my ideal lifestyle, I am the scruffiest and most impractical female going, who hops from job to multiple jobs because I love working for my own money. But, women who genuinely are happy to fill this domestic role shouldn't be seen as repeating 'house-bound' history. 4. Adhere to the 'girly' stereotype. The media has had a stab at society, and it has said that young girls are almost forced into liking stereotypical girly things - all things pink, and fluffy, and pretty. A direct example would be the girls aisle in Toy Shops being filled with Barbies and toys related to fashion and hairdressing, or little girls picking up pink magazines with a freebie lipstick or a glittery pen - apparently, young girls are pushed straight from the womb into an idealistic, feminine bubble where they can only appreciate these girly things to be accepted, while young boys play in the dirt outside of it with their monster trucks and action figures. This is nothing but an exaggeration - as a child, yes, I hard a large collection of Barbies and Disney Princess dolls, but playing with Lego or collecting zoo animal figurines was hard to beat when it came to imaginative play. There's nothing wrong with a little girl wanting to play dress-up, and there's also nothing wrong with a girl wanting to get their dress caked in the mud - I feel it's merely a coincidence that young girls are associated with such pink and pretty things, and it's an exaggeration to say that, as a society, we force it upon them. 5. Caring for your appearance. They way in which certain women choose dress and present themselves has been attacked by feminists, and there has been also been undoubtedly-ineffective movements in coherence to this. To begin with, women are shamed for showing a lot of skin and asset, as it is deemed disrespectful, and for wearing a lot of makeup, as it is seen as demeaning the concept of embracing natural beauty; as a collaborative, it distracts the heterosexual male gaze and encourages them to sexualise us - in my opinion, that's their problem! And by ditching your bralets and bronzers, ladies, you are doing nothing but complying to male needs and surely that counteracts the idea of empowering women? They are allowed to be in control of themselves, just like men are allowed to be, and I fail to see how flaunting our assets and enhancing our beauty has anything to do with how we feel women should be treated. There's also this recent female "movement" of women refusing to wash their hair or shave their bodily hair, exposing it over social media as some sort of abstinence to pleasing the male gaze; through this, feminists are suggesting to other women that a strong declaration of female empowerment is not shaving your legs or armpits before a night out and posting pictures of your pubic hair coming out of the side your lingerie all over Instagram - it's a bit ludicrous. Of course, it is acceptable for women to go long periods of time without shaving and it's not something that has to be hidden - but there is also nothing wrong with a women keeping shaved and clean, as it's a matter of personal hygiene and keeping tidy at the end of day! So, come on ladies, there must be a more meaningful expression of female empowerment than this, right? 6. Comply with social conditioning. Many linguists and psychologists have pinned certain traits on women concerning they way they approach and deal with certain situations. Women are more compromising; they appeal to this 'up-talk' to refrain from confrontation or offending anyone; they prefer to take more elaborate, and extensive, means of talking or dealing with social situations; they like support, and to feel supported, and support others as their main objective in society is maintaining relationships. It would be far too broad to say this applies to every female - some women are just as blunt, independent and non-collaborative as men are socially-outlined to be. And some feminists feel women should be a bit more like that and oppose this social conditioning just so they are then not associated with weakness and inferiority. Yet, there is again no harm in complying with such network-building and collateral standards - it purely appeals to a woman's own personality and preference and they should be in control of that. 7. Actually, umm... like men. We aren't all man-eaters, I promise! Supporting women's rights and empowerment doesn't come with an essential or complementary side dish of hating and 'not needing men'. As a woman who appreciates how far us women have climbed the social stature in recent years with job opportunities, freedom and equal treatment, I still have no shame in saying my biggest idol is my dad... and Hugh Grant. For bringing me into this world, raising me and making me who I am today - my dad, not Hugh. And Hugh Grant for being my comical inspiration and all-time man crush. Whoever and whatever put us on this Earth put us on Earth as equals, and for one gender to flourish does not mean the other has to be disregarded and dominated. There we go. There is no ideal type of woman, and we shouldn't allow other women, let alone men, convince us that there is a certain role to conform to if the women's rights movement should remain to be effective. It's about equality, independence and individuality, and as an able society, we should embrace every type of image anyone chooses appeal to.
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Jem DuttonStudent Blogger. Archives
April 2018
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