The notion of feminism has been around since the late 19th century. Back then, the purpose of feminist movements was to express that the implementation of the Constitution was biased and did not include women in its claim for equality. The movement was trying to gain women’s suffrage in America. In today’s culture, however, feminists in the United States desire to gain social and economic equality to men.
“Today, it’s very different from the textbook definition, so I don’t think there’s a universal definition,” senior Emily Huneycutt said.
The idea of feminism is often confused with misandry, which is the hatred of men. However, it has a much different meaning according to junior Anna Welsh.
“Feminism is about equality between men and women, and although some things are naturally just not going to be equal, it’s more about the social and economic aspects of gender equality,” Welsh said.
Many celebrities have recently “come out” as feminists, including many male actors that are viewed as role models. With Emma Watson’s new solidarity campaign “HeForShe,” more men are identifying as feminists. Watson spoke at the United Nations Headquarters in September 2014 and explained how she started this new campaign to “try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for gender equality.”
After Beyoncé broadcasted the word in big, capital letters during her performance at MTV’s Video Music Awards this past August, she not only self-proclaimed herself as a feminist, but also showed viewers that as a feminist, she thinks that gender equality matters. As one of the world’s most successful people, this was an important advertisement for gender equality demonstrators on a massive scale.
“I think celebrities should spread more awareness of what feminism really is and advertise it to their fans,” Welsh said.
Even with celebrities trying to get the point of feminism across to their audience, famous women still face the problems of hypersexualization.
“Even Beyoncé’s sex symbolism has been inflated, which takes away from things that she’s trying to get across to the world,” history teacher Melissa Hayden said.
Harassment and sexual objectification of women in their everyday lives are a few problems that feminists try to fix.
“[My friend] was catcalled a few weeks ago and it really bothered me, but she didn’t really think anything of it and she said it happened all the time,” Welsh said. “It makes me mad that people think that women walk down the streets to hear some random guy’s opinion about how they look.”
Many men, especially young men, express support for the idea of feminism. This generation of millennials is part of the push for equal treatment of men and women.
“I support feminism,” senior Alex Bortey said. “I support women having equal rights to men. It’s not about oppressing men or putting them down, it’s about having gender equality.”
Although there are many people who are anti-feminists, it’s often because of the unclear definition of the topic.
“Everyone’s a feminist, even if they don’t know it,” senior Amanda Peele said. “[Most everyone] believes that women and men should be equal.”
Another issue the feminist movement is trying to resolve is how females are viewed compared to men. Women are often viewed as more aggressive when taking a leadership position.
“More recently, I’ve had problems about feeling like I’m being too assertive,” Welsh said. “Sometimes I try to stand up for myself, and people think I’m being bossy, while there’s a guy doing the same thing and saying what he believes, and they think of him more as a leader. It’s definitely a double standard.”
The solutions to these gender inequalities in the economic, social, and fiscal aspects of women’s everyday lives are complicated.
“To solve this, we have to respect everyone,” Peele said. “That’s what feminism is. It’s equality, it’s respect, and it’s not thinking you’re better than someone else just because of something as simple as gender.”
It’s not easy to have social equality between everyone. In some cases, the sexism that happens between men and women happens unknowingly.
“The oppression of women has existed for a long time, and we’re trying to eradicate something that we’ve lived with for thousands of years,” Peele said. “Gender inequality happens because it’s human nature.”
A push for more education about gender equality in schools is also relayed as a possible solution for the future generations to fully understand why it is important.
“They need to talk about it in sex education,” Welsh said. “A really big part of feminism is discussing how women are treated during sexual interactions. Educators have a really big role in a child’s opinions, and when they teach girls how to avoid being raped or how to deal with it instead of teaching students not to rape anyone, it demonstrates to boys that rape isn’t a big deal for men.”
The school system is often criticized for having flaws in the way it shapes kids’ social ideals.
“I think the educational system should step up and see that they’re contributing to these problems by having a strict dress code and bias,” Huneycutt said. “Guys are taught that girls should just dress appropriately, but ultimately, [women] should be able to dress how they want and men should be able to control themselves like every other person.”
Although the question of whether or not feminism is a valid word for having the opinion of wanting equality amongst the sexes is controversial, there is evidence that something needs to be done about the inequality between men and women.
-By Emma Reinberg