Feminism for Dummies

Men and women are not equal. There, I said it. They differ right from their basic morphologies to variations in complex brain structures. Research has shown a gender-related difference in the limbic-thalamo-cortical circuitry explaining the differences in thalamic activation while processing unpleasant linguistic information, which is fancy talk for basically ‘Men and women handle emotional stimuli, and express them in their own unique ways.’ Regardless of their biological distinctiveness, I think that all genders must be treated with equal respect, but how is that possible if men and women are not equal? Essentially, equality means being given the same opportunities without consideration of the personal hurdles people might face. Let’s take an example of a village primary school, where both girls and boys are equally encouraged to attend. But equality stops right there, and doesn’t acknowledge the fact that although girls are also encouraged, their conservative families might not agree. In this case, the provision of equal opportunities is not enough, and what we require is a personalised solution for all parties to achieve the same outcome. This is exactly what ‘Equity’ stands for. Equity would aim to identify the ideology of the conservative families and address it to try to bring about a change and ensure that girls also attend school.

Feminism is more about equity than it is about equality. People interchange the term feminism for ‘misandry’, which disregards the well-being of men, when feminism is actually just trying to provide women with the right tools to reach the levels that men have already attained. Our patriarchal society has pushed down on women for so long by not giving them the same opportunities as men, creating a disparity between the progression of the genders. Feminism aims to bring about equality through equity to bridge this gigantic gap. For women to be equal to men, they need to be provided with solutions exclusive to them, which would push them forward and place them next to men.

To explain feminism’s dogma better, we can employ the wave metaphor, dividing its development over the years into individual waves. But it is critical to understand that the wave metaphor oversimplifies how feminism unfolded, and doesn’t shed much light upon the various factors that were, and still are, intersectional to it. That being said, let’s dive into the waves. Feminism’s First Wave started around the mid 1800s and lasted till the 1920s. This wave marked the Suffrage Movement, demanding that women be given the right to vote. Women were trying to make their presence felt and their voices heard, which could be achieved by winning political equality.

For almost 40 years after the first wave, no major political movements took place. Then in 1963, Betty Friedan wrote a book ‘The Feminine Mystique’ which reached women of all socioeconomic strata and races, rightly enraging them and leading to the emergence of the Second Wave. Women were now demanding social equality, in addition to political equality. They addressed the deep-rooted sexism in society, and were starting to question rigid gender roles. Conversations around contraception started, as reproductive rights were being fought for. The second wave also cross-questioned beauty pageants, because they propagated the unachievable beauty standards set by the patriarchal society to keep women under control.

With the early 1990s emerged the Third Wave, with women fighting against sexual harassment. Anita Hill’s testimony in 1991 set off a series of cases of sexual harassment in the workplace, to come to light. Third wave feminists also started to embrace femininity, in the form of heels, makeup, and other things conventionally feminine. They believed that having to drop their femininity in order to be taken seriously was also misogyny in a way, and went on to tackle that issue. Although the third wave wasn’t associated with any legislative change, it reshaped feminism in ways that are still widely popular. 

It is believed that presently, we are in the Fourth Wave. With the advent of the internet, most of this movement has been online. A major occurrence of the fourth wave was the #MeToo movement where countless people stood in solidarity with one another on account of the sexual harassment they suffered. Feminism adapted to become intersectional, and queer accepting, sex-positive, trans-inclusive, and body-positive. Women now hold men in positions of power, accountable for their actions, and make sure that the world knows who they are and what they’ve done, if not get complete justice.

Feminism has seen a lot of change in its ideologies since its inception. Different generations of feminists have different views of feminism’s goals. Quite a few second-wavers don’t seem to understand the reason behind the fourth wave’s #MeToo movement. First wave feminists weren’t inclusive of women of colour, which created conflict when women of different races came up with their versions of feminism. Second wave feminists were also criticised for not considering trans women as a part of the community, and treating lesbians as ‘obstacles’ to achieving equal rights. But these problems have been tackled to a major extent, as fourth-wavers are now trying to be as inclusive as possible of all women, regardless of their biological sex, their race, their femininity (or masculinity, or both, or neither), and their personal choices. Even though the older generation feminists sometimes fail to understand the newer generation feminists and their liberal ways, this disagreement should not be looked at as a sign of weakness, but as a strength that this movement holds. Because everyone has a chance to voice their opinion here, even if it may be particularly unconventional, it has helped feminism to evolve as a movement over time, and come to accept more liberal concepts.

This movement has brought to light the gravity of innumerable issues that people so conveniently ignored previously. Naturally, as people are being held accountable, they are trying to come up with ways to downplay the interests of feminism. One of these attempts was made popular through usage of a term which we’ve all heard: ‘Feminazi’. It refers to a woman who uses the principles of feminism but takes it too far until she reaches a point where she turns aggressive and domineering, imposes the superiority of her gender, and becomes intolerant of the other. Hmm, I wonder where I’ve heard that one before. Any rational person would identify this ‘feminazi’ to not be associated with feminism, because as mentioned before, feminism demands equal rights. Another way to devalue feminism is by saying that feminists have already achieved their goals, and don’t need it anymore. This statement could not be further from the truth. Saudi Arabia only just lifted the ban on women driving in 2018. Since the Nirbhaya case of 2012, India’s average cases of rape have only increased. In June of 2022, The US government overturned the Roe v Wade, 1973 decision granting the right to safe abortion to women, meaning that abortion is now banned in more than half the states in the USA. Need I say more?

Men, or other people that say that they don’t believe in feminism because it is essentially ‘male-bashing’ are simply misinformed. Feminism, at its core, aims to abolish the ingrained sexism of our society that harms women, and men as well. As victims of this patriarchy, men also have to adhere to inflexible gender roles and are expected to behave a certain way. Multiple researches have highlighted that men are more vulnerable to suicide than women, possibly due to the ‘macho’ role that they have to assume which enforces “Mard ko dard nahi hota”, further preventing them from getting the help they need. Furthermore, trans-people cannot even use restrooms for their gender because they are viewed as a threat by cis-gender people. Clearly, people of all genders, sexes, and races fall victim to this sexism that has been around forever.

Knowing the condition that the world is currently in, we can fairly say that the gender disparity is not going to disappear anytime soon. All we can do as feminists is to strive continuously and relentlessly for it. Helping each other through difficult times and standing in solidarity are our only saving grace. We must help create a realisation among the masses, to shut down those who try to discount our efforts, for our future generations to see a better world. After all, isn’t feminism not exclusive to women that you’ll meet in this lifetime, but also for the women that are yet to come?

About The Author

Tanveer Saini

Member of PsyCreative Column

Psychology Committee, SDSOS, NMIMS

Tanveer is currently a first-year student studying BSc Applied Psychology. She considers herself to be introverted but loves filling awkward silences. She can be weirdly insightful about things you would imagine her last to be. She likes preserving her energy, and derives most of it through activities like reading, journaling and swimming. She is extremely reliable and trustworthy, an is a better friend than she thinks she is. Oh, and she absolutely adores dogs!