Why We Should All Be Feminists

Written by:
Arianna Bernas, Year 12

We should all be feminists. Women should be feminists. Men should be feminists. Girls and boys and everyone in between should be feminists.

We should all be feminists.

This is what Emma Watson urges us all to take in when she made her first speech as UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador in order to launch the UN’s brand new campaign, HeForShe. “We want to end gender inequality, and to do that we need everyone to be involved,” she says, and we should all be listening.

Admittedly, my view on feminism had been slightly warped until about two years ago, when an old teacher of mine introduced me to one of my favorite writers; Chimamanda Adichie. Adichie, perhaps made more famous now by her involvement in Beyonce’s aptly entitled feminist anthem, ***Flawless, first states this definition of a feminist in a 2013 TED Talk.

“Feminist: the person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.”

Up until this point, I had viewed feminism in the same way my eight year old self would view the phrase, “Girls rule, boys drool.” I had always been singled out for being too aggressive or too dominant with other girls and boys my age, traits that are more or less associated with men. My classmates (especially the boys) complained to my teachers that I was too “bossy,” as if it was a bad thing. At the same time, they did not understand how I could still possess ‘female’ characteristics, like apathy and passion. For a while, I didn’t understand myself either and always felt pressured to conform to either one gender ideal or the other. How could I call myself a feminist and not accept every single one of my good and bad qualities, feminine or not?

In her speech, Watson argues that we have to “start looking at gender as a spectrum rather than two sets of opposing ideals.” This leads to freedom from the confines that men and women set for each other. Men should feel free to be emotional and sensitive, while women should feel free to state their unwashed opinions without being labeled as unattractive or undesirable by society. Women should feel free to also aspire for power whereas men should feel free to aspire for marriage and stability the way women are taught to do so.

Being part of a large matriarchal family made it very easy for me to identify as a feminist. Unfortunately, not many women share my sentiments. “Apparently, I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, anti-men, and unattractive,” says Watson in her speech. To the world, feminists are synonymous with man-hating. This is probably why when the world begins to discuss feminism, men feel as if they shouldn’t want to listen. To this, Watson raises a very important and very powerful question.

“How do we expect to affect change in the world, when only half of it feels invited to the conversation?”

Why do men feel like gender equality isn’t their issue?

I mean, think about it. Men are shackled to ridiculous societal rules and expectations of how a ‘man’ should be, just as women are. Men are expected to control, to dominate, to provide for women and children. They’re expected to be physically strong and emotionally detached. Fathers are encouraged to be less present in their children’s lives. Yet we encourage these expectations and we inadvertently imply that if a man is too sensitive or not athletic enough, he’s not enough of a man. Men even demean other men if they’re too introverted, too scrawny, or even too ”whipped” for their significant other. If you’re a man and identify as a feminist, people will probably give you a funny look. We would be surprised, which we shouldn’t be.

I think the biggest mistake that we make about feminism is that we assume that men have it better; that they’re freer than women. This is not the case, which is why I’m surprised that more men aren’t coming forward and identifying as feminists. I think more men should be feminists, because gender equality implies that both sides should be involved in the issue in order to resolve it; that both sides should view each other as who we are, not what we are.

However, not everyone has the benefit of thinking the way we think. We come from privileged backgrounds so we can begin to think about women and men having more or less equal opportunities, because we see this happen in our lives. For several women and young girls all over the world, this is still not the case. Thousands of girls are married off as children, denied formal education, or are physically and sexually assaulted by men but are too afraid to speak out about it. HeForShe aims to tackle these problems as well as many other gender-related issues that plague our world today. For the first time, a feminist movement brings men into the picture to promote women’s rights and battle gender inequality. Currently, over 162,000 men around the world have pledged to be a #HeForShe, with celebrities such as Russell Crowe, Neil Gaiman, Tom Hiddleston, and Logan Lerman.

I’d like to end with a quote from the HeForShe commitment on their website, “Gender equality is not only a women’s issue, but also a human rights issue.” This is why we should all stop being scared of feminism. Feminism, at its purest, is the belief in equality for all humans. We are all humans, so what’s stopping us from pledging, from fighting?

Absolutely nothing.

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