A Feminist Blog Post


There seems to be a general lack of knowledge of what makes someone a feminist. Chimamanda Adichie, in her TedTalk “We Should All Be Feminist”, discussed common misconceptions of feminists held by the people she grew up with. Someone once told her that a feminist is a woman who is unhappy because she cannot find a man to marry. Similarly, in earlier readings the term feminist was associated with a woman who is ugly, hairy, unladylike, comparing them to witches in the sense that feminists are evil women who hate all things male. Adichie goes on to discuss how her identity as a feminist had to be redefined because of the negative connotations that came along with the term feminist.

A feminist is a person who believes in equality and equal opportunities no matter the race, gender, ethnicity, age etc. of a person. A feminist can be male or female or gender nonconforming, basically any human being can be a feminist. A feminist woman doesn’t have to give up doing things that are considered feminine. A feminist can paint their nails, wear makeup, do their hair or whatever else they want as long as they are doing it to please themselves rather than the man.

Adichie opens the discussion of how “the higher up you go the less women that are there.” There are more women in the world than men but men hold higher job positions than women. If a man and women were to have the same job and same qualifications the man will get paid more. Cynthia Enloe attempts to question why we decide not to think about these injustices. Enloe makes the point that we don’t question things that are considered traditional or something we always have done. Phrases like these are used so that people don’t have to think about the uncomfortable realization of privilege and if you have it or not. If we don’t think about the things in society that classifies one person greater than another for no fundamental reason other than the use of vocabulary than we’re not using our mental abilities. Enloe believes that we should dig deeper thinking and questioning the way we structure society.
-Tatiana F.

Comments

  1. UnknownDecember 12, 2017 at 5:50 PM

    I love your take on these issues. I think it is interesting to consider our behavior being a product of tradition and repetition rather than being about how we truly believe we should act. It is certainly okay for a woman to dress and behave in a traditionally "feminine" manner, but not if she is only doing so because that is how she has been told (either explicitly or through societal patterns) that she should "act like a woman." I believe that if every person considered the impact each action and decision they make could have, the world would be free of patriarchy and other oppressive systems.

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