Misconceptions Of The Feminism Movement

Feminism, no one has quite grasped the concept of it, the idea or the fact that it’s not just a meaningless word – it’s a movement. The ‘F-word’ as people refer to it, linking it to cussing due to its misconceptions in various attributes. Either it is misconceptions, or people around the world are just in pure denial regarding issues that actually matter in this era. Feminism is equality for women, to be as equal as men, politically, socially and economically, in this dominating world where men are known to be the right at the top of the hierarchy since the very beginning of time.

To start right at the beginning, feminism probably started as a discussion from person to person, then spread like wildfire and got right through the mass media.
The mass media, in most cases is known to be the root cause of false accusations and misconceptions regarding worldly matters, just like teenagers gossiping at a high school about the new kid who transferred from Conneticut to New York and now sells drugs.
It has been questioned repeatedly, why is there a ‘fem’ in feminism? Referring to the misconception that it is only for women. - Since feminism is for the women to rise to the level that men are at in this era. It’s 2016, If segregation can come to end, Trump can become President and Kanye West can claim to run for Presidency, gender equality should be a piece of cake by now.
One of the most common and absurd misconception is that all feminists are anti-men, and that is the reason why they want to reach a certain level to be more dominating. That is an extreme belief which couldn’t be more wrong, these people are called ‘Misandrists’. Misandrists, by google definition are people who despise men and those women who claim to hate men and say that they are part of the movement, are certainly far from being feminists. In fact men who do support the movement, are shunned along with trans people. Why? – because it a movement focusing on women? The way Transgender people are being denied now, is exactly the same way gays and lesbians were neglected just a few years ago. No one decides what a soul believes in or participates in, it’s a choice. Another perception being that all feminists are career-oriented or against marriage. It is each and every person’s choice, whether to be committed or not, whether to have a child or not, being a feminist does not restrict that. If a woman is having a baby and yet trying to gain a promotion, why are people hesitant? How does a having a baby affect her work so gravely? And if the woman does decide to go back to work as soon as possible, why is she known to be a bad mother? This is nothing but an endless cycle of hypocritical behavior, rumors and excessive backlash.

At this point in time, the internet couldn’t have become more widespread and accessible than it is now, information sends (spreads) like wildfire. This is where celebrities and your average teenagers who became famous through Youtube come in with their opinions and views – adding more to the mixture than required, hence, making it worse. That’s right, celebrities get it wrong too. Just like the beloved Taylor Swift swift did, millions of people around the world did too – As a teenager, Swift thought the movement included despising the opposite sex as a criteria until she actually understood the real cause. As Swifts songs were all about the hatred of men, how they wronged her and then gradually moved onto being supermodels turning into superheroes (Bad Blood), Random people of various cultures dancing as they please (Shake it off) as she learned that it is not just about superiority or domination over men, It’s a movement for equality, regardless of gender. Like many, she was afraid to even say the f-word for a long period of time, but there is no blaming her, since celebrities do get caught up in this loop with the media and the almighty internet of misconceptions (rumors). Most of the Swift hate and backlash comes due to the fact that Taylor does have feminism wrong, or rather, her actions don’t line up with her words. Her words and actions greatly differ – Her notion that largely affects the teen girls has recently been ‘#squadgoals’, which is all of the industry’s most infamous celebrities such as Selena Gomez, Cara Delevigne, Karlie Kloss showing up to her concerts and pictures being posted with them all over social media. The message is supposedly all about girls sticking up for each other and being independent, yet united. Her journey with feminism has been a confusing one, which holds the example of how it mostly comes to be of the celebrity rather than the movement. The problem here is, all the women in Taylor Swifts ‘squad’ are white, thin, tall females who are singers or models – Whatever happened to diversity? Even if this isn’t relevant to feminism, this speaks, actions speak much louder than words. It isn’t about how celebrities embrace it, its about the belief within. Whether these celebrities talk about it or not, there are serious activists out there who don’t have a switch to put it on and off as they please.

Beyoncé, reigning queen of the music industry has too taken a strong stance in this movement, she officially claimed to be a feminist at the Video Music Awards in 2014.
She owned her sexuality as a female, in an era where people are still figuring out the word feminism even means, Beyoncé is out there, absolutely owning it. Being famous and spreading a good message has never harmed anyone. As long as its done right. Celebrity feminism has been known to ruin the idea of the movement for the young generation, when in fact it is the media, and not the celebrities themselves. Ever since this performance, Beyoncé has been the bait for the internet and media, ‘Why is Queen Bee all words and no action?’, ‘Why doesn’t she act upon anything?’, ‘Why does she hate on other women?’. Liking every other woman as a feminist is not part of the criteria, we’re all only human, some women like each other, some do not and that is completely
normal.
Beyoncé’s sexualized, norm-defying definition gives the younger ones a ton of confidence to own up to their sexuality and be much more accepting of what is going on, this is definitely taking action. There is something about a celebrity who has grown up to be such a powerful woman, influencing others to do the same.

More than anything, complaining about other women not taking any action doesn’t make the cause any better. Moreover, they are celebrities before activists/supporters and them even speaking about such political matters is quite a great deal, because more than a mere marketing scheme, it is a stance taken by them which they both know can lead to massive amount of backlash. Both Swift and Beyoncé have used their lyrics to get through to their die-hard fans regarding such matters, making them believe that women don’t need no man, that they can be independent, that ‘girls run the world’. So then, why does Beyoncé have a tour called ‘Mrs. Carter’? because feminists are not anti-men, this is the reality. She is in a relationship with an equal, and her tour being named with a ‘Mrs.’ does not affect or complicate anything, and the same goes with other non-celebrity feminists as well.
To get back to the topic, Celebrity Feminism is pretty much necessary so that the young influenced crowd knows that feminism does not equal to ‘man hater’. Just because women can vote, abortions are now legal, the movement is considered unnecessary and debated on. The huge wage gap still exists, according to statistics online and as long as it is still considered to be a ‘dirty word’, feminism is needed.

On the contrary, it is also believed that feminism isn’t needed at all. If all genders had equality and were at the same level in regards to jobs, various industries and behavior, how would the world be unique? Wouldn’t it create an imbalance? How would each person be any different from the other? Conversations wouldn’t be interesting, passions and views wouldn’t differ, and there would be no drive! It would be an absolutely monotonous world with no dead end and everyone would have certain expectations that would be met without any hopes or excitement. Imagine all the movies and novels about romance? Women are born with inherent behaviors and ways that some men don’t have, some women are more emotional than men, it is fine, Its hormones! Women are known to be affectionate and caring, known to be born to be mothers, known to take care of their husbands and kids, known to nurture them, just as men have certain expectations to go work and earn just like in the past, women do too. This is how the mindset has been for centuries, although some of it has changed in ways where women now do have certain freedoms they wouldn’t bare to think of before. Women do need men, and men do need women, Women do want that protection and those certain norms such as ‘hold the door for the lady’, ‘ladies first’, ‘don’t hit a woman’ - because in one way or another, there are some expectations women have and always will. Some qualities that men hold are also rarer in women, so it makes complete sense if a woman can’t do some tasks that a man can do and vice versa. No one likes change, and with times changing, notions and perceptions change. But as the saying goes ‘old habits die hard’, such mindsets don’t just go within the blink of an eye. It takes huge amounts of convincing, positive messages, protests and much more. Even with the time and effort that activists put in to convince the crowds, some people just may never be convinced with their old-school mentality, because again, it’s a choice.

Abortions, voting access, jobs/education, all these legalities were once unthinkable and therefore took time to be approved of, but some people still think that it is a bad idea for women to access those things because every individual is different and no one can control that.
The topic of feminism is so wide that negative stereotypes are inevitable and so are criticisms and nuances.
Now it is up to the feminists whether to take that and acknowledge it or defend themselves regardless of whether they are right or wrong, making them seem exactly like the stereotypical feminist. At this point, feminism is more about misogyny and whining protests rather than anger or trying to fix oppressions and victimizations. It started as a movement for equal rights due to women being oppressed in the past, and now it is just an excuse for women to whine and use as an instrument of enmity – double standards. They say since women have been oppressed since years now, Its time for vengeance. How will oppressing men, making them seem like the ‘bad’ gender, help in any way? It is different when it comes to defending yourselves and it is different when it comes to oppressing the entire
gender.

The constant attacks need to come to an end since each gender needs the other for a balance, that’s equality, because that’s how it was intended to be. In general terms, men shouldn’t be treated as rapists or disgusting perverts who are on the look out for oppressing women, some may be like that, but not all - And that goes for women as well. Instead of thinking about how women are constantly victimized, a better way to forward the movement is how to encourage it, and celebrity feminism helps with that in most cases.