Modern Feminism Has Created a False Sense That Women Are Oppressed | Teen Ink

Modern Feminism Has Created a False Sense That Women Are Oppressed

April 22, 2018
By LantheCat BRONZE, Ho Chi Minh, Other
LantheCat BRONZE, Ho Chi Minh, Other
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Feminism, it’s a word that has a very powerful meaning behind it. It is the word that represents equality for all genders and has mostly achieved so much for women. It has brought many rights for women and individualism to women as people. But, in this modern world, it has been given a less powerful meaning. Modern feminism has created a false sense that women are oppressed. They send out a message to young girls that being a woman is awful, movements within feminism has become absurd and feminism has put women over men.


Being a woman is absolutely horrible right? Life must be the worst, how unfair? This is the message society is forcing on young girls in the modern day. Although, I do agree it is true to an extent, it absolutely is not what feminism is about. Feminism is quite a hard topic to ignore, especially today where there is individualism, opinions and choices within a person. Each and every person has something to say about it and the message and actions they take will effect and lead feminism for the better or worse. Modern Feminism is everywhere, on news channels, on newspapers, on social media etc. In the past years I’ve heard a lot of discussion about this topic and it presents the idea that life is miserable for women and that there are many things against the gender. According to CBC’s article 'It concerns me greatly': Have #MeToo and modern feminism gone too far? Joanna Williams, the author of “Women Vs Feminism: Why We All Need Liberating from the Gender Wars” who spoke strongly about modern feminism states “The message it gives young girls is that "You know, There's rape culture, you're going to be sexually harassed, you're going to walk down the street and be cat-called. You're going to earn less than men. You know, and it's just terrible to be a woman". (It Concerns Me) Feminism is about and was always about fighting for liberation and equal rights. It’s about celebrating how far women have brought feminism and what it has done for us. Joanna Williams agrees that we should celebrate the opportunities it has given women and that we shouldn't be causing a huge debate on modern feminism a the moment. Instead, she insists that we should talk about difficulties specific groups of people have to face, about privilege and fair opportunities for everyone. This is a topic we must converse about but it is the topic Feminists are keeping quiet on. Instead of constantly picking on every little disadvantage a woman experiences through her lifetime, society needs to show young girls how great and powerful it is to be a woman. This gives a positive message and will bring the next generation to fight for what feminism is about, equality. Feminism will not just be focusing on women but also men thus leading feminism on it’s right path.


Throughout history feminism has brought out very powerful movements that have impacted equality to this day very heavily. But to me, it seems like feminist have ran out of ideas for movements and some do more harm than solve problems while others are just downright ridiculous. Pri’s article Has the #MeToo movement gone too far or not enough? states#MeToo is a movement on social media that is supposed to bring together victims of sexual assault. Although it is an empowering and encouraging movement that  creates a safe environment for victims to speak up for sexual assault, it does have its consequences. The movement has lead to public accusations on individuals and has giving them the name of a sex offender without giving them a chance to respond or defend themselves. Men whose only crime was touch a woman's knee, stealing a kiss, sending a message on social media to a woman who did not return interest had to pay the same consequences as sex offenders such as to be disciplined in the workplace, losing their jobs, defamation of character etc. To me this is a disadvantage for men, it’s totally unfair for them to be put in situations like this. Is putting men down really what feminism is about (Has The #MeToo)? An interview recorded on Spike ‘Feminism Has Been Hijacked’ shows when Christina Hoff Sommers, an opinionated voice in feminism was asked "Perhaps this has something to do with the focus on women’s bodies. This year, feminists have protested with pussy hats, signs of uteruses, blood-stained jeans, tampons, leg hair, body shaming – what do you think of this so-called ‘gross-out’ feminism?" (Feminism Has Been) by a reporter, Sommers replied and states the protests are unnecessary, illogical and unreasonable movements. This proves no point and it was not how men came to power. This will only harm and go against what feminism is about by reinforcing stereotypes and making feminism a movement to frown upon (Feminism). As Sommers had studied gender studies for years, she claims young people are taught that women are oppressed just because they of their bodies. She explains that she doesn't think there are great movements for feminisms. I for one agree, what does these movements do for equality? Absolutely nothing, it only enforces the fact that women exist. The message it spreads does not relate to how men came to power. It doesn’t help or spread awareness about actual problems in the world.


Feminism means equality for all genders but it seems like modern feminism has put women over men, the tables have turned and now men are experiencing the disadvantages because of their gender. There is no doubt the gender pay gap benefits men's earning and men earning high positions in the business world, it's easy to say men has it easier and that there is no way there is a disadvantage for them. But in reality, in some decisive areas, men are experiencing disadvantages. For example, the Mail Online article Men Are Now The Downtrodden Sex  claims if present movements continue, a boy born in 2016 will have a 75% less chance of attending university than his sister according to the Higher Education Policy Institute. This is not considered feminist victory, to me this is a result of vengeful feminists’ work, this is causing the same problems before but now, put on men. In some areas in the Uk and Republic of Ireland, according to the Samaritans, it has shown that men are more likely to commit suicide than women by tree times. Even though women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with mental health issues. Mental health issues are also talked about by more women than men and women are more likely to get treated because men rarely come forward for help. This is less about rights but more about society and expectations.(Men Are Now) Of Course, they have to be great father and they have to put in as much effort in raising a child as the mother but the mother is given the upper hand when it comes to breakups and divorce. This has caused men to blame vengeful women for ruining their relationships with their children after divorces and breakups. They have to go through the unfairness of custody rights, financial support etc. Modern feminists are victimizing themselves in situations both genders experience. The problems working class women experience are also the same ones that affect working class men. Feminist putting women above men only pitches men against women and this does not benefit working class women. Although there are still actions we could take and areas where we could improve life for women, like in developing countries, the actions modern feminism have taken are not helping to develop and improve it. Modern Feminist should stop and think if benefiting a woman causes a man to pay, they should focus and help all genders to have equal rights in society. If this action is taken no gender will be above another and feminism would then be completely successful.


Gender, benefits of a gender and discrimination of one’s gender has been a huge problem and throughout the years women have been put down and labeled as less than men. Although it’s amazing how feminist in the past have done a great job focusing on the rights of women, modern feminism has taken it too far. It’s showing our younger generation that being a women is worse than being a man, it’s also started useless movements and campaigns and destroyed the meaning of feminism by putting women over men. If modern feminism continues to be supported and moves on with their actions, it won’t achieve what it originally was made to do, give equal rights to all genders. Before you support movements from modern feminism, stop and think, is this for the equality of all genders?


The author's comments:

There has been a lot of controversy and opinions about equality for everyone and women's rights is one of the topics that is focused on. Feminism has done a lot for women and has opened many opportunities they never had. But, modern day feminism has gone on the wrong path and does no good. In my persuasive writing I stated the wrongs in modern feminism and the actions we can take to develope feminism the right way.


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This article has 1 comment.


Lucy_RK GOLD said...
on Apr. 25 2018 at 6:49 am
Lucy_RK GOLD, Brooklyn, New York
13 articles 1 photo 13 comments
This article is clearly well researched and well written. I would just like to note, however, that male privilege definitely still exists (though a little less than it used to) and that people that are trans or do not fit into either a male or female gender go through even more hardships. We still need feminism, because gender equality has not been reached yet. You did a really good job on the article though!