Month: October 2018

Feminism has become a fundamentally flawed construct. The original purpose of the feminist movement was to instate equal legal rights for women, but as often happens with social movements, momentum has carried us far past equality to a place that is counterproductive to the authentic feminist spirit.

Any movement can easily change from a noble movement with well-defined actions with a purpose of achieving something good for the society to a selfish, confused, oppressive and poisonous movement to the society. A movement which causes a cosmic uproar and bashing when a boy puts on a shirt with the phrase ‘Boys will be Boy’! And on the other hand praises, supports and sponsors shirts with ‘Girls Run the World’ printed in them! I can’t wrap my head around this, so boys can’t be boys but girls can run the world? Where is the fight for equality in this, it beats the logic! Do not get me wrong, I believe Women deserve to be respected as much as men do. The problem with modern feminism is that it suggests that to be respected, women have to be more like men.

“Anything a man can do a woman can do better” is not exactly true. Can a woman/lady lift as much weight as  6-foot-3, 200-pound male partner in the gym? Personally, I cannot. Doing so will of course injure me, and claiming to be capable of such a feat would just be blatantly unreasonable. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t women out there who can, but higher levels of testosterone and increased muscle mass tailor men to lifting heavier weight than women typically would.

Denying our biological differences only sets us up for failure. There are evolutionary reasons for typically “feminine” or “masculine” characteristics, and recognizing this shouldn’t cause offence. Our differences come down to raising offspring. We can debate the finer points, but ultimately, in an evolutionary context, if there were only one set of gender characteristics within a mated pair, children would theoretically die of starvation. If both parents prioritized goal-oriented risk-taking, both might bite it hunting for food, leaving their children unprotected, whereas if both parents prioritized communication and emotional connectivity, perhaps neither would be willing to part with their children and risk their lives to hunt in the first place.

These may be generalities, but they’re real generalities, based on the history of how the human species raised their offspring. Because society is now structured differently from a hunting and gathering lifestyle, people of all gender identities are (ideally) free to pursue whatever goals and passions they desire without the necessity of following a particular child-rearing paradigm.

This is where the modern social media driven social justice feminism has gotten us. A movement which began to liberate women from exclusion has since morphed into a weapon of oppression not only for men but also women. When the first wave of feminism began, these women knew what they wanted. They went to the street to demand for it. In 1919 in the US, thousands of females matched to the Whitehouse demanding the right to vote in the next presidential elections. These movement paved the way for the fight for law promoting better health care and education. And the 60’s and 70’s these feminists protests led to changes which guaranteed, under the law, equal rights in the workplace, universities and colleges, healthcare and homes. Then in the 2000’s , things changed, feminist were now fighting against aggressive forces like the word “too”, scary sports mascots, and patriarchal cereal boxes!!!! You clearly tell how things have changed.

Whereas the previous waves of feminist fought for things that are measurable and evaluable, the social justice feminism are fighting for or against things that cannot be quantified or even clearly figured out, ‘feelings’.

There is this American writer, who talks about philosophical feminism and tribal feminism. Just to put you in context, philosophical feminism represents the following ideas; “Women have been oppressed throughout pretty much all of civilized human history, in pretty much every culture and society, and there’s a lot of baggage and residue of that oppression that carries on in various forms today. Despite their biological differences, men grow up in a culture of toxic masculinity that is not only unhealthy for women, but also unhealthy for men as well’’

He continues to say that the problem about feminism is that it is now more than philosophy or a group of beliefs. It is, now, also a political movement, a social identity, as well as a set of institutions.

A group of people brought together by an idea, often pretty awesome ideas. They quickly graduate to set of codes and action to make things done.

The writer says this about such groupings. “But the problem is, once you’ve got a group of people together, organized for a single purpose, achieving political leverage and adopting power, building institutions and careers for themselves, all sorts of bad human tendencies start to take over.

As humans, we are tribal by nature. Our natural default is to see ourselves as part of some group that’s struggling against some other group(s) at all times. And once we’re part of our little group, our little tribe, we adopt all sorts of biases and preferences. We construct belief systems that justify our group’s power and superiority. We create tests of whether other people are “true” and “pure” members of our group, and we either shame any “non-believers” into conformity or simply expel them from the tribe.’’

It is safe to say that once a philosophy has gone tribal, its beliefs no longer exist to serve some moral principle, but rather they exist to serve the promotion of the group. This is why you will see some feminist attacking others for not buying into their way of thinking even if the thinking is irrational and unscientific.

We haves some group of feminist who have formed political movement. I was surprised when some were advocating for abolishing of Father’s Day. They have shifted from helping women to oppressing anybody who stands against their ideas as irrational and unscientific.

The writer placed across some naked statistics; “In the past few decades, sexual violence has halved, and domestic violence has dropped by an astounding two-thirds. Women recently surpassed men in the workforce in the US and earn almost 60% of all bachelor’s degrees. And despite the constant drumming of 77 cents women earn on the dollar compared to men, when you factor in the fact that men work longer hours, more dangerous jobs, and retire later, the wage gap today is actually only something like 93 to 95 cents for every dollar a man earns.’’

Despite the above high number of graduates, female still record low in in Engineering and Computer science which pays best in the US. But what will a social media feminist do about it, start saying how female are not earning more, they are denied opportunity in these fields etc. Currently, anyone male or female is free to pursue whatever course he/she want! So if more women are showing more interest in non-technical course because is what they like what is the problem, instead of whining behind a keyboard, enroll for a technical course and lead by example.

Just to wrap it up with what George Carlin said, “I love individuals. I hate a group of people (I hate a group of people with a ‘common purpose’). Because pretty soon they have little hats. And armbands. And fight songs. And a list of people they’re going to visit at 3am. So, I dislike and despise groups of people. But I love individuals.”

Come on people, we’ve all at least heard about feminism, right? What I ain’t sure of is if you’ve really ever bothered to find out what it really means amidst several speculations. Well, let me save you the hustle! Feminism is conventionally defined as a range of movements and ideologies that share a common goal which is to define, establish, and achieve equal political, economic, cultural, personal, and social rights.  A feminist role is to advocate or support the rights and equality of women.

The term feminism never just dropped from the sky for people to start using and associating to, the term was actually coined or rather first used (whatever the case)  by a French philosopher Charles Fourier. He used it to describe  all kinds of movements which aimed to establish the rights of women of the world.

Feminism as a movement came in various waves. The first wave was a movement   aimed to attain suffrage (the right to vote in a political election); the second was to establish socioeconomic rights; the third was a follow up movement to counter the failure of the second wave; the fourth wave which the current one is based on social justice for women and it is mainly fought on social media.

Feminism as a term looks confined and limited but as a movement, it comes in  various shades of concepts- basically due to many themes explored by different Feminist which vary in goals, strategies and affiliation- With that said, feminist can fall under; Separatist feminism, Radical Feminism, cultural feminism, Marxism feminism or socialist feminism, Religion feminism, Liberal Feminism, Eco-feminism, Black Feminism, I feminism etc..

Feminism according to my understanding is believing in equal rights for everyone. Feminism is believing that everyone deserves equal chances and opportunities. Feminism is not only fighting for women’s rights, but also for men’s. Being a feminist is believing that a man being raped or abused is just as wrong and horrible as a woman being raped or abused. It’s believing that women can hold jobs traditionally held by men, and that men can hold jobs traditionally held by women. Feminism is connoted to mean gender equality. At least that is what it should be!!

What’s in store for a young lady in this age of fourth wave Feminism? A lady who has been raised to be natural . A lady who was never told how she is expected to carry herself being a female.  A lady who grew-up without ‘he/she set of guidelines’, and for this reason she embraced feminism. Wait a minute, this doesn’t mean  she lived with no rules, of course her family had rules that would ensure she grows to be morally upright and responsible without suppressing her abilities. She is lucky! This young lady is a African feminist  who is determine and equally  keen to apply  both Logic, Evolution, Religion and African cultural concept in defining feminism.

She is not the first African feminism and she understands that she would be the last. She recognizes the  Precolonial African feminism, which laid the foundation and roots of feminism in Africa. Women like Queen Nzinga, Adelaide Casely-Hayford, Charlotte Maxeke, Wambui Otieno, Lilian Ngoyi, Albertina Sisulu, Maragaret Ekpo and Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti among many others; were feminist because they fought against colonialism as well as patriarchy. As an African who value some of its culture, she embraces some of its culture. She however differs with some of the cultural aspect which demean women. For instance, the furiously debated norm ‘the role of a women is in the kitchen, are not fit to be leaders or partake ‘men’s jobs’, and they shouldn’t be as educated as their brothers’. It is absurd. Not forgetting the FGM culture that subject women to torture, maternal complications later in life or even death, it clearly has no place in this world.

It is undeniable that the world has evolved and so many things have changed. We are compelled to live according to the needs of evolution. Currently, our women are not a stay home parent because they equally need to work hard and smart to ensure that the needs of the family together with the society are met. But why do the society make it look a disgrace yet it is for the benefit of all? Ironic. People have made women empowerment/equality/feminism to be throbbing and yet it something that should be positively and universally embraced.

Assigning gender roles restricts people from fully achieving their potentials. ‘That women role is supposed to be in the house/kitchen?’ Of course, she cooks and does all house chores not because she is a woman but because she is being responsible. She can equally ‘hunt’ for the family provision and do the manly role if need be. This should be the same case with men, it is unrealistic to wait upon women to do certain roles yet you are present and idle.  The African feminist embraces division of labor in a realistic way.

All became crystal clear when this young African feminist  first read the Kiswahili set book “Utengano”, the experience affirmed her feminism. ‘Mwanamke ni chombo cha kuburudisha mwanamume…’ (A woman is an entertainment instrument to a man…) These words infuriated her. A woman’s  dignity is lowered by the society as she is  sexually objectified. Never will she be an instrument of source of pleasure or entertainment to men. An intimate relationship between the two sexes should be that of respect and that they are equal partners. Both he and she are all sexual and have sexual features which are attractive equally. A woman’s job is not to be likable but to be her full-self that is aware of humanity.

This African feminist must thrive to promote constructive feminist, which is the true feminism. A feminism which advocates for equality among both sexes but not oppressing either one for others’ own agenda. Above all, has a woman, she is honest, kind and brave because that’s who she is 🙂