Truth vs. Lies about Feminism

It is easy to misconstrue of things that happen around you because it is about what impression you get from it. Ever since the moment started, feminism has an image problem. Actresses after actresses have openly stated that they don’t need feminism because either they want kids (Lisa Haydon), or because they respect other women who are house makers (Shilpa Shetty) or whether they want to be strong and independent just how a woman should be (Madhuri Dixit Nene).

Here’s to clarify some lies about feminism:

Lie: A feminist can’t be feminine or ‘girly’

Truth: Feminism doesn’t care about what gender you are, whether you prefer One Direction or Foo Fighters, your sexual orientation, what your favourite colour is, etc.

It just cares if you also want equal rights for all the members of the society: whether man, woman or a non-binary.

Feminism doesn’t care if you curl your hair every morning or wear the same clothes every alternate day.

Lie: Feminists hate men

Truth: Feminists don’t hate men. They hate sexism and the patriarchal society.

They hate the idea of one person being superior or inferior, biased by gender and no other qualification.

Lie: There is no need for feminism now since everyone knows about it

Truth: Just because everyone knows about it and women have been empowered in some ways doesn’t mean they are accepted as equals.

Many women still get paid less while working for the same hours and doing the same jobs as their male counterparts, women still are the ones that contribute more to the households, brutal practices like honour killing, etc still prevail.

Lie: Feminists are only women

Truth: Yes, there are male feminists. We have been learning about male feminists since our school years: Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Jyotiba Phule, Jawaharlal Nehru, all fought for women rights when they were being oppressed by the male dominant society.

You just need to be smart and have a little brain to be a feminist. No one cares if you’re a boy or a girl.

Lie: Feminists run away from motherhood

Truth: Quoting Lisa Haydon, “I don’t like the word feminist. I don’t think women trying to be men is feminism. I also don’t believe in being outspoken for the sake of it, or just to prove a point. Feminism is just an overused term and people make too much noise about it for no reason. Women have been given these bodies to produce children, and the spirit and tenderness to take care of people around us. It’s fine to be an outspoken and working woman. I don’t want to be a man. One day I look forward to making dinner for my husband and children. I don’t want to be a career feminist.”

Feminists hate the societal pressure of producing children but that shouldn’t be miscomprehended as all feminists hating the idea of nurturing children. Feminists hate the idea of not having freedom of making that choice.

If feminists could have a penny every time someone rolled their eyes because they identified themselves as ‘feminists’, they’d all own multiple Lamborghini's. Next time you judge someone because of their beliefs, make sure to Google what the concept actually is because the possibility of you not misjudging the concept is like finding a needle in a haystack.



Written by Durva Bhatt
A bibliophile who is fuelled entirely by caffeine, sarcasm, fandoms and random thoughts.

Are Feminists misleading us to become Feminazis?

Women empowerment is a subject that is not new to any of us. For decades now, there are activists, more commonly called feminists, who are working solely towards their goal of bringing equality against men and women and bring an end to all form of discrimination against women. The change is welcome.

It is important that all of us realize the altogether patriarchal nature of our society, since the very advent of civilization, which has not allowed women to develop to their fullest capabilities. Even today, despite all the attempts being made at personal and social levels, women and young girls continue to suffer from violence and exploitation. The situation is overwhelming and needs immediate addressing. This happens to be a fact that almost all of us know, and will probably agree to. But there is another part of the story that many of us do not know. And for those of us who do, they have never understood the seriousness of this issue.

What we should understand, is that feminism has kind of lost it’s purpose today. No offence to any of the people involved, but the earlier concept of feminism focused on the empowerment of women and bringing equality and justice to them. However, the present notion has changed, with most of the people involved in criticizing men in general and trying to prove them responsible for all the wrongdoings against women. This idea, that all men are bad, called Feminazism has become a common perspective and is being adopted by many women today.

Presently, there are a lot of places where even men suffer due to the undue advantages being given to women. There has been a recent case where two girls wrongly accused an innocent man of sexual harassment. The public grew outrageous and the remarks of the local feminist leaders did nothing except adding fuel to the fire. Consequently, the man was beaten to death, even without a fair trial.

Incidents like these and many others are something that we need to think about. It is about time that we consider some facts. Firstly, it is not always necessary that women are correct and the man is wrong. The other way round is also possible. Secondly, having heard a women right’s activist once saying, “All men are dogs”, we should know that is a very wrong idea. The whole world is not full of wrong men. There also are men who genuinely respect women and who are often misjudged, due to this very idea. And lastly the most important fact, women do not need to prove that they are equal to men because we know that mostly, they are even better than us. What we need are feminists who can create opportunities and provide equal representation to women, and not feminazis, who aim not to strengthen the women, but to bring down the men.

The only purpose of putting in this thought is for us to realize that it is not our objective to promote one gender over another, but to understand that both men and women are equal, in all terms.



Written by Avinash Srivastava
A Writer of Stories, Loves Novels and Movies

How to not be a FEMINIST?

In a world where the patriarchal system decided what a woman should and shouldn’t do, feminism was a boon to all those women encaptured in the shackles of slavery. Recent times, however, have shown us all how cool it is to not be a feminist.

Photo source: dnatesting.com