Feminism

'Feminism' is a topic I think about everyday. It is very important to understand when you are a part of society. Feminism, on a basic level, stands for uplifting and empowering women to be treated as equals in society. We all are well aware of the fact that we live in a male-dominated society, where females are troubled in one or the other way, due to their gender. But this goes way deeper than that. It not only talks about the gruesome behavior women face, but it also talks about the injustice done in terms of opportunities. The global idea of feminism refers to the belief that men and women deserve equality in all opportunities, treatment, respect, and social rights. In general, feminists are people who try to acknowledge social inequality based on gender and stop it from continuing.

While this basic idea of feminism seems simple enough, many people misunderstand what the goal of feminism is. Some people imagine that all feminists are angry, bitter women who only want to subjugate men! Of course, this stereotype offends actual feminists. Why is there such a big difference between stereotype and reality when it comes to feminists? One of the reasons for this discrepancy might be because there are, in fact, lots of different, specific types of feminism. 

   1.      Radical feminism: This movement accentuate the annihilation of the idea of gender. Why do females are less paid or are not promoted as men? Mostly due to the pregnancy which according to people slows down the progress rate. Thus, it emphasis to completely abolish the idea of pregnancy and say, generate kids with some technology.

   2.      Marxist and Socialist Feminism: It focuses on the capitalistic system. It is a little less extreme than Radical Feminism. It calls for an end to capitalism through a socialist reformation of our economy.

3.      Liberal Feminism: This works within the structure of the mainstream to integrate women into it and make it more responsive to individual women’s rights but does not challenge the system itself.

4.      Black Feminism: The experience of being a black woman is much more than the terms black and a woman. Each concept is considered independently. The liberation of black women entails the freedom to all people since it would require the end of racism, sexism, and class oppression.

There are other types of feminism as well such as Cultural, Eco, Transnational & Global, and Visionary Feminism. All these can easily be found on the internet. But my point being, that many people do not look up to the full information, they react on half or no information at all. The beauty of this topic is there are many aspects to it. Feminism is a ceaseless topic, one time you think you know it all but then another facet will be turn up and stand in front of your face. The interminable quality challenges me to engage in it in every way possible.

To know and learn more about it, the obvious source is the internet. But after a point internet seems to be all theory, hence I turn to books. Many feminist writers have written about feminism, not only nonfiction but fiction as well. I have read a few but there are many more. I also like discussing and noting down different perspectives of people, may it be an anti or pro feministic view.

To conclude, I just want to say that going deeper into any topic broadens one’s mind and perspectives and helps to look from different shores. Say, I (hopefully) can read anything and give a feministic point of view. But the real question is, am I a feminist? Well, on the basic level, I am but still looking for answers.