Feminism is something that many people shy away from as soon as they hear the word. Common misconceptions about the term will have you believe feminists hate men and think women are better. They will also have you believe sexism is no longer an issue. But the truth is, sexism is still a real issue, feminists don’t think women are better than men and feminists don’t hate men. In fact, some feminists are men.
A feminist is someone who advocates for women’s rights on the grounds of political, social and economic equality to men. Feminism is about equality between men and women, something that is nonexistent in society. However, some may think feminism seeks to remove men from their positions of power. But in reality, it’s about creating a power balance and affording females the same opportunities as their male counterparts.
There is a lot to be said about the pay gap between women and men. Women are still earning considerably less than their male peers, many of which are equally or less qualified than the females in the same position. Women are underrepresented in politics, media and business through a lack of females in leadership roles and higher positions in these fields.
Being a feminist means believing women and men should be treated equally. Feminists fight many forms of discrimination, most importantly sexism, which is something all human beings should stand against. Women should not be discriminated against, to any extent, just for being female.
Everytown, an uber-activist group that advocates for stricter gun control, has recently been under scrutiny for an unnecessarily sexist tweet. On March 19, they published a tweet from their Twitter handle, @Everytown, that read, “You think your drunk college-age daughters are bad with their phones? Imagine them with guns.”
Advocating for gun safety is one thing, but a line is crossed when you must resort to extreme measures of sexism to relay your feelings of the increasing number of women who are buying and carrying firearms as a means of personal protection.
Instead of opening a productive conversation on open carry laws and gun safety, Everytown instead had to defend themselves against hate mail and charges of sexism.
One Twitter user responded to Everytown’s tweet, saying, “As the mother of a college student @Everytown this [is] incredibly offensive, ignorant, and stupid. Who the [expletive deleted] even thinks like this?”
Another Twitter user made a comment about Everytown’s ignorant assumption and tweeted a photo of herself at a gun range.
Assuming that females can’t shoot, as Everytown did in their tweet, contributes to the larger problem of gender inequality. As females get older, self-esteem often seems to decline. From a very young age, females are told they can’t do certain things because they are female, or they are told they can’t do them as well as males.
During the Super Bowl, Always re-launched their “#LikeAGirl” ad showing how differently young women, boys and young girls perceive the phrase “like a girl.” Young girls had a stronger, more confident perception. They demonstrated what it means to do things like a girl with such poise and fierceness, and the young women demonstrated it as if they were ashamed to be a female.
That’s what society does. Society often tells females that we aren’t good enough because we aren’t male, which is completely unfair and unrealistic. Everytown assuming females can’t handle a gun as good as males aids in the negative perception of females’ competence in certain situations and positions held by many men today.
This leads to the phrase “for a girl.” For example, “She’s strong for a girl.” “She’s fast for a girl.” “She’s good with a gun for a girl.” This phrase needs to be weeded out of our vocabulary. It has a negative impact and connotation, and it makes an appearance in females’ lives early on.
The idea that women are less than men needs to be defeated. Everyone should take a stand for equality. We aren’t for women at The Prairie. We are for equality.
