Gender Equality vs. Feminism: #HeForShe

I have reacted to a post on FEMINISM sometime last week and I would like to apologize. A blogger friend posted a quote found on FB and asked  for an opinion from readers and against my better judgement,  I reacted. It was a man’s opinion about the ‘fruit of feminism’ stating that “it has reduced women to sexual objects”.  Shame on me. It was too early in the morning… too late in my shift.   😦   Lesson learned — Don’t post anything when you know you can’t go back to edit, esp. if you’re mad, hungry, tired, under the influence of any chemical, etc. (not that I was any of those). I was just having a stressful day at work and I was wrapping up when I read that post.

This made me think of Emma Watson. She’s one of my heroes. Of course, she’s way younger than I am,  but age is just a number. Her wisdom makes her over a 100 years old. She’s super awesome! I’d wanna be like her when I grow up. lol  😉

It is sad that a lot of people are misinformed about the truth behind the “gender equality/feminism movement”.  Real “feminism” acknowledges that the patriarchal society and culture that we  were raised in actually hurts  both women and men. It is about fairness and equality amongst genders and the desire to live as freely as anyone else, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, color, race, culture, etc. It’s not about man-hating or putting another gender down. This contradicts the reason why this movement was established. Some of the issues that “gender equality/feminism movement” actually seeks to resolve are wage disparity, rape culture, and the social construct of both genders that is not oppressive in any way. Emma Watson has made this clear in her speech.

 

I doubt if anybody doesn’t know Emma Watson. Who has never watched Harry Potter? But if you live in Timbuktu or a more remote place where there’s no internet or cable… away from civilization… in which case, this doesn’t matter but I’ll go ahead anyway. She’s a British actress and a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador. She co-hosted a special event for UN Women’s #HeForShe campaign in 2014 which is a solidarity movement for gender equality that calls upon men and boys to help end the persisting inequalities faced by women and girls globally. Emma has given a powerful speech about gender equality where she said the fight for women’s rights “has too often become synonymous with man-hating”. The 24-year-old British actress,  who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, spoke at the U.N. in New York in her new role as a goodwill ambassador.  Emma said she became a feminist at age 8 when she was told she was “bossy” for wanting to direct a play.  She  said: “I was appointed 6 months ago and the more I have spoken about feminism the more I have realised that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.” Watson said she has been a victim of sexism herself.  (Source:YouTube)

Watson wants to get 100,000 men and boys involved in the fight to achieve gender equality with the ‘HeForShe’ campaign. UN Women supporters of the campaign include actors Matt Damon, Patrick Stewart, Antonio Banderas and Kiefer Sutherland, and South African Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu. (Source:YouTube)

 

Why has “FEMINISM” or “FEMINIST” become an ugly word?  Apparently it has become synonymous or interchangeable with terms such as “ball-breaker” and “feminazi“. I am not for alienating men. I, however, am for educating the “ignorant”. I feel that the root cause of war, destruction, prejudice, discrimination, violence is IGNORANCE. If only people were a little more open minded and try to understand each other then maybe, just maybe, we may learn from each other and we may enjoy WORLD PEACE. Yes, here I go again about WORLD PEACE. If you stay with me in my blog. You will keep on hearing it. I totally believe that everything is connected to WORLD PEACE. And it is attainable if only we work together. It starts with me and you. Be the change, people.  🙂

 

 

Going back to Feminism. I believe that gender equality fundamentally need to involve men. We need their support. It’s about them as much as it’s about us. So if anybody has a problem with that “F” word them let’s call a spade a spade.  We can’t keep on changing the name every time certain people get offended. There will always be bigots. They’re here to stay.  So let’s start with the meaning of the word… What is a feminist? If you believe in equality between the sexes, in the upholding of human dignity and basic human rights for all, regardless of sex or gender, isn’t that being a feminist?  So why  the backlash? And from both men and women? I honestly think that this is just an over-reaction on something they do not completely understand. Who does not want to enjoy “equality”? Is it such a bad word? They must be so used to the double standard that they resist the change. What about that theory?

 

 

Be counted here. ~~~>  #HeForShe

Let us work together towards gender equality. I believe this gets us closer to attaining World Peace.

Namaste!

 

LIVE   LAUGH … BELLE PAPILLON 

 

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