Feminism: a movement that is sure to provoke a reaction in people, be it positive or negative. Lately mostly negative.
The reason? It has been associated with anger and reactionarism. Men have been made to cringe at its name, while women seem to increasingly avoid it.
In their efforts to revamp the movement, feminists have brought to the fore some important issues.
One of them is that their philosophy, like many social, political and even religious creeds before it, has become indulgent and self-fulfilling, no longer addressing the issue it was born to represent, no longer promoting a rational debate on gender fairness. Feminism nowadays simply promotes itself, the –ism in front of the idea.
The way to address this liability is to return to the roots of the issue at hand. Gender equality, fairness, opportunity… Both men and women need to primarily support these principles, ad hoc, and not feminism per se. Feminism is simply a tool designed to promote these principles, not an end in itself. Remembering to uphold the core principles instead of the -ism behind them helps stay the course and not get sidetracked by politics and vested interest.
Where Feminism Went Wrong
The reason feminism is suffering right now, unable as it is to garner more support among both men and women, is that it got sidetracked over the decades by various politics, while performing its grueling but crucial role of balancing the genders during the 20th century. It became a self-serving platform, an opportunity for a certain brand of women among reasonable others to play their power game. Failing to address these shortcomings, these accumulated sticking-points, if you will, and sticking willy-nilly to feminism as a ‘be all, end all’ solution regarding gender issues, has greatly hurt — and will hurt further — the cause.
One must be willing to transform the philosophy to fit the times, making it a functional cause again. Or drop it altogether for a different movement, one willing and able to operate efficiently in the current zeitgeist.
What that new potential movement will be or how it will operate, I’m not sure yet.
In closing, let’s briefly mention Multiculturalism, a popular cause with strong moral ties to feminism. It will help shed a little more light on the issue.
Over the past couple of decades, multiculturalism has performed an important role in the opening up of society, promoting democracy and innovation, human rights and diversity.
But, as of late, it is failing to carry the cause.
The reasons are numerous and besides the point, fit for another article. What is relevant is that rational people now have a choice: stick with multiculturalism no matter what, or embrace fresh movements, like cosmopolitanism, which currently operate less on ideology and more on results, filling the gaps its once-efficient but now fatigued predecessors have left behind.
Dear feminists of both genders… it’s time to do what you once told the dinosaurs to do: adapt!
Dear feminists of both genders… it’s time to do what you once told the dinosaurs to do: adapt!
Or face the consequences.
PS – Happily, feminists of both genders seem to agree with me. I have met a few who have adapted their points of view for reasons similar to those presented above. It is an encouraging sign.
A similar edition of this article was originally published in Urban Times