All Posts

Do Western Women Still Need Feminism?

veeterzy

Do Western Women Still Need Feminism?

"Free" is a binary term. You can be legally be free and still be treated badly.

Sade Andria ZabalaJanuary 23, 2017
Share
Share
White FeminismWestern Feminism

I was moved by the Women's Marches around the country (and world). And I was glad to hear that they were all "peaceful" and there were no arrests.

You know why there were no arrests? Because PR-wise, it was a march that would be attended by mostly white women. And in a world that doesn't protect women much, when it chooses to, it is white women it protects. If the marches were mostly Black and brown women, police would be emboldened to break them up, throw tear gas into the crowds, and be physical. How do we know? The BLM protests and marches, where the only things people had were their bodies and those were considered weapons. Ferguson. Baltimore. Chicago. Militarized police always showed up. LOOK AT STANDING ROCK.

White women and white bodies can hold space on streets and shut down cities "peacefully" because they are allowed to. Black and brown people who march are assaulted by cops, and in Trump's law and order administration, this will only get worse.

Remember that you as a white person are walking in a body of privilege. You didn't show up before but you can show up now. NOW. When the next Sandra Bland, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Rekia Boyd, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner etc etc etc happens, you better come out. We will need you to show up again and again, in these numbers.

— Luvvie Ajayi, via Facebook

White FeminismWestern FeminismBLMBlack Lives MatterBlack WomenWomen's March

If you think you don’t need feminism, that’s ok. I’ll respect your choice. But practice some altruism. Be informed, and think about how maybe other people do need feminism, and the potential damage you wreak by condemning feminism as a whole. And if you’re in a position in your own life where utter gender equality has been reached in all facets of your existence (really?), then reach out to others who may not have reached their nirvana of gender equality.

When no woman has to fear for her own safety or ownership or decisions about her own body, then we won’t need feminism.

When all brothers and sisters can access the same quality education, opportunities and future as the other, then we won’t need feminism.

When all women can choose if, whom and when to marry and have children, then we won’t need feminism.

When no woman dies in childbirth from reasons preventable in the 21st century West, then we won’t need feminism.

When all girls, regardless of culture, have the choice and knowledge that she can be anyone and do anything she chooses, we won’t need feminism.

But until these things are the norm, we do need feminism. Look beyond yourself. We’re all in this together.

— Matilda Branson, Women Against Feminism? How About a Bit More Altruism?

Western Feminism

Counter-question, first: Why are you posting questions on Quora when there are children starving out in the world?

Do you see how absurd this line of reasoning is? You have stuff you want and don’t think it’s at all odd to prioritize that over literally everything else in the world you could be doing right now to make the world a better place. And what you want is to ask why feminists aren’t…invading Arabic countries, I guess, to impose peace, maybe. It’s not really clear where you’re going with it, other than you’re clearly not doing anything about it, either. That’s the problem with trying to claim someone else is a hypocrite: You need to be very careful about your own life, first.

But look, the fact that there are crappier places than the United States (for example) doesn’t mean that the United States is ‘done;’ even the best place in the world can still be better. It also doesn’t mean—as we’re reminded any time any American speaks up about world events—that we have the right to impose our will and values on the rest of the world.

Mind you, many feminists do work throughout the world, because they have the resources to do so. But there’s plenty of work in our own backyards to go around, and it seems pretty dumb to leave it undone, and there are enough people acting against progress that it needs work to maintain it.

And heck, that doesn’t even get to the fact that we’ve seen time and time again that equality makes people happier, more productive, and more stable. And that’s a far better position to spread from. As another answer points out, the world is not a zero-sum game.

— John Colagioia, Why is feminism necessary in first-world countries?

Western Feminism

That does not mean, that women in the West do not face problems... I guess, we should just stop to evolve our societies. Women in the Western World should just shut up again and stop bothering men with their claims for equality. They have it better then other women on this planet, so why should they complain?

We should also stop helping homeless people, after all, being homeless in the rich west is better then being homeless in a civil war zone.

We should stop supporting poor people(like the European welfare states do), after all, poor people in the West have it better, then poor people in poor countries.

We should stop, criticising our police forces, when they do mistakes, after all, the police in dictatorships is far worse.

We should stop trying to make our educational system better, after all, almost everyone can write and read, which is far better then in other parts of the world.

Sounds stupid? So does your question.

— Tina Mueller, Why is feminism necessary in first-world countries?

Western Feminism

You know how 1st world feminists get told that they don’t need feminism? They’re told that they should be glad they’re not ‘really oppressed’ like the women in 3rd world countries. That things could always be worse.

You know what my mother tells me? She says I don’t need feminism because I should be glad I’m born in an urban city of Pakistan. She says, at least I wasn’t born in a rural area where girls are married off to men twice their age. That things could always be worse.

And our house maid, Shabana, who was married to her uncle at 15 and, at 18, has 2 children, she doesn’t even know what feminism is. She was told by her father that she should be glad her husband doesn’t beat her and hasn’t thrown tehzaab (acid) at her. That things could always be worse.

Am I the only one seeing a very disturbing pattern here?

— Unknown, via Tumblr

feminismWestern Feminism