A 20YO’s Notes On Feminism And Things That Matter

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Being the eldest of two daughters to our parents, studying in an all-girls school, having perky girl best friends were enough to make me understand how amazing women are! But I will admit as rarely being in touch with guys, I had a mindset that we are better than them. It is only recently when I have realized that we are sort of equal.

How? By,

• Loads of learning & unlearning
• Communicating
• Being real
• Studying the ‘why’s’ of the ‘don’ts’
• Keeping up with the world affairs
• Being more understanding than being judgmental

Pretty easy, isn’t it? The dictionary defines ‘Feminism’ as- the belief and aim that men and women should have the same rights, power, and opportunities. Now, that being said, I don’t see why people, especially, men find ‘the word’ uncomfortable and degrading. They have arguments like for e.g., Feminism denotes Feminine, where are men in it? Or, women use this only to grab attention, or ‘not all MEN’ are like this…., etc.

I will try to answer some of these questions.

Firstly, do you really want to fight on nomenclature? If that’s the case, why not start with making ‘mankind’ a bit more inclusive, which represents all humans in general. Same goes with the words like chairman, batsman, minister, and in my opinion for us women it should be a spinster party rather than a bachelorette party. Suddenly the words don’t feel important anymore and my argument seems stupid, right? Hell yes! What matters is the intention attached to the word. So, in my humble opinion there are already so many words that are masculine but include us and we are okay with that; so, you guys can also adjust for this one time by the word being a little more women friendly.
Secondly, men and women do see the world differently. It might be because of the social construct or simply the very nature of our existence, but the bottom line is- it is the truth. What is the biggest fear a man could have while walking on the street at night? Being robbed, looted, maybe beaten up by some drunkards for no reason, I think that’s all. But the list doesn’t end for women. Actually, you will not find a woman walking in the streets at night unless it is something urgent, at first place. And I don’t even want to start about what the list includes; just put on some news you will know.

The problem is, yes, it is not all men, but ALL women. You might be the most decent man on this planet, but I don’t know that; so, when I walk past you my heart is going to skip a beat. That’s the gravity of the situation. Feminism NEEDS men as much as it needs women. As we cannot implement change without equal participation of both halves of the world.