Pekker, Aryeh Eng 110 Paper 1 September 16, 2009

The language of feminism cannot be discussed meaningfully outside the context of those

social forces which have made it both an issue demanding our attention and a problem calling for

a resolution.

Feminism is the belief that women are equal to men in society. For as long as history has

been recorded it has always been men who have been in charge. Women have always been

considered the weaker sex or the servants of men, not competent or strong enough to lead or

have any important role in society. The goal of feminism is to erase such a way of thought and

acknowledge the truth, that although women may be physically different than men, they have in

fact as much if not more to offer to the world as men do and are entitled to the same

opportunities in order to present such offers. For example, the discrimination of women in the

work force. There is no justifiable reason to say that women cannot be as good as men at being

doctors, or lawyers, or teachers. Even here in America women have had to fight tooth and nail to

have their basic rights recognized by the state. Women’s suffrage was only recognized in the

year 1919, a hundred and forty three years after this nation was officially established.

Today, feminism appears to have been corrupted both by the social forces that opposed it

in the beginning and the ones we have today that exist under the guise that they are in support of

feminism but are in fact subconsciously destroying it from the inside. The most obvious foes of

feminism are powerful, insecure men. Men who are afraid that the power they achieved through

the advantages given to them by society simply because they are men, whether it be financial,

political or social power, will be taken away if women are extended the same rights to achieve

the same forms of power or influence.

 Such paranoia and fear has prompted many religious figures to condemn feminism by

using their beliefs as their backup. It is arguable as to the extent that religions discriminate

against women, but irrefutable that every major religion that describes the roles of a man and a

woman, in some way or the other attach a more subservient role to women. Such beliefs are

unfortunately exploited by ultra-conservative men such as King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who

supports laws restricting women from being allowed to drive and men like Pat Robertson here in

the United States, a famous televangelist who was quoted in 1992 saying that “The feminist

agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political

movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice

witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” (“Equal Rights Initiative in Iowa

Attacked”, Washington Post, August 23, 1992).

Now, neither one of these men uses logic in their arguments and beliefs against women,

other than the fact that their religious beliefs dictate that women are not equal to men and that if

they were to accept such logic they would both be forsaking their beliefs, their gods and making

it easier for women to achieve the same status they achieved, making women more secure and

making them more insecure.

The other social force that is destroying feminism is the popular media. Today there are

dozens upon dozens of different television shows, magazines, tabloids, movies, songs etc. telling

people what is good and what is bad, what is fashionable and what is ordinary, what is sexy and

what is un-sexy. If you open up a magazine such as “Vogue” or “Bazaar” or turn on the MTV

channel some of the first things you’ll see are advertisements for a new skin cream, lipstick,

mascara etc. all of which will supposedly bring out a woman’s “true natural beauty”, as if a
synthetic cream or lotion is somehow more natural than your actual skin and as if beauty is only

measured by a woman’s appearance.

Although all of these medias may be making these false standards of beauty to make a

profit, they are, perhaps unintentionally, degrading feminism by making women think that they

are not good enough just the way they are, and instead have to continuously improve themselves.

Things that we know to be natural, such as acne, are now seen as blemishes and have to be

“fixed” even though there is nothing broken. It has gotten to the point where women must make

themselves attractive to men in order to appear “sexy” enough for a man to have pointless sex

with her. Worse off, women accept the fact that they are not equal to men until they have

changed enough of their physical appearance according to the standard, a standard that itself is

also continuously changing.

I myself have had some experience with this when dating my ex-girlfriend. I found her

very attractive and often complimented her on her appearance. Sometimes I would even

discourage her from wearing makeup because she was already good looking. When I did this I

might get an expression of gratitude, but very often I was met with a stare or verbal expression of

clear disapproval. I had suggested she simply go out showing her actual natural physical beauty,

and was met with disapproval.

These kinds of trends have to stop if there is any hope of preserving feminism and female

equality in the modern world. Men have to stop being scared of women achieving the same

ranks in society as they do and women have to start fighting back against negative social

conditioning brought on by the media and corporations. Women are equal to men just as men

are equal to women. Denying this fact leads only to more paranoia in men, more crimes against

women, and more pain and inequality for all. Both sexes have demonstrated their unique
abilities to contribute to this world. Let’s take pride in that and quit belittling and polarizing

ourselves because of our own fears and insecurities, both in men and women.