Sunday, April 10, 2011

In Which I Speak on a Controversial Subject. More or Less.

I was recently reminded of feminists. Granted, this opening sentence stinks. I just need to get this out, though. Because, I'm pretty sure that the work of a feminist is a work against herself. How so?

Lemme 'splain. A feminist, if I understand correctly, is a woman who believe that she, and other women, aren't being treated fairly. You know, equality and all that. So, she sets out to prove to the world, through new equality laws and such, that we women aren't to be treated so unfairly. We're just as good as men, the feminist thinks, at whatever they do   if not better. We aren't helpless, we can take care of ourselves.

This sounds all good and noble, this war cry - if you will - of independence, this call for women to get better treatment, more respect, and whatever else she, the feminist, deems necessary for a woman to stand on her own two feet. Yes, noble. Noble sounding.


The thing is, when she says these things, that a woman isn't treated fairly, is looked down upon, she is openly - though maybe not purposefully - admitting that she once believed a lie that said she was inadequate. That, perhaps, she should have been born a man. Yet, she had a strong grip on her femininity (which is, in itself, wonderful), so she turns these initial thoughts toward, what she perceived as, unfair treatment towards women.

In essence, feminism is saying that women are treated unfairly. Yes, there are some cases, in some cultures - modern or ancient - in which women are treated so. Yet, in the cases in which they are not - for instance, as a generalization, woman can do very little, while a man can do very much in the world - the lie seeps through.

One says such a sentence, and, if others catch on, they believe it. In believing this, they soon get themselves caught up in thinking that they have no rights and act in such a manner. It is similar to how a teenager hears that they are simply a rebellious soul and acts upon it, or that a little child hears that they will never be a good artist from a peer or older sibling and stops drawing all together.

Words are such funny things. Sticks and stones may break my bones...but words will do so much more damage.

What have we discovered so far? They (women/feminists) heard the lie (woman can do little), they believed the lie (and felt trapped), and act upon the lie. But, instead of looking at their current standings in culture, just to see how much they can do with the rights they have, they look toward the lie and are drawn further and further into it's dark embrace.

Joseph Goebbels was one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates. He once said, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

The big lie is that women are suppressed. It's been repeated often. And people believe it.

No comments:

Post a Comment