Tall, Skinny, Mocha | Advocating for equalism

Ravi Jain | Because women need a change in rhetoric

By Ravi Jain 01/28/15 12:19am

With the advent of internet-based dissemination of media, movements such as feminism have rapidly gained worldwide prominence and support. However, feminism has suffered from an identity crisis as some of its proponents offer a variety of explanations for it and attack those who do not define feminism in the same way that they do.

The current message of the movement should be analyzed in the context of what it is called. Though the word “feminism” suggests a number of ideas and beliefs, the Oxford English Dictionary defines feminism as: “the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social and economic equality to men.”

Based on this definition, feminism advocates solely for women. It suggests that simply being born male is a blanket privilege because men are advantaged compared to women in all respects. This causes women, who are then seen as disadvantaged, to fight for themselves.

As British actress Emma Watson, Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women, mentioned in her speech at the launch of the HeForShe campaign, what is currently widely known as feminism resembles little more than “man-hating,” which she insists “has to stop.”

While it is generally accepted that current society is patriarchal, few among those who identify themselves as feminist acknowledge that, for example, the right for a male to show weakness and sensitivity has not yet been established — which has greater consequence than simply preventing him from being able to cry. However, most feminists argue that they in fact seek the equality of the sexes. If that is true, they should recognize the multiple instances in which men are not afforded the same privileges as women, or realize that they might not actually be feminists at all.

Ms. Watson clarifies feminism as such. The HeForShe campaign implores men to join women rather than view themselves as the target of feminism and refers to the issue of women’s rights only as gender inequality. However it stops short of promoting a name change altogether.

The vast majority of feminists, it would seem, would benefit from calling themselves “equalists” or “egalitarianists” instead. It is also much more broadly appealing to a layperson to fight for the equality of the sexes as opposed to the raising of the status of just women, and equalists cannot be identified as male or female simply by the dictionary definition of the word.

If a majority of feminists are actually equalists, then who are the “real” feminists? All the issues labeled as examples of gender inequality can be summarized as those that current society characterizes as feminine, and then views them in a negative light. Additionally, society also marginalizes women who do not heed certain “accepted” standards of femininity. Feminism, therefore, should promote the legitimization of not just “femininity,” but also the freedom of a woman to choose how “feminine” she wants to be.

Some feminists are well aware of, and have addressed the idea of, transitioning to equalism given its all-encompassing meaning. Common counterarguments include that women need a space of their own to discuss issues including — but not limited to — the handling of sexual assault cases and the wage gap, and that the number and scope of such issues, in which women are disadvantaged as compared to men, are much larger than the reverse.

However, a number of these issues are specific cases of gender inequality as applied to women. I perceive the strength of feminism to lie in the underlying assumption that men have no desire to contribute to the ending of gender inequality. Gender inequality can only be ended by universal participation of the genders. Equalism serves that goal by being nondiscriminatory in the sense that it brings men into the conversation as well. By preventing “man-hating” we can provide motivation for men to observe the imbalance in how the opposing sexes and spectrum of genders is perceived.

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