A lovely share on Facebook showed up about the Tumblr “Women Against Feminism.” In it, a series of mostly white young women hold up placards describing why they don’t need feminism. Of course all of these placards are stereotypes of feminism. And they will make you shudder: Women Against Feminism.
What freaks me out about the whole page is that these young women, who have not YET experienced discrimination, have enough time on their hands to rip apart a movement that is not just about empowering them, but also men. The misunderstanding and misrepresentation of what feminism really is has clearly hit these Millennial’s or Generation Z’ers.
Fortunately a sarcastic response appeared #needthepatriarchy, which is hilarious.
But the bottom line for me, as an educator and a feminist, is how to fight off these horrible stereotypes that these young women have bought into. Here is a great example:
First, there is an assumption that feminism is about victimization. Yes, feminism has been a movement that started rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters, but it is not tied to victimization, but empowerment.
Second, sure, white young thing from the west, you are not oppressed. But maybe your sisters of color are. Maybe they don’t have economic access to the things they need, like reproductive health care. Maybe there are poor people living in your town? Maybe you don’t know because you never drive “over there.” Maybe you haven’t had a job yet in the professional world where you got paid thousands of dollars less than a man. Maybe you have never been raped or beaten by someone you just met or someone you thought you loved. Maybe all of these things haven’t happened to you. Yet.
I’m sorry your life is so boring that you have nothing better to do than develop a tumblr about how much you hate feminism. What a drag. Maybe instead of being a hater, you could go out and volunteer in your community and learn something about the world you live in. Even the town you live in. If you want to change the world or even the way that you think feminism is constructed, try doing something positive instead.
Because believe it or not girls, feminism has done more to help women and men in our world than your tiny hater tumblr will ever do. And if you don’t think feminists are funny, you surely haven’t met anyone like me or my friends.#Ilovefeminism
The Feminist Critic 