Twitter User Points Out How Anti-Feminist Women Also Benefit From Feminism And We Can’t Help But Agree
I feel like, at this point, no one fully understands what feminism means. There is much divide among the masses about what feminism entails and that includes women as well. And there are many women who in today’s day and age have the privilege of saying that they aren’t feminists because maybe they haven’t dealt with all the sexism and atrocities women face because of patriarchy. In most cases, this is simply internalised misogyny where the women don’t understand how they have been conditioned to accept sexist behaviours as “normal”. Twitter user @cache_pas talks about this in detail in Twitter thread discussing feminism and the women who don’t support feminism.
Feminism seeks to liberate women as a sex class, and therefore benefits all women—even those who are against it.
Some women will work against feminism, as a part of patriarchy, because that is what patriarchy does—socialise, brainwash, manipulate.
— zara, feminarc warlord ♀🏳️🌈 (@cache_pas) October 31, 2022
And this is something most women who are anti-feminist won’t agree with; they are also benefitting from the feminist movement, whether they know it or not. As I said earlier, most of these women have been brainwashed into believing that a lot of the problematic and sexist behaviours are normal and okay. Hence, they might not fully see how feminism benefits them. I believe that for a person to be fully liberated from oppression, they have to see how they are being oppressed in the first place.
Feminism benefits all women. All women are included as the subjects of its struggle.
That however *doesn’t* mean that anti-feminist women are being unfairly excluded if their anti feminist views are criticised or examined.
— zara, feminarc warlord ♀🏳️🌈 (@cache_pas) October 31, 2022
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Completely agreed. criticism does not mean exclusion. And if society takes a step toward equality, it will be for all women and not just the women who are feminists. So the women who don’t support the cause also stand to benefit from it.
That isn’t unnecessary gatekeeping. That is preserving the meaning of feminism.
While there are debates about the definition of feminism, that doesn’t mean feminism can mean *anything.* There are hard lines and consistencies across feminism. (For example, pro-abortion.)
— zara, feminarc warlord ♀🏳️🌈 (@cache_pas) October 31, 2022
Words gatekeep themselves. And “feminism” is no different.
— zara, feminarc warlord ♀🏳️🌈 (@cache_pas) October 31, 2022
I personally do believe that feminism can mean different things for different women based on their own experiences as a woman. However, we can’t just be supporting things like being anti-abortion or birth control and say that we are feminists. There are a lot of consistencies in the different definitions of feminism and one of them is believing in a woman’s right over her own body.
Women who express anti feminist views, or who actively participate in perpetuating patriarchy…it’s difficult. Because they are at once perpetrators of patriarchy and victims of it.
— zara, feminarc warlord ♀🏳️🌈 (@cache_pas) October 31, 2022
Also Read: Twitter User Poses Raging Questions For Men Who Shame Women For Every False Rape Accusation
I don’t know the answer to where to find the balance between “this person is a victim” and “this person is a perpetrator,” but I do know that keeping that complexity in mind has been really important for me these days.
— zara, feminarc warlord ♀🏳️🌈 (@cache_pas) October 31, 2022
This is sadly true. Many victims don’t fully see how they have been manipulated into thinking that whatever they are enduring is acceptable. They get so used to the atrocities they are facing that they get comfortable with accepting them as okay, when they are in fact, not. So while many of these women might be anti-feminist, they are still victims of the patriarchal notions that have been enforced upon them. The only difference is that they chose to accept these notions while feminists don’t. Internalised misogyny is one of the major side effects of patriarchy. Take some of our mothers, aunts and grandmothers, for example. Were they not victims of oppression at the hands of the men in their lives and by the patriarchal society we are a part of? They were. But most of them have accepted this as “it is what it is” and try to push the same notions on the women of today’s generation thinking that this is just how the world is.
Even if we can’t reach some women specifically, we reach everyone else, and they benefit regardless. They are not left behind even if you have to say, “hey, your actions are at odds with feminism and actively undermining women, and that’s not ok.”
— zara, feminarc warlord ♀🏳️🌈 (@cache_pas) October 31, 2022
And this is just what it is, isn’t it? The women who don’t support feminism also stand to benefit from it too. Now I am not saying that this is wrong. These women are also victims of decades of patriarchy and have been brainwashed into believing that this is just what a woman’s life is meant to be. However, the coming generation is learning to fight these notions and are also helping the older generation unlearn these behaviours.
