July 10, 2015

Feminist Friday: Careful

Hey Team,

A huge part of the modern feminist movement is the discussion of power. How women are underselling themselves, how young girls are taught to hide their mental and physical power from an early age since they need to be girly, etc.. Like Emma Watson has stated, the world needs to reassess how they perceive the power that women have.

While I totally and complete agree with this statement, it's important to not get too far away from the original message. I worry that a lot of important and well meaning organizations are creating a hurtful message by creating the mentality of young feminists that "girls are good and powerful, so that makes boys bad." This generalization hurts the one group of individuals we need to be working with the most. Not all men can be categorized as bad, stupid, ignorant, etc. Of course, there will always be these types on both sides, men and women. But to make that assumption of half of the world's population is just too naive for 2015. I think the conversation needs to be about education, conversation, and collaboration. How can we expect all of the important changes to come about if we can't work with the people who will make those decisions? This isn't a men vs. women fight, this is a status quo vs. revolution fight. I found this amazing quote that captured the situation perfectly.



If you are wondering, the street barber is a gentleman who cuts homeless people's hair for free, after overcoming his alcoholism. In the article/video, he makes the point that if you see others as human beings, who need to be loved and cared for, then everything just falls by the way side. I think that's what needs to happen in the feminist vs. meninist movements. If we can see the other side as a group of human beings, who deserve equal rights, then we can make some serious progress.

Here's the great haircuts,

Jana

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