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Feminists Need To “Enter The Equalists”

By Micah Emem Essien

07 March 2020   |   8:36 am

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“ /ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m/ the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes. - ” For centuries women have had to fight for everything. The right to work, the right to vote, the right to dare to have an opinion, the right to bleed without shame, the right to birth, the right…

Photo by Jessica Felicio on Unsplash

“ /ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m/

the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes. – ”

For centuries women have had to fight for everything. The right to work, the right to vote, the right to dare to have an opinion, the right to bleed without shame, the right to birth, the right to pleasure, the right to see God, the right to dream, the right to speak, the right to be.

They have had to defend the importance of their very existence and the capabilities beyond that which seemed to be the norm. Women have never had it easy and there was only one thing to do, speak up.

Regardless of how degrading it was to speak and convince a group of bald-headed narrow-minded intellectuals with ego’s as big as nothing important, Feminism was born.

The advocacy for women’s rights began. Victory happened, albeit in small doses and not without a lot of pain, but it was the beginning of waves of changes. Women in the 1500’s, even dating further back, came out in numbers, united with one voice and a common goal – the equality of the sexes.

But, has it taken a turn?

It’s the 21^st century and the definition of Feminism is besmirched. From being a cause on rights on the grounds of the equality of the sexes, it slowly became a cause that hated the idea of being equal to men. This entire generation sees Feminism as the opportunity to call out men for their talentless hate.

Now, this is totally losing focus because it just might very well be an issue that will never ever change. And in focusing on hate rather than change you gain nothing.

Enter the Equalists. The equalists are basically Feminists of old. There was a time when women changed laws, wrote laws, ignited movements, changed the narrative, gave hope. Now, it’s all about hate. This defeats the entire purpose. This takes away the hard work put in by women like Sojourner Truth, Christine de Pizan, Gloria Stenman, and many others. They preached equal rights, they wanted to show just how much they had in common with the men. Not to prove superiority but to change the way women were seen – as tools.

Julia Serano argues that women wanting to be like men is consistent with the idea that maleness is more valued in contemporary culture than femaleness, whereas men being willing to give up masculinity in favor of femininity directly threatens the notion of male superiority as well as the idea that men and women should be opposites.

“My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent. – Ruth Bader Ginsburg”

We cannot convine or change through hate or spite. We cannot want a seat at the table solely because of our sex. This takes away much-needed gratification, defeating the entire purpose of advocating for change.

Until we make the world of the XY know that the XX is just as powerful and instrumental, we are going nowhere fast.

“In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.”
― Sheryl Sandberg