‘Feminism’ used to be a bold, italicised, negative word to me. I saw it as connected to narrow minded women who refuse and discourage genuine chivalry. Those who in the process of fighting for women’s rights are treading on the voices and rights of decent men. And I would to this day still hold to that. The end goal is equal rights, but recently I’ve realised that to create a balance there needs to be a push towards working on the female side of that.
If you’ve been following the news at all you’ll have got the hint that women are speaking up. A campaign headed up by Caroline Criado-Perez to get a famous woman onto a bank note was successful, Jane Austen will be on the ten pound note by around 2017. However some people on twitter seemed to have a problem with that and sent her abusive tweets and threats. And recently there’s been a focus on tackling the view of women’s bodies and the attitude towards how women are treated that are encouraged by ‘Lad’s Mags’. Again those who spoke out got abuse tweeted to them. (See Vicky Beeching’s blog for more detail and a first-hand account: http://vickybeeching.com/blog/the-fight-for-feminism/)
There is undoubtedly a new wave of feminism happening. The same women who receive abuse over twitter are utilising the social media platform, or ‘#shoutingback’, to expose sexism and abuse. Publicising what happens to them and retweeting the abuse and threats brings the harsh words and attitudes out into the open where they can be dealt with with support rather than suffered in silence.
There is undoubtedly a new wave of feminism happening. The same women who receive abuse over twitter are utilising the social media platform, or ‘#shoutingback’, to expose sexism and abuse. Publicising what happens to them and retweeting the abuse and threats brings the harsh words and attitudes out into the open where they can be dealt with with support rather than suffered in silence.
Riding on the crest of this wave is ‘@everydaysexism’, founded by Laura Bates. If you haven’t come across it already pause reading this and check it out now…
… yeah. There are some messed up people out there who, on purpose or unknowingly, are unnecessarily making the lives of other people in society that little bit more uncomfortable. And lots of relieved people who have found a way to voice their frustrations, realise that it’s not ok and that they are not alone.
I deliberately use the word ‘people’ rather than ‘men’ or ‘women’ as I know that for equal rights to become a reality we must recognise and fight against sexism against men too. The custody battles fought by dads (famously by those who dressed up as superheroes and scaled walls and buildings as part of Fathers 4 justice) need to be remembered. And the stereotypes that men cannot multitask, and are ‘simpler’ beings who aren’t as emotionally mature need to go out of the window. A quick google search brings up research that is used to argue for these stereotypes; but even so to use them against men is just as bad as joking that a woman knows nothing about cars and should get back to the kitchen to make the sandwiches.
So basically play nice, be fair and don’t say anything you wouldn’t like said to you. It is not laws or ‘report abuse’ buttons on twitter that will make a lasting, positive change, although these are needed to help the cause. It is society policing itself and people standing up to the bullies to make this world a nicer place to live. One step at a time.
To see more from Joy, go to http://joymcmanus.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/shoutingback/
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