“MAN HATER”
Countless times, strangers on the internet have referred to feminists by this term. “You are a man-hater”, “Do you hate your dad too?”, “Feminists want to kill men” etc, are some of the most common arguments, or rather comments, that are made whenever feminism is being discussed.
But what really has feminism achieved that can be termed as “man hating”?
Is it the fact that “some” women are now at par with the men in terms of opportunities and freedom? Is it the fact that now “some” women can exercise the right to their body to some extent? Or is it the fact that now a very small, teeny tiny percentage of women can go and file an FIR against harrasment without being ostracised and shamed by the society?
Let’s discuss what the strangers on the internet think.
” Women have more rights than men nowadays”. False. Women in some countries are now being given an opportunity to be equal to men, in terms of political rights and freedom. Social rights are still lop sided. Social stereotypes hurt all the genders, but most of the time its the feminine traits that are seen as evil and unfit.
” Women get child support and alimony. They don’t even have to work”. According to the law, the partner who earns less and cannot maintain themselves is entitled to alimony, so its not just women who qualify for alimony.
“Women make false rape cases and ruin the lives of innocent men”. False rape cases are obviously wrong, and the person who makes such cases should be punished very harshly. But consider this; Thousands of rape cases, but people say “not all men”. Few false rape allegations, and people start questioning and rejecting the credibility of survivors.
” Women want men dead”. Truth be told, it was a twitter hashtag. No one would have thought that a twitter hashtag could get such a massive response.
This hashtag got famous just to rile up toxic male right activists (MRAs). Is the hashtag wrong? Probably. But this is obviously not the worst hashtag out there. Humor is a way to tackle trauma, and many women use this hashtag to share their own experiences of assault and harrasment. “Rapeallwomen2020” was an actual hashtag which was made as a response to it. In a society where one out of every five women has been sexually assaulted in one way or another, the formation of this hashtag not only reflects the arrogance of men, but also their ignorance towards the current situation of women in the society.
Feminism never stood for hating men. It stands against patriarchy, which is a system through which men are benefitted in numerous aspects. A move against patriarchy thus gets translated to a move against men, who have always been at the top of the power structure in the society. This is why, men feel attacked, whereas all feminism is trying to do is level the field.
Nowadays, women are labelled as man-haters just for being queer. It is thus clear that society will call any act that does not pertain to the servitude of men as “hating” men. It doesn’t matter whether one is a feminist or not. If they are not constantly serving men, they will get painted with the same brush and get labelled as “man hating, raging, crazy feminists”.
(As a cis woman, I will only be using cis terms in my blogs, as I am not really sure about the struggles that non-cis people go through)
DuckDesk 