Firstly, what is a feminist?
Feminism, simply put, is defined as “the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of equality of the sexes”.
Thus, a feminist is any individual who supports this idea and believes in the elimination of oppression against women.
Feminism does not have anything to do with misandry or putting down men in order to elevate women’s status to equal or higher levels than men - conversely, feminists actually acknowledge that people of all characteristics can be oppressed and believe that nobody should be oppressed.
Feminists simply believe that oppression is largely a gendered issue, and that it is most frequently perpetrated against women by male perpetrators.
Right off the bat that’s a fairly good reason to be a feminist whether you are a man or a woman. Better conditions for yourself or the women in your life is a pretty convincing, surely? If that’s not enough for you or your pulse is quickening and your face is turning red while you prepare to think of a misogynistic comment to type, possibly about how feminism is only for Satanist lesbians with wildly coloured hair (not that the author has anything against Satanist lesbians with wildly coloured hair), read on for a couple of specific reasons why everyone including you should be a feminist.
Let’s start with domestic abuse. Some people will read that sentence and think “well actually men can also be victims of abuse!” and a feminist would not disagree in the slightest, however one might take a mental note that their listener or reader is a little bit ignorant to the systematic oppression of women in society. Domestic abuse encompasses the following (between two “personally connected” individuals): physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, financial abuse and violent or threatening and controlling and coercive behaviour.
1in 5 adults experience domestic abuse during their lifetimes, with an overall 2/3 of the victims being women and women being more likely to experience repeat victimisation, be physically injured or killed and experience sexual violence as a component of the abuse perpetrated against them. The police recorded over 1.5 million domestic abuse-related incidents between March 2021 and March 2022, which accounted for an almost 8% increase in incidents over the previous year.
Calls relating to domestic abuse are made to the police every 30 seconds – despite this, domestic abuse is largely hidden, with over an estimated 76% incidents going unreported.
38% of women killed by their ex-partner from 2009 to 2018 were killed within the first month of separation and 89% in the first year. For many women, domestic abuse either begins or escalates during pregnancy and as a result 20% of children in the UK live with or have lived with an abusive parent or adult. Men and women between the ages of 16 and 19 are more likely to be victims of domestic abuse than their counterparts aged over 25, with 20% of teenage girls having experienced domestic abuse in their romantic relationship(s).
Consider that during the lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reports of domestic abuse rose by 700%. Now, consider that in England and Wales in 2016 to 2017 the estimated cost of domestic abuse was £66 billion (£14 billion of which due to lost work output from time off). There is no official data on the economic cost of domestic abuse during the pandemic, however a 700% rise in reports of domestic abuse suggests a sickening value.
So, let’s briefly recap on our sub-topic of domestic abuse.
If you know 4 or more adults then, statistically speaking, you know a survivor of domestic abuse.
If you have a sister or daughter, there’s a 20% chance that she will be a victim or is a survivor of domestic abuse during her formative adolescent years. That's a lot of risk to consider to go forward and say you disagree with the elimination of oppression and violence against women (i.e. you’re not a feminist). Lastly, the cost of domestic abuse is shocking, who wouldn’t want to eliminate that cost by reducing domestic abuse through feminism?
Now let’s also consider sexual assault and rape – and before the reader triumphantly gloats and announces, “men are victims too!” - yes, we know, and they should read the next sentence and consider the scales for comparison. Statistics show that 1/4 of women and 1/18 men have been raped or sexually assaulted as an adult. Between July 2022 and June 2023, the police recorded almost 70,000 incidents where a rape was involved, for which only 2.2% were charged. After being reported to the police, rape and sexual assault survivors can expect to wait on average over 2 years before their case sees a courtroom.
So, who is guilty of or accused of these violent sexual crimes? 1/2 of rapes against women are carried out by their current or ex-partner, 6/7 rapes against women are carried out by someone they know, and 91% of individuals prosecuted for sexual offences are adult men. However, consider that an estimated 76% incidents of domestic abuse are not reported to the police – the same is true for rape and sexual assault. 5/6 women and 4/5 men who are victims of rape don’t report the crime to the police, citing embarrassment and a lack of belief in the police/criminal justice system.
With on average one police officer being accused of rape each week, is it a surprise that the public don’t trust the police with these types of crimes?
Not to mention that 3/4 of rape and sexual assault survivors who did report to the police stating that their experience interacting with the police actually made their mental health worse and 56% saying they would be unlikely to report any future incidents.
So, if you know 2 women you probably know a rape survivor but statistically, you’d need to know 18 men to know a male rape survivor. Even worse, there's almost a 98% chance their perpetrator was charged for the rape, never mind convicted. Knowing these statistics, think of your female relatives, friends and colleagues – are you a feminist yet? Do you believe that anyone should be able to report a crime to the police and be treated with respect? You might be a feminist – feeling an urge to worship Satan or dye your hair electric blue and bubble-gum pink yet?
In (an albeit late) celebration of Equal Pay Day 2023 (22nd Nov.) – let’s briefly discuss a topic which is particularly contentious: the gender pay gap. A lot of misogynists or ill-informed individuals may instinctively want to argue that it doesn’t exist, but here’s the thing: it does exist, the gender pay gap is real and affects or will affect every single woman you know. The gender pay gap is the difference between hourly pay of men and women, as a proportion of men’s pay, which was reported to be 10.7% for full-time workers. So, going back to Equal Pay Day, what is it? Due to the gender pay gap, Equal Pay Day is the day when, compared to men, women are unpaid for the rest of the year compared to their male counterparts.
Current data suggests that the gender pay gap is expected to close around 2051 (but let’s not hold our breath), which means that women born before 1983 will be retired before this happens, so they will never have been paid equally in their lifetimes.
If you believe that everyone deserves to be paid equally for the same role, for the same output, for the same amount of time, then you guessed it, you might just be a feminist.
If you’re still not convinced, then maybe you should consider some of the many things which affect women today, such as women being taken seriously at medical appointments, the judgement of women for their appearance and victim-blaming, the creation of laws by men to govern women’s bodies, the prevalence of male entitlement and the “nice guy syndrome”, spiking and date-rape, sexual harassment, period-poverty, the rise of misogyny through the radicalisation of young men by prominent male figures (who we won’t name here but are definitely sex traffickers), female genital mutilation and so-called “honour-killings”. Do you believe women deserve any of these things? If you answered yes, you’re most likely a misogynist. If taking a moment to consider and research some of these topics is too much for you, maybe discuss these issues with any of the women in your life and see how these things affect them? The next time you say or write something about or to a woman, think “what would my mother/sister/partner/daughter/friend think of that, how would they react?” and if you thought they would react negatively, maybe reconsider?
If none of that is good enough for you, then maybe consider how feminism actually benefits men by eliminating toxic masculinity, resulting in men being more in touch with themselves by taking better care of their mental and physical health.
If all of the above still doesn’t convince you that everyone should be feminist, you are part of the problem, you are why we need feminism. If, however you take any of the above on board and know someone who you think needs to hear any of the above, feel free to share and be a positive force for women.
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