Every so often (rather often, in fact) this or that person in the blogging world, in politics, or in every day life will comment that Feminism is not needed anymore. They say the word is too “tarnished” now, being associated with angry and vulgar women. They say that what the original feminists fought for, the right to vote and own property is now realized, so particularly those who are Pro-Life have no need to claim feminism. Others say, “I know my worth as a woman, and I don’t need to call myself a Feminist to know my value.” In some sense, yes, a label is just that, a label. It doesn’t encompass everything a person is or the complexity and nuance of deeply held convictions. Nonetheless, I don’t think that the fact that some have used the label to argue for things that hurt women is a reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Although all of human dignity is under assault, the dignity of women is under assault in a particular way and as such, those people who are called to work toward helping women and girls realize their dignity are needed especially now, and are in fact needed more now than ever before.
Here are some reasons that Feminism is still needed today.

  • In movies, video games, and in much of popular entertainment, it is still too rare to see complex female characters. They are often portrayed as the “sex kitten”, the shallow side-kick, sometimes a person of intelligence, but often not a complex person with a deep personal history, feelings, complex motives, hopes and dreams, etc., in short, as a truly human character.
  • Male is often seen as the “default” gender. Rather than seeing two norms, male and female, there is only one norm — male. In video games, cartoons, and elsewhere characters are male, with perhaps one token female thrown in (this is known as “The Smurfette Principle“). Male-as-default is why Lego makers, after decades of making the popular toy, suddenly realize that girls play with Legos too and so remake them to be pink, purple, and have puppies, houses, and ponies. Normal is male. Female is something entirely “other”.
  • Women and girls are objectified and sexualized as perhaps never before in history. Over and over women receive the message that their worth depends on their  “sexiness” and in fact, being “sexy” is held to the highest achievement to which women should strive towards. Women can achieve many things, but above all, they should be sexy while doing them! Because of the fact that our humanity is denied and we are seen as objects to be used, 1 in 3 women will be sexually assaulted during her lifetime.
  • Artificial contraception: It is now seen as a sort of rite of passage that girls go on the pill or other contraceptive in their teen years. Rather than being raised in a culture that sees the normal and healthy functioning of our bodies as that — normal and healthy — because our bodies are seen as deviant and oppressive, girls and women exist in a culture that routinely reinforces their view that the benefits of the pill (freeing women from our natural functioning) outweigh their risks (stroke; heart attack; breast, liver, and cervical cancer; loss of libido; etc.) Holly Grigg-Spall, in Sweetening the Pill, states

The sex hormone cycle regulates 150 bodily systems all of which are suppressed by hormonal contraceptives and all of which are interrelated to all other body systems (including the endocrine, neurologic, and immunologic systems). Therefore hormonal contraceptives impact: energy levels, memory and concentration, motor coordination, adrenalin levels, pain threshold, vitamin retention, blood glucose levels, thyroid and adrenal function, sleep patterns [… and] immune system.
She further states, “On the pill no woman’s body is capable of functioning at its optimum level. The body has a delicate system of balance and each woman’s system is different, though every woman taking the pill will experience, over time, impaired physical and mental health.”

  • Women’s health care: It is a struggle for many women to find doctors who value how our bodies naturally function. From the natural processes of pregnancy and childbirth, natural fertility care, to finding solutions to gynecological health issues, many women find themselves with an unnecessarily medicalized birth experience, doctors who are unknowledgeable about Fertility Awareness, or doctors who want to cover up gynecological issues with the pill rather than actually treating the underlying disorder. Many women lack access to this kind of woman-centered, woman-valuing health care.
  • Pornography: Some estimate that more women are employed by the sex-industry than at any other time in human history. Pornography is often called “the new drug of choice” because of its widespread use and ready access to billions. Numerous studies show the harm in porn-viewing, from its viewers being less-likely to see women as human, its viewers being more likely to believe rape-myths, its viewers  expressing an intent to rape if they could be guaranteed to get away with it, to porn-users feeling entitled to sex, and more. Not only are the millions of men and boys who view porn being trained to see women as a thing rather than as a person, the Coolidge Effect all but guarantees that if their addiction goes untreated, they will progressively get more violent and hateful against women.
  • Sex-selective abortion: Groups that work against the widespread sex-selective abortions and infanticide that take place across the world estimate that 160 million girls are missing in Asia alone. 50 million girls are missing in India, and unless people think that Western women are protected, some doctors in the US are reporting that the practice exists in the United States and elsewhere too. Even a girl’s parents all too often do not see her value as a person, and so would rather kill her than give her the love and protection that is owed to her.
  • Many girls lack access to education. One need only hear the reports of the hundreds of kidnapped Nigerian girls, to remember that around the world the humanity of girls is often denied, and their right to have dreams and to follow them is particularly an affront to those who do not believe in Western education because of the fact that they are girls getting the education.

I furthermore believe that equality is a worthy goal for which to advocate, because men and women are equal. Do we have our differences? Of course. Anyone that advocates for the rights of women by seeking to deny her feminine attributes, needs, and capabilities, can not be advocating for her legitimate needs. On the other hand, although women need accommodation and support for issues related specifically to their sex, the most basic thing that is needed is a recognition of our common humanity, to be seen as persons with the thoughts, fears, hopes, and dreams of anyone else. We don’t want to be seen as someone (or something) so entirely different than men that we are treated as “others”, as others to be placed under men’s feet or as others to be placed on a pedestal.
In short, feminists want what every person wants who has ever known the degradation of having it denied by others — to simply live with the security and dignity of knowing that the people around us see us as a person.
 
photo credit: Morning theft via photopin cc