Of the 30 surveys, 50% were done by males, and the other 50% by females. The high school students ranged from grade 9 - Post grade (ages 14-18). Two students ages 14, five students ages 15, five students ages 16, fifteen students ages 17, and three students ages 18. The students began the survey by answering if they believe in equality, and if they support feminism: 93.3% of students stated they believe in equality the other 6.7% said they do not believe in this idea (see Figure 2). Although equality is the ultimate goal for mankind, not everyone believes in it. As seen in the survey results, there are individuals that do agree on these terms. When asked if students support this ideology, 70% do not support feminism, while 30% do support …show more content…
56.7% of students considered themselves as feminists, and 43.3% of students did not label themselves as feminists (see Figure 4). Feminism is a belief that many people argue for and against; the primary data clearly exemplifies that people have different views on this ideology based on their own personal opinion. When the high school students were asked if they believe if feminism has a bad reputation, 83.3% of them agreed to this statement, 16.7% said somewhat, while on the other hand, no one disagreed (see Figure 5). This proves that students do believe or somewhat believe that feminism has a negative overtone associated with it. As time progresses this movement continues to grow, to become more popular to young adults. The students were told to answer a question asking them if social media, celebrities, or the internet changed their thoughts on feminism on a scale of 1-10 (One being that it has not changed the ideas and thoughts of Feminism, and ten being that it has strongly changed the ideas and thoughts of Feminism). one person (3.33%) said 5/10, one person (3.33%) said 6/10, seven people (23.33%) said 7/10, ten people (33.33%) said 8/10, four people (13.33%) said 9/10, seven people (23.33%) said 10/10 (see Figure 6). A majority of the students do believe that the internet, social media, and celebrities altered their perspective in a significant
“I have no idea what a feminist is although I have heard the term before,” said Stewart. I told her not to feel bad because I did not know the meaning of the term until I took the class and gave her bell hooks’ definition. Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. Although they do not have to be an activist, they should be pro-choice. “With that being said I don’t consider myself a feminist but I am pro-choice. I give advice and let others learn from experience. A person is going to do what they want so I don’t push my opinion off on others.” While others have a clue to what a feminist is but do not fully understand their purpose. “I think a feminist is someone who wants more equal rights for women but take it to the extreme,” said Nia. I explained to her that a feminist does not have to be an extreme activist. Her response was “I still don’t consider myself a feminist because I don’t really care about trying to make a change for women’s rights. I think it’s as good as it is going to get,” said
Lastly, the feminism movement should be embraced. Women have come a long way from not being allowed to vote or not being able to have the same jobs as men. Women have been treated second class to men and even though a lot has changed, there are still some areas where there are shortcomings. This movement is here to help, not only women but humanity (Cavanaugh, 2014).
During the second week of class, we were instructed to read a reading written by Bell Hooks titled “Come closer to Feminism.” This reading is what I consider to be a very important addition to this unit. Unit one is all about Making waves, Confronting Oppression. According to Frye, it is a fundamental claim of feminism that women are oppressed (Frye, 1983). Before taking upon this reading, my understanding of the feminist movement was not nearly as clear as it is now. After reading this short handbook, I too agree that feminism is for everybody.
This source provided insight on how feminism changed throughout the years. It states that the feminism used in the 1800’s and 1900’s is outdated and needs to be reevaluated. With this reevaluation, women would most likely be more successful in their quest for equality. This source highlights the key points in why the equality movement has not been entirely successful. With this insight, women could now be able to achieve their goals. Even though they believe women are close to equality, they are far from getting it.
It's not something we should be striving for. It's a necessity. Equality is like gravity. We need it to stand on this earth as men and women, and the misogyny that is in every culture is not a true part of the human condition. It is life out of balance, and that imbalance is sucking something out of the soul of every man and woman who's confronted with it. We need equality. Kinda now.”(00:06:54-00:07:31). Unfortunately, inequality between the sexes began hundreds of years ago and has grown tremendously through each generation. It seems almost unfathomable that even today, the fight for gender equality, one of the most vital building blocks of feminism, is still alive and
‘Stealth feminism’ is when women agree with all that feminism stands for but reject the label (Kimmel 263). The media tends to portray feminism in a negative way; and as a result of this, the status is rejected by young women. “They believe that if they were to call themselves feminists other people would think that they must be strident, domineering, aggressive and intolerant and-worst of all- that they must hate men”(Moi,1736). Some women will not want to be associated with such descriptions or agree with what the feminists stand for but would rather be identified with egalitarianism. Zucker defines egalitarianism as the phenomenon “In which women espouse feminist beliefs regarding the equality of women and men, while simultaneously rejecting feminist identity” (Zucker paragraph 9).In this case, women are either for feminism or against it. Dividing women themselves into different categories does not solve anything; rather, it worsens the situation. “It might be surmised that women who adopt feminist as an accurate self-descriptor are more likely than those who reject this designation to pursue activism on behalf of women 's rights” (Zucker paragraph 14). Young women should stand up and embrace feminism because the feminist battle is not over. The males still dominate the females in many areas of life, especially in the
“Feminism”, as defined today, is “1: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes,” and “2: organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”2 Many critics claim that feminism has been active longer than the word itself has existed.3 The word, “feminist” was not in true use until the late 1800s and early 1900s, but activism for women’s rights was alive and well a...
This survey was taken anonymously by 54 participants and out of 54 participants, 42 of them answered the free response. Once the survey was completed we received the results and joined up all the data. Our research revealed that a large percent of the population that took the survey tended to follow the norm of what one would define as feminism. For example, question 6 was “men and women experience equal amounts of sexism.” Out of 54 responses, 27.18% responded with strongly disagree and another 46.30% chose to respond with agree. The rest of the responses where spread relatively evenly between neutral, agree and strongly agree. What this data shows us is that a majority of the people who took this survey realized the difference men and women suffer in media. Examples of this difference are how women are portrayed: timid, submissive, nerdy, and prude. Then on the other side of the spectrum we have women who are: empowered (bitchy), highly sexual, dumb, eye candy. Up until recently women have generally fallen
In the United States, the feminist movement was a civil rights issue that sought to establish equality for women. The movement aimed to transform the lives of women in American society and exerted a profound global effect throughout the twentieth century. Today, individuals who support this movement are identified as feminist: an ideology that all individuals should identify with. Feminism is the doctrine that advocates women 's rights which advocates political, economic, and social equality in comparison to men (“feminism”). This movement for equality is a rational and logical idea that the Bill of Rights and the Constitution should be expanded to accommodate the other half of the human population, promoting inclusion, individual identity,
Most men and women today believe that we do not need feminism, that the world is fine. Sorrowfully they are far from being accurate. We don’t need feminism because it is about genders, we need it because it is about our society’s humanity. Women all around the world are denied basic human rights simply by the fact they are women which is absurd. For instance,
Everyone is capable of wanting equality for all people. Women are not the only people to strive for gender equality for woman. Many men want to see all people treated equally but do not feel confident enough to talk about it. Many women who call themselves feminists tend to blame men for the position woman are in today, excluding them, and essentially doing nothing to help us as a society progress to equality. This only feeds into the well known stereotype of feminism. When referring to men in this society, Serano say’s, “It is difficult for men to move through a world in which they are non-consensually viewed as predators” (417). Society takes this general view as men being t fault for how women are treated today and making it hard for many men to join women in the fight for equality. This is not to say all men are supportive of woman, unfortunately, there are still men in the world that believe women can not do a job as well or better than a man, but to believe all men are like this would be inequitable. When contemplating whether to include men in feminism we must remember the main reason for feminism, which Roxane Gay reminds us when she says, “So much responsibility keeps getting piled on the shoulders of a movement whose primary purpose is to achieve equality, in all realms, between men and woman” (173). So why not let men join the movement? Woman must move past this idea that men are to blame
Feminism is a word that is stock-full of implications, and has many misconceptions. Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti attempts to give a broad overview of what feminism is, and how you should feel about it (hint: it’s positively). The book is directed primarily towards the younger generation, and talks about a variety of issues relevant to the feminist movement today and in history. The weaknesses of the book include the casual writing, the assumptions Valenti makes, and the contradictory statements that are consistently made. The strengths include providing an entertaining, broad overview of feminism, and discussing ways to contribute to gender equality. Overall, the book is more likely to be a positive experience for high-schoolers that identify as women then college-aged individuals looking for a critical analysis of issues society faces in regards to gender inequality.
The term feminism has a lot of misunderstanding and confusion many people think that the term Feminism or being Feminist is only for women . what they don't know is that Feminism is the belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. So many people don't understand what feminism is and where the word originated form so they think of it as a stereotypes. As to where they believe that women want to take control of everything and push mens way. Which it not truth for any means and the word for Feminism is for everyone. Setting in my history class i remember my teacher going over feminism and tell us the people that called them self feminist. I remember that we didn't really get in depth about what being feminism is and what
Feminism is defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. It began as an organized activity on behalf of women?s rights and interests. This concept was developed to help women earn a place in a predominantly male society. Unfortunately over the years, the intentions of feminism have become distorted, not only by anti-feminists, but also by the feminists themselves. The principle of equality for women and men has turned into a fight in which feminists wish to be better than men. Feminism has been twisted and misunderstood so much that it has become a harmful idea.
Minas, A. (2000). Gender basics: Feminist perspective on women and men.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson Learning.