OUGD603 - Brief 6, Feminism Zine

We needed a concluding article for the zine, that summed up all the issues that were covered. So I decided to write this:


Do you believe that all humans, male and female, should have equal political, economic and social rights? Congratulations you are a feminist.

Feminism is seen as the equality of both sexes. Woman have come a long way in the battle against oppression, but we still need feminism. Women still have to deal with body-shaming, sex-shaming and slut-shaming. Women still live in a world where a woman doing the exact same job as a man is worth less by societies standards. And women are still misrepresented in politics. The whole blame the victim culture is a big problem, society see's rape as the victims fault, they teach girls to cover up, to be less of a tease, rather than teaching people not to rape. A girl could be wearing nothing and still not 'asking for it.'

Men too need feminism.  People argue that men's problems are nothing compared to women's, but you can not compare the issues and hold the value of one over the other, men and women should be treated with equal respect. Men are yet to gain equality. In the past, it would have been socially unacceptable for women to ever wear trousers, but times have changed and women can dress however they like. But how many men do you see wearing a skirt or a dress without people assuming they are gay or transgender? Women are free to wear trousers and still be seen as feminine, but men in dresses are not seen to be masculine. Gender stereotypes  have a big effect on people, but a man can be as feminine as he wants to be and still be seen as a man. Just how women can be as butch and as masculine as they like and still be seen as a woman.

Society has a problem with feminity and weakness, no matter what sex it is coming from. This is why feminism is still a vital cause to this day.  Gender stereotypes are the root of the problems, we need to see people as people, not a gender. We should abolish the gender stereotypes and let people be who they want to be.