Feminists are not man-hating females


Beyoncé caused panic Monday when she popped up on campus to rehearse for the 2016 Super Bowl. It is only logical to begin this week’s column with Queen Bey, no matter how briefly.

We all woke up on Dec. 13, 2013 and the world was a better place, because Beyoncé had released her eponymous fifth studio album. The album was a big deal because there was no previous announcement or promotion. It was an even bigger deal because of the topics her songs touched on: concerns about motherhood, bulimia and feminism.

“Flawless” is perhaps the most uplifting song from the album. When it was released as a single in August 2014, it quickly became the song of the summer; not only because Beyoncé had girls, guys and everyone else singing “I woke up like this,” but because the song was split in two by an extract from “We Should All Be Feminists,” a TedxEuston speech by award-winning Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

“Feminist: the person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes,” Adichie ends her ‘verse’ in “Flawless”, shattering the stereotype of the man-hating, bra-burning, angry female with one sentence.

After receiving critical acclaim, Adichie adapted her speech into a book that hits home on all the major points of what feminism is-— and why we should all be feminists.

“We Should All Be Feminists” is a pocket-sized introduction to what it is like to be a female in the 21st century. Adichie relates sexist incidents she and her female friends face in Nigeria and the U.S., providing a critical view into how similar misogynist culture is in a ‘third world country’ and the world’s only superpower.

“Some people ask, ‘why the word feminist? Why not just say you are a believer in human rights?’ Because that would be dishonest. Feminism is, of course, part of human rights in general – but to choose to use the vague expression human rights is to deny the specific and particular problem of gender,” writes Adichie.

Although she doesn’t mention it specifically, Adichie’s explanation of the use of “feminist” addresses issues like the rise of Men’s Rights Activists and “meninists,” which are groups for those who believe men are being oppressed.

Adichie does not hate men and boys, although she has been accused of it. In later passages from “We Should All Be Feminists,” Adichie acknowledges that poor men do have a hard time. However, as she points out, gender and class are decidedly different, and even poor men still have the privilege of being male.

The privilege of being male includes feeling safer than a woman would while walking alone at night; being more likely to receive a job promotion; and making more money than a woman by virtue of being a man.

While, as Adichie writes, “gender is not an easy conversation to have,” it is about time we initiate discourse about it. Not only for our sake, but for the sake of the future generations. For the sake of our future daughters and their daughter. Even for the sake of our future sons. Misogyny does not only affect females, it also hurts males.

“We do a great disservice to boys in how we raise them,” writes Adichie. “We stifle the humanity of boys. We define masculinity in a very narrow way. Masculinity is a hard, small cage, and we put boys inside this cage.”

Parenthetically, to facilitate this discussion in Sweden, every Swedish 16-year-old will be receiving a copy of Adichie’s “call to arms,” according to The Guardian.

“We Should All Be Feminists” addresses emotionally-heavy topics, but Adichie manages to weave a light thread of humor throughout the book. At one point, she called herself a “Happy African Feminist Who Does Not Hate Men and Who Likes to Wear Lip Gloss and High Heels for Herself and Not for Men.” The excessively long title was her old self’s way of justifying being a feminist. That is, until she decided to become unapologetic for being a woman. Now she goes by Feminist, with a capital “F” but still lip-gloss loving.

Noorhan Maamoon is a junior majoring in print and digital journalism. Her column, “The Hijabi Monologues” runs every Thursday.

7 replies
  1. Matt
    Matt says:

    Has anyone not noticed how they are now targeting CHILDREN? Like General Mao with the little red book, or Hitler’s Mein Kamp and his Youth, Lenin’s give me your children for four years and the seeds I sow you will protect for a lifetime or even the religious texts of your choice. They all depend on an audience who is not fully capable to think through the information presented. Especially if there is a complete absence of any other perspectives. Like a fish does not know it is wet, these INDOCTRINATED children will spout such things as readily as asking a North Korean how they like living there with the state approved response, “Its the greatest place to live.”

  2. Giselle
    Giselle says:

    Funny how these image damage control article for feminist activism come out around the same time. You folks are really in a desperate state to get people to identify with your cult.

    Anyways, you feminists don’t hate men, you hate masculine men and seek to make them passive, effeminate, and self loathing. Also, there is no female oppression in nations like Sweden, Denmark, Canada, UK, and U.S. But of course, that doesn’t fit well with the self serving agenda of feminists who clearly have no real solutions for women in nations like Afghanistan.
    You feminists cherry-pick, exploit, and manipulate. You offer counterfeit solutions and you politicize daily life and you have actually worsened the relationship between men and women.

    • GG Selon
      GG Selon says:

      There is no reason a woman should not call herself feminist, if she is fighting for equal human rights. She can call herself humanist as well but trying to create a taboo against calling oneself feminist is the same old stinkin’ poop.

  3. Samuel Benjamin Busch
    Samuel Benjamin Busch says:

    “Feminist: the person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes,”

    If that was all that was required to be a feminist, then I would be considered a feminist but its not and I’m not. Numerous secondary beliefs are also required to be considered a feminist (such as rape culture, $0.77 for every $1, the patriarchy, that men hate women, etc.) Since I reject virtually ever belief advocated by feminism except being a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes I consider myself an anti-feminist.

    “The privilege of being male includes feeling safer than a woman would while walking alone at night”

    Considering the fact that men are much more likely to be the target of crime while walking alone at night the idea that women should be more afraid than men is pretty offensive to the intelligence of women.

    “making more money than a woman by virtue of being a man”
    Nope, men make more money on average because they work longer hours and they sacrifice spending time with their families to financially support them.

    “being more likely to receive a job promotion”
    Citation needed.

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