Why Reducing Feminism to Gender Equality Completely Misses the Point
Most people believe that feminists are fighting for equal rights for women. We’re not.
The funniest thing I’ve heard anyone say in the last few days was, “I’m not a feminist. I’m a gender equalitarian.” I guess they thought that was a more progressive point of view.
It’s interesting how some people — mostly white beneficiaries of this late-stage capitalist hellscape we’ve created — think they’re more sophisticated thinkers than the common “feminist.”
To me, this is a new form of intellectual “pick me girl” behavior. “Look at me,” “I’m not a man-hater,” “I just want to be equal to all the good men out there.”
I don’t hate men, but I am a radical feminist. At this point, I couldn’t care less about gender equality. Let me explain.
I’m doing very well for myself in this system—better than 99% of the population. If comfort and wealth were the things that motivated me, I could lean back and enjoy life.
The level of “equality” we have right now suffices. For me.
But feminism isn’t about me. Despite what we’re indoctrinated to believe, happiness is not an individual pursuit. It is a team sport.
Radical feminism means creating a better world. For everyone. Not just for the top 1%. A world with equal resources and opportunities for self-actualization for all. Instead of the oppression and desperate struggle for survival that characterizes most people’s lives today.
The world’s 10 richest billionaires, according to Forbes, own an astonishing $1.448 trillion in combined wealth, a sum greater than the total goods and services most nations produce on an annual basis, according to the World Bank.
I’m not interested in “leaning in” to support corporate greed. I want to eliminate the patriarchy and the late-stage capitalism it created, which profits from the oppression of women. And from the oppression of men.
Gender equality has no value in a system where 99% of all people have been reduced to cogs in a machine.
Cogs in a global machine that exploits our planet to make a few rich people even richer. So rich that they constantly dream of finding a way to leave this planet. Creating exit strategies for the privileged with the money they made by exploiting our labor.
In a world where 99.9% of the people are exploited for the benefit of 0.1% uber-rich megalomaniacs, gender equality is a consolation prize.
All that gender equality in this system can give you as a woman is the right to become a more powerful tool of the oppressor. Yes, you will rise more easily through the ranks of the corporate machine. But to what end? To be the one holding the whip? Making the decisions that destroy the planet and the livelihood of the masses?
Because that’s all that is left to achieve. As long as we don’t trigger a fundamental feminist shift in the way we live.
Yes, at the moment, women don’t have equal rights in this patriarchal system. Women perform 75% of unpaid labor. We’re expected to care for the children, the elderly, and the sick for free. We’re objectified, sexualized, and violated. And we’re expected to be happy about it.
Women were initially exploited for free labor so that men could go out and be exploited in the offices and the production systems of corporations.
All that the struggle for greater equality has achieved so far is that women can now be exploited inside and outside their homes. And why? Because people are not focusing on the right problem.
This is not a war between men and women. Feminism is not the enemy. The problem is not what it means to be equal but what it means to be truly human.
The problem is the patriarchal system that men have created. That slipped out of their control a long time ago. The patriarchal, hierarchical machinery, which is focused only on profit, has long since ceased to benefit men.
Yes, they have the luxury of not carrying the mental load at home, not taking care of the household, not being subjected to unrealistic beauty standards, and thinking that they are superior to us for no good reason.
But honestly, this luxury comes at a high price. It costs them their quality of living just like us. Most men are not happy either. They just can’t quite grasp why.
But since they have been duped into believing masculinity is linked to the ability to endure self-abuse, they continue to soldier on. Hoping it will pay off at some point.
This is not the way we should all live. Or the way we want to live. As tools that have value only by making a profit.
In a world where 99.9% of the people are exploited for the benefit of 0.1% uber-rich megalomaniacs, gender equality is a consolation prize. At best, it’s a participation trophy. It has no value.
In case you haven’t noticed, while we’re bickering about women’s rights, about whether or not a woman deserves equal agency over her existence — because of muuuh biology. We’re losing the battle for human rights.
In their desperate need to make themselves feel better, men choose to feel better by feeling superior to someone. To women, trans people, black people, brown people, white people, poor people, anyone. But men ignore that they have hardly any rights or power left themselves.
Legal rights mean nothing without the power and the money to defend them. And from where I’m sitting, I see that this power is being taken away from men at an alarming rate. Without them fighting back.
Especially in the United States, people are becoming poorer and poorer. The median wealth is lower than in the comparable developed countries. The poorer you are, the less power you have.
You can’t say no to exploitation and oppression if you’re afraid of living under a bridge next week.
The joke that the U.S. is a third-world country with a Gucci belt makes a lot of sense when you look at the deteriorating quality of life, infrastructure, health care, education system, etc.
And interestingly, the gender war is fought most aggressively in the U.S. Conservative men are taking away rights from women as fast as they possibly can. And from LGBTQ people, minorities, and basically, anyone who is not white and male and rich.
All the while barely having a leg to stand on themselves.
The average U.S. citizen is poorer than ever before. The gap between rich and poor is widening. And the rest of the world is following suit.
But instead of fighting this together. Sure, let’s keep focusing on gender equality — which today is the right to be equally oppressed and exploited.
Feminism is not about them against us. It is about understanding that we are all the same and that there is a better way of doing this. Together.
True feminism envisions an anti-capitalist, anti-racist, intersectional, and egalitarian world.
Equality is one aspect of that world. Equality across the global economy, between genders, races, sexual orientations, religious beliefs, lifestyle choices, and access to resources.
But equality is only a starting point. Equality is only about giving everyone the same rights. A fair world requires equity, not equality. We have to give everyone the resources they need to thrive, and those are different for everyone.
Just as a woman may need reliable access to feminine hygiene products or child care to leave the house and go to work. Another person may need to be provided with a wheelchair. Another might require a hearing aid to participate in society.
Each of us is different. All of our needs are valid, and all of our lives are equally valuable. None of us should have to struggle to have access to basic necessities. Not in a world as affluent as ours.
This fight is not just our fight. This is everyone’s fight. Women see this more clearly because they suffer more under the patriarchy. Men still have just enough privilege to think they might make it out alive.
Spoiler alert: we’re all going down.
Patriarchal capitalism wants you to believe that there isn’t enough to go around. That you should only focus on your own survival — and maybe that of a select few. It has divided society into them and us. To the benefit of a few and to the detriment of all.
Patriarchy in its present form no longer serves any of us. It is eating its children. It is destroying our future.
Feminism is not about them versus us. It is about realizing that we are all equal and that there is a better way to do it. Together.
If getting people to realize that there is a better way to live, work, and interact with each other requires pointing out again and again that the way women communicate, interact, and live is better. So be it.
I’ll happily talk about feminism until I’m blue in the face.
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