Feminism

According to Merriam Webster’s online dictionary, Feminism is:

1. The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.

2. Organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.

There have been many helpful and not-so-helpful (aka toxic) behaviors within the feminist movement. The toxic behaviors such as exclusion of trans women and women of color and the idea that women are not capable of and men have not been victims of domestic and sexual violence.

According to RAINN:

Men

About 3% of American men — or 1 in 33 — have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime.1

1. From 1995-2010, 9% of rape and sexual assault victims were male.10

2. 2.78 million men in the U.S. have been victims of sexual assault or rape.1

Over the past several years, feminism has been from the point of view of white, cis-gender, heterosexual, middle-class women. This leaves a large swath of the female population excluded from the fight for equality and further disenfranchises at risk for abuse women. The primary example of the single point of view discussion is the gender pay gap.

Per America Pink:

As you can clearly see, white women make $0.77 per dollar while black women make $0.69 on the dollar, and Latina women make $0.57 on the dollar.

Trans women are at a significantly higher risk of being victims of violence. Black and Latina women are hyper-sexualized to the point reports of assault are dismissed or outright rejected as fabricated. Women of color are more likely to be targeted for violence and are discriminated against on institutional and systemic levels.

For a better understanding of the struggles women of color face, I recommend reading Feminista Jones. She tackles EVERYTHING this pasty white author is not qualified to discuss.

Feminism, as a movement, needs to embrace our diversity in order to achieve equality for all of us. We need to take up the issues of trans women and women of color because if any of us are left behind, then we all will be subjected to misogynistic cruelty and infringements on our reproductive, voting, medical, and social rights. Feminism is the vehicle that will enable men to fight the toxic masculinity that tells them nurturing, helpful, compassionate traits are effeminate, other, less, etc. Freeing men to embrace these “effeminate” traits will allow them to treat us, as women, as equals socially, economically, mentally, and emotionally.