THE OTHER “F” WORD

Hello everyone! Been a while shaa. How are we? Hope we went to church o, because you know nau 😉

Alright! Today’s topic is a touchy and sensitive one and we are going to talk about it because I feel that most people and even the people who have asked to be identified as feminists don’t understand what It means.

FEMINISM

Let’s do a quick test. When you hear the word “feminist” what really comes to mind? And why?

Before I really got to understand feminism for what it is, I was really scared by the feminists I saw around me. Let me put it this way, whenever I see most women who call themselves feminists and activists, the words ‘violent’ and ‘radical’ comes to mind. I mean why is it called feminism when most of them are just trying to be men.

Women are very different from men that’s why even the words used to describe our perculiarities are different.

FEMALE               MALE

FEMININE          MASCULINE

FEMME                HOMME

FEMINISM          ???????

See what I did there? 😀 I’m smart aren’t I?

So, before we proceed with the “what I think about it” part, let’s pause to define the words “feminism” and “feminist”

Feminism is a range of movements and ideologies that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve equal political, economic, cultural, personal, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment – Encyclopedia

A Feminist is someone who believes in the radical notion that women are people – Urban Dictionary

These words were originally used to simply define feminine qualities or character. It was used to describe women who were “womanly”.

WHAT I THINK

Ahem! *smoothes down skirt, sits down on couch, crosses legs and clamps hands* Here’s what I think about feminism.

I think Feminism has been misunderstood (mostly by the men) because when people hear the word “equality”, their brains quickly switch to the Adam and Eve story in defense where God said, the woman is to be a helpmate to Adam while he tills the ground. The word “equality” in this context, is not about women abandoning their children at home in a bid to work for money and mean something. The word “equality” simply means “plain grounds”.

“Feminism is not about wearing the jockstraps and shorts with the men, it’s about embracing your femininity – thefemaleigboarchitect”

It’s simply a movement to make a greater population of the world to see women as human beings first and not objects for reproduction. In other words, let a woman get or lose a job because she passed or failed the interview as a human being. It’s simply a movement to prevent preference or discrimination because I am female. I think that feminism is a movement to prevent laying 80% of the blame in a rape incident on a rape victim simply because she’s female. It is a movement that gives me an A or an F because I either did well in my tests or I failed my tests.

I also think many females think feminism is overrated because a lot of them enjoy being treated the way they are treated and most even encourage it because, in their words life is easier without feminism and they don’t really have to work to get what they want. These same females would be the ones probably begging to mean something later in life after they jam the concept of self-discovery.

“Ehn! You have no problem na, you’re a girl. Just enter the office and smile” Smh…laughable isn’t it?

“Let’s just pass them and let them graduate, after all, they will end up in a man’s house and the certificate will waste”..silly

I think many people make the concept of feminism sound like terrorism or an abomination. What these people don’t know is that, more than half of them are actually feminists. It’s simple, you just have to believe that women should be treated as humans and be given equal opportunities…shikena! Ya a feminist.

Finally, what I think about feminism is that women don’t have to act masculine or raise their voices violently in arguments with men to prove their worth or importance. I think feminism is about embracing and appreciating women as humans who are different in their own way just as men are. I think people, mostly the males are feeling intimidated for nothing. I think it’s something the world should do together because, it not only helps the females, it helps the males even more.

AM I A FEMINIST?

Well, they say that when a large number of people do a particular thing that is wrong, it becomes right. I am not sure the concept is understood yet so I’m playing safe 😀 I should be a feminist, shouldn’t I? I think I should be one but I’m too cautious :P..shaa this is talk for another day too.

Alright! Let me get back to my movie 😀 Da Vinci’s Demons 😛 No chicken this Sunday sha :(…issorai..

See y’all next Sunday though..

Oops..I almost forgot, I want use the opportunity to thank those of us that have been diligently reading and contributing to our posts, those of us who have been sharing and finally to those who went as far as subscribing. Chukwu gozie unu! God bless you all!

Our new comers, please comment, like and share with your friends, God will only bless you if you do that o 😛

Thanks,

thefemaleigboarchitect

6 thoughts on “THE OTHER “F” WORD

  1. Thanks for d clarity. Tricky subject, its about balance and society is probably over-compensating, so the women are still being isolated and given a different (preferential) treatment from the men. I see movements about discrimination end up leading to further discrimination, cos it kinda highlights it. That said, I totally agree with you on women being see as “people”, just people, given their dues as dey merit it independent of sex. But there are some inherent challenges to dat, since biology has already isolated d woman for child-bearing. 9 months of absence is significant for a business, u wouldn’t want ur key personnel to be unavailable for long periods. I know there should be ways around this, just stating the obvious. Would like to hear your thoughts. Thanks

    Like

    1. hello uncle phil, thanks alot for reading and commenting. When a woman is pregnant at work, she is not absent for 9 months. My mother went to work few days before she gave birth to my younger brother and went back to work about three months later when she was done with her “maternity leave” which is a provision made for this situation.
      In the company where I did my IT, one of the women there gave birth in the evening and she was at work that day. Even during her leave, she worked from home and her son is safe and healthy. I think that if your personnel is good enough and valuable to your company, you wouldn’t mind her leaving for her baby for two months knowing that she will still be back to help you. These are not challenges, they are simply what nature has given us, and we shouldn’t treat them as such. We should embrace them.

      Like

Leave a comment