By Madeleine Jefferds:
Despite the strong idea of equality some feminists seem to reflect, I feel in this day in age the Third Wave Feminism is dying out. The definition of feminism should be ‘women are equal to everyone,’ not ‘women are special.’
The fact that women fight so hard to keep away certain things from themselves, but allow it to happen to the gender they are supposed to be equal to, seems utterly hypocritical.
I personally believe that, socially, men have it just as hard as women. I’m sure you’re letting out a guffaw as you read this, thinking to yourself ‘who has ever heard of men dealing with these issues? The world I live in does not address such things’, but unfortunately, this is why I must write this article, because it’s true, we do not address such things.
Hear me out and I shall do my best to convince you that this is the truth.
All around us, there are billboards and advertisements of overly attractive people. It is constantly addressed that this affects the self-esteem of young women and how young women are suffering.
Yet, do you ever hear about how it way affects young men? Abercrombie and Fitch hires well-built men to stand outside their store with no shirt on. Can you imagine if that was a female model? Feminists would swarm. It would be all over the news. It would not last a month, and yet, because it is a man, no one cares.
Another example, Barbie, after years of articles and complaints, has finally made a realistically proportioned fashion doll.
Have we seen a realistic Ken yet?
Young men, just like women, continue to live in a society where they believe they must match up to a certain standard. Movies often show male protagonists as rich, womanizing, incredibly handsome young bachelors; Bruce Wayne from “The Dark Night” is an example of this. This is, of course, an unrealistic expectation and probably why some feel they are not a true man until they sleep with as many women as possible.
Over 15% of domestic violence cases are men beaten by their partner. This number is probably even higher because these cases go either unreported or ignored by the police. The effects of domestic violence on men is usually not noticed, addressed or stopped. This also goes for the sexual abuse of men.
It’s time we lived up to the ideals of equality, and stop this nonsense. I believe the only way to stop this discrimination and live in a perfect world is to prove that we are, indeed, equal, and not a delicate, helpless gender that needs to be babied and comforted by society.
Let’s stop complaining about every little thing. It makes us look stupid. Instead, we should only focus on the big things, like equal pay. I believe in the equal treatment of all people, and that includes the undesired factors and behavior of society as well.
