The Misrepresented Notions Of Feminism By Media And Patriarchy
The word Feminism comes with an aura of despise and ambiguity for many people. If someone says they are a feminist, they are perceived as a threat to our society. This diagnosis is made without any knowledge about the literal meaning of the word. Most of the time they are posed with another question: “Aren’t women already equal?". Why is there such a hatred for a movement that strives for upliftment of women in a country where people spent their time worshipping goddesses? Shouldn’t this respect be given to real women around you rather than deities? This does not mean only women deserve respect, or being a women commands respect, give respect to anyone who deserve it and don’t discriminate based on their gender. The root cause of existing taboo on Feminism can be traced back to years of propaganda and misrepresentation by the media and patriarchy. In a country where we praise Indira Gandhi who served as a powerful Prime Minister for ten consecutive years, but force women to confine themselves to the four walls of their house; value women’s virtue above all but have the highest rate of rapes; it is not surprising that the notion of Feminism is “villainized”.
Feminists (Don’t) Hate Men!!
“The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” - American media mogul Pat Robertson was noted saying.
It is a famous misconceived notion that feminism was a movement born out of hatred for men. It is true that there are feminists who hate men. But that does not mean all feminists are “man haters”; nor does Feminism support this idea. Just like misogyny exists in society, there is also a term called ‘Misandry’ which means dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against men (i.e. the male sex). It is important to note that Feminism stands separate from Misandry and do not have any connection with it. Yet popular belief seems to support the notion that all feminists are enraged women holding torches calling for the utter submission of men. How did this come to be? It is seen in history that a group with power tends to do anything to stay in power. That includes striking down and twisting the narrative about any minority group. We can see this happening with the black people in America and globally with women. So it is simple to paint women who demand equal rights as hedonists who want to strike out and call all men rapists and oppressors.
Hypodermic Needle Theory
Diagnosis Bias is when your perceptions color your diagnosis. Many of our opinions and interests are partly colored by the kind of ideas we are exposed to. And especially now, when social media algorithms are specifically designed to our taste and what makes us click, this is more important than we realize. We can’t expect the people who are behind our favorite Instagram troll pages or Twitter handles to be politically aware and always make unbiased content. Most usually we read such posts and like them, taking some parts of the ideologies we see to heart each day. We tend to perceive things the exact same way in which it is presented before us, even without knowing anything about it. This is where diagnosis bias comes to play, when something other people say, in most cases the public or the media, influences our opinions on something we are biased on that topic without having any further knowledge about it.
As feminism was largely portrayed in a bad light in social media, by pages with more than a few hundred followers, people support it and form a bias that feminism must not be such a favorable topic because their favorite page said so. In a country like India, where people idolizes their favorite actor and actresses, their opinions and remarks also influence people no matter what. There are many celebrities who stood against Feminism and said that they don't believe in the concept of Feminism though they support gender equality. This kind of ignorance undoubtedly seeps into the public opinion. For instance, Kareena Kapoor Khan was noted saying that: "I believe in equality. I wouldn't say I am a feminist, I would say I am a woman and above all, I am a human being." and in another example, in a Malayalam TV show ‘Annie’s Kitchen’, actresses Sarayu Mohan and Annie had the following conversation: “I prefer that women stay one step below men,” Sarayu says, to which Annie replies, “That is best.”. “One shouldn’t be feminist, should they?” Annie says, and Sarayu responds “Why have feminism? Let there be equality.”
The Unanticipated Misogynists
We expect the people in power to hold certain amount of wisdom and to lead others in the right way. There exists a preconception that such people's opinions would be infallible and correct. Even though in many places this was proven untrue, the public still look up to celebrities and politicians and defend them and their opinions. One case where a famous politician spouted ignorance was when the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanadh who is an out spoken misogynist and anti feminist, even going as far to say: "Shastras have talked about giving protection to women. Just like urja (energy) left free and unchecked causes destruction, women also don't need independence, they need protection. Their energy should be channelised to be used productively.", "A home gets destroyed when women become as effective as men." And in another instance famous author Chetan Bhagat made a remark while discussing his book, ‘One Indian girl’ in an interview with ‘The Wire’: "Men need women and women need men, yes they do! Where is this feminism? What is this feminism?" Women are never taught to be alone, they are taught that they will need men and they will need to marry, that's why we need feminism. These are elitist bullies, these feminists. They bully men. They bully women. And they say, 'Until you are with us 100 per cent, don't talk about feminism'. That is not caring for a cause.”
In stark contrast to this, Shashi Tharoor – the famous politician and author, has an interesting take on Gender Equality. He says, “Goes without saying! Men are perhaps lucky that all women are demanding is equality. In so many respects, they are superior to us. They have all the intellectual attainments we have; they have all the talents we have. And they also have the ability to produce and nurture babies, which we don’t. Why do they only want equality?” He also states that “Every single modern person ought to be a feminist irrespective of gender.” One of the most prominent Malayalam movie actors, Prithviraj Sukumaran also came forth to express his respect for women, after the infamous actress assault case in the Mollywood industry. He posted a letter for his co-actor saying: "At an age and time when I wasn't wise enough...I have been part of films that celebrated misogyny...I have mouthed lines that vilified regard for your self-respect and I have taken a bow to the claps that ensued. NEVER AGAIN...never again will I let disrespect for women be celebrated in my movies".
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As human beings, we have the ability to form our own opinions concerning any subject. Even while being subjected to misrepresented and biased ideas, we have to take everything with a pinch of salt and never stop thinking for ourselves and stand by our own opinions no matter the consequences.
- Prudentia and Lustitia
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