Feminism gets a bad rap most of the time. Making headlines for transphobia, man-hating and bra burning, loads of people today don’t even like being associated with the term ‘feminist’. But, it’s not all bad, and in fact most feminists do not agree with any of the stuff that you might have heard. That’s why we scoured Google for the biggest (autocomplete) myths about feminism, so that we can prove them wrong #thefutureisfemale.
1) You can’t be a guy and be feminist
Literally everyone can be a feminist, and many guys out there are. In fact, feminism at it’s heart believes in equal rights for men and women, meaning men can benefit from it as well through things like equal maternity and paternity leave. Let’s hear it for the boys!
2) All feminists hate men
Feminism is literally about equal rights for everyone. That’s it. That is what it all boils down to. Hating the systematic oppression of women in society, hating catcalling and sexual harassment, hating the pay gap, is definitely not the same thing as hating men.
3) You can’t show skin and be feminist
A lot of people think that being a feminist is incompatible with showing skin. This thought assumes all women bare their flesh to make a man happy or to attract one, which is just wrong. Sometimes it’s just a hot day, sometimes we aren’t in to guys, sometimes we like our outfits that way, and sometimes it can be empowering AF to be free with our bodies.
4) You can’t be a feminist and be into beauty/fashion
Being a feminist does not have to dictate what you wear, how you wear it, how long your hair is or if you like to wear make-up. In fact, the best thing about feminism is that it fights for a woman’s right to choose to do what they want, whenever they want, without prejudice or judgement. Plus make-up isn’t just for women – everyone can use it! So if you want to watch hours of make-up tutorials on Youtube and spend a little too much money on an eye shadow palette, then you do you.
5) You can’t be a feminist and listen to rap music
Dude. Seriously? So, we get where this is coming from, given that many lyrics in rap music are pretty sexist. But this totally disregards all the women in rap, hip hop and RnB that have worked incredibly hard on their music and built a career in a male dominated music genre.
6) You can’t be a feminist and get married or be a mum
So many feminists are married and have children, and in fact advocate for mother’s rights and for the rights of their children to live in a world free from prejudice. Dealing with issues such as breastfeeding, returning to work after kids and choices around raising children all can have a feminist perspective. Check out Chrissy Teigen and Amy Schumer, who give us some seriously powerful feminist mum vibes.
7) Feminism isn’t needed anymore
‘You have the vote, you can drive, what more do you want?’ There are so many things feminism has yet to tackle. The gender pay gap, pervasive sexual harassment, unequal maternity and paternity leave to name only very few. Plus, not all women have equal rights around the world, and that is a hugely important thing to remember when asking if feminism is really needed.
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