Misunderstandings and Miss Representation

I can easily associate myself with the third wave of feminism: I truly believe in equality of sexes. But currently it is hard to talk about it, because “feminism” has become a controversy word. It is so many times misinterpreted at extreme extends. A famous quote from Pat Robertson (1992) shows it perfectly: “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.”

Yes, feminists fight against the current masculine hegemony, patriarchy, and heteronormativity, the fact of “privileging of heterosexuality and an alignment among biological sex, sexuality, gender identity, and gender roles” (Sellnow, p. 141). But feminism is not about living without men or children; it is just about equality. About fighting against the social construction of the genders (Sellnow, p. 140) that make men powerful, independent, and smart, and women sensitive, careful, and dependent, and about gender roles that make women useful only for cooking, taking care of the children, and doing the laundry.

Although a part of it is already earned (fathers now take more care of their children, women can have same jobs as men, and so on), as Emma Watson (2014) recall us in her speech for the "HeForShe" campaign, nowadays, no country can tell they achieved the equality between sexes. One example could be the glass ceiling, that keeps women far from reaching the upper rungs of the society (Sellnow, p. 142), that still exists. There are still people today, like my grandfather, who affirms that they would not employ women because they could get pregnant, and so be an economic burden for the company. In the same idea, Apple and Facebook just announced this week that they would reimburse oocyte freezing for their female employees. This “social advantage”–as both companies call it–rather represents a way to intrude into women’s private life (Breton, 2014).

I then totally agree with the perspective brought by Miss Representation. They were totally true when they talked about female politicians, who are stuck in the situation of being ridiculed because of their appearance. Hilary Clinton – when she was not unashamedly called a bitch – was accused to look “like a schoolgirl” or “tired and withdrawn” while Sarah Palin was sexualized, and reduced to her physical attractiveness. The documentary demonstrates how we still have to work hard for women’s rights. A powerful woman is still not acceptable in this patriarchal society, where female citizens do not really have their place (or want to). And this is not tolerable.