Is Modern-Day Feminism Flawed?

“The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal”

-Aristotle

Let me start off proceedings by stating the textbook definition of feminism which states that ‘Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of sexes.’ Let me make things clear; I won’t be dwelling on the past and the history of feminism. This article is a sincere attempt to ascertain the issues with regards to “Modern Day Feminism”. If you somehow end up reading this article to the end, just make sure you try to understand the points I am trying to document in this article rather than reading it to respond to a few points which might not fit with your line of thinking. 

I believe the modern day narrative of feminism is pretty skewed. With the ever-increasing influence of social media, people (mostly girls) are being misled into perceiving that feminism is a concept wherein women are supposed to be superior to men. But the entirety of this concept in the contemporary world revolves around the fact that these “Social Media Warriors” are willing to address only those issues which are under the umbrella of their comfort zone.

How often do we see feminists stand up for the hardships of men?

When people (with more emphasis on feminists) talk about standing up against injustice, it is majorly biased towards issues affecting women. When they talk about injustice, feminists usually turn a blind eye to the sufferings of men. The definition of feminism talks about equality of the sexes, which should also include raising awareness and voicing your opinion about the problems that men deal with. Unfortunately however, that is not something I see quite often. If you’re still glued to this article, let me tell you that at no point am I generalizing. There are always anomalies. That is what we Chemical Engineers like to call it.

Another point that I have noticed feminists tend to bring up is the existence of a patriarchy (a system of male-dominated society). But is our society actually male-dominated? The reverberating answer that I might get is that an enormous amount of wealth is possessed by men and ladies do more unpaid work. But when they propose this contention, they to some degree fall flat to get that what they’re talking about may be an exceptionally tiny populace of men. 

On the flip side, gravely antagonistic individuals are men. Most individuals within prisons are men. Most people who die in wars are men. Most people who are destitute are men. Most individuals who commit suicide are men. How often do we see feminists stand up for the hardships of men? What women rights activists are doing these days is that they’re considering an awfully small substratum of extremely successful men and using them to speak about the entire structure. Even if we were to say that we have a patriarchal structure (to some degree or extent) the fundamental basis of that structure is not dominance, it’s the ambit of proficiency. 

Egalitarianism is a principle that revolves around the notion that all people are equal. There have been a few countries that have tried to become egalitarian. For example, the Scandinavian countries have moved towards an extraordinary bargain of sex uniformity, but scientific data shows the identity contrasts have expanded instead of decreased. For example, the proportion of women who are opting for STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) has decreased rather than increased. Why is this something that no feminist talks about?

Lastly, I would like to shower light upon a vital issue that comes up during feminist discourse - rape. Rape is a heinous crime and if proven guilty, the person should be hanged to death. But on the other hand, addressing issues like fraudulent or false rape accusations is equally as important. The other day I was watching a TEDx talk by Deepika Bhardwaj titled, ‘Men - the forgotten gender’. I was taken aback when she asserted a statistic put out by the Delhi Commission of Women which says that of the rape cases filed between April 2013 and July 2014 in Delhi (also informally known as the ‘Rape Capital of India’), a whopping 53% cases were false. How does one justify this? 

I will abstain from saying anything further. I would like you to take a moment and ponder over the points that I have brought to the table rather than being outraged against points which “you” felt were absurd.

The argument that the concept of modern day feminism is genuine and moving on the right path is utterly fallacious. While the flip side of it, which apparently our minds can’t reconcile, is something we need to ponder upon.