Believe it or not a sort of Feminiphobia is taking root in society similar to Islamophobia. While most people are not afraid of individual Muslims and even have a hand full of Muslim friends any public criticism of Islam remains a very sensitive topic especially when approached from the point of ridicule. The same is becoming true of feminism and dare I say it, this is a huge step backwards for a movement that kicked off rooted in a just cause. Like most movements of an ideological nature feminism is without a doubt rooted in a just cause and I will be the first to admit that the liberation and education of women is paramount for social and economic progression in any given civilization. But like most movements and acts of revolution the original point is often lost in time as can be seen in most religious institutions where the internalizing of religious and moral philosophies are often replaced with a dogmatic conformation to letters of law or an outright misinterpretation of intended ideas.

From my understanding of feminism, the idea was to liberate women from the patriarchy social construct by re-educating both men and women on what it was to be female and why existentially this affords women just as much freedom and liberty as men. Most men you speak to these days will agree to this without any arguments even if we do not brand ourselves feminists. However, it seems these days feminism has moved past its roots in emancipation of women into the field of point blank victim playing which actually undermines the very concept it was founded on.

 I have met several self-proclaimed feminists (which is becoming more of a social fashion statement lately) with no real idea of what feminism is or even who Simone de Beauvoir was. Just the other day I watched the video from this link. The title of the article reads ‘If you know someone who doesn’t believe sexism exists, show them this.‘ Ladies, the reason men are sick of hearing this cry for sexism is not because we do not sympathize with the social situation at hand, it’s because we do not appreciate being stereotyped with a very small minority (which is sexist by definition by the way). Rape and other forms of sexual abuse is not a ‘male‘ or ‘sexist’ problem. It is a social problem of which men and women are equally concerned. You think men don’t think of male rapist as repulsive or disgusting? We even think of female rapists to be less disgusting. Or you think we don’t view men that have been abusive to women as weak and foul? A woman can slap a man across the face in public and people passing by would ignore this. Try slapping a woman in public and see what reaction you get from other men. But somehow violence against women in a feminist issue.Men will accept any form of systematic oppression of women as sexism and by God would we fight for freedom on that front, but cloaking general social problems as feminist issues will trigger a defense mechanism in most men as it sounds like we are all being labelled for the acts of a very small minority. We will also not stand for accusations like objectifying women when women constantly objectify themselves even if they claim to be ignorant to this fact. There is also the issue of telling men how we think. We watch porn, but I think the vast majority of us can separate the fantasy of pornography from real life as women can separate the fantasy of erotica novels from real life.

  I will end this post here to avoid slipping into essay mode. In summary, while the causes fought under the feminist umbrella can hold merit sometimes, it would be in the feminist community’s best interest to label these issues a social issue that affect both men and women to avoid creating a sense of exclusion which men will not respond to positively.