Why Feminism Shouldn’t Be Called “Humanism” or “Equalism”

Have you ever found yourself wondering why the concept of feminism isn’t called “equalism” or “humanism” since it’s about equality for the sexes? I mean, why does it associate itself with just females? Shouldn’t we be striving for a more equal society instead of female superiority?

The answer is yes, obviously. I am an intersectional feminist and I’m here to explain why feminism is called “feminism.” There are a lot of misconceptions about what it is to be a feminist in today’s society. There are lots of different branches, such as Marxist Feminism, Intersectional Feminism, Liberal Feminism, Radical Feminism etc, even “white/western” feminism, which I find to be absolutely absurd.

Here’s the thing – the concept of “Humanism” is something entirely different to feminism itself, it’s not even necessarily about gender. It was created during the Renaissance (I did my research) when new, fresh ideas were being brought up in society and Europe was going through a revolution of thought. The definition of Humanism regards the importance of human reason and focuses on how brilliant the human mind is, without the need of some religious or supernatural entity. It celebrates the ideas that came during the Renaissance. Feminism, originated during the suffragette movement of the 1900’s, is an entirely different concept. It’s a movement advocating gender equality, in order to empower women’s status in society and bring justice for people who have been discriminated against not only for gender, but for race, sexual orientation and ability. Females, as a gender, have suffered a great deal more than males since time began. Therefore, the name derives from females because it is the females who have been oppressed. If males had historically suffered the same amount as females have, then it would be a different story and the concept of “meninism” would be acceptable. But the presumably white, straight males have actually suffered the least out of everyone. Feminism’s purpose is to balance this out. It doesn’t just seek equality, but it seeks to return everything that women were denied in the past. It even benefits men as well, who would have known?

Feminism has evolved to include all members of today’s society – black women, disabled women, LGBT members etc. It has become intersectional. These type of feminists stand with everyone, as everyone experiences different degrees of oppression in different countries around the world. Why does society need to change a movement’s name, which happens to have feminine connotations, just to please everyone who can’t bear the thought of something not revolving around them? By saying that you think feminism should be called “equalism” or “humanism”, you are essentially saying that you have no idea what feminism actually is, you care more about the name of a movement rather than what it’s fighting for and you degrade the actions of feminists who’ve fought for countless rights during the past that some of us take for granted each day. You insult something that is intersectional and fights for the right of equality, regardless of gender, race, ability or sexuality.

Feminism is about the respect of males, females and anything in between. To ask why it is called feminism would be to ask why we need to be respected the same as men are. To quote Dumbledore: “Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.”

 

Paris

In light of recent tragic events, a lot of my time recently has been spent thinking about these tragedies and which direction our world is going. The events in Paris were barbaric, horrendous acts against humanity, but we mustn’t forget that this happens everyday in countries all over the world. On Friday 13th November, Paris was attacked. However the media has a tendency to gravitate towards issues which only affect our western, white countries. Recently, the people of Beirut, Baghdad and Mexico suffered horrifying attacks while Japan endured an earthquake which triggered a tsunami. Not to mention the everyday sufferings of Syria, Palestine and various African countries. While all of this is happening, I sometimes like to reflect on the positive, rather than the negatives which in the end, is the only thing we have.

Arc de Triomphe

When I visited Paris, two weeks before the attacks, I realized how much of a beautiful city it is and it breaks my heart to know that the lives of Parisians and many others have been trampled on by brutal terrorists. In such a mesmerizing city, it’s hard to imagine what such inhumane things could happen. I would like to admire Paris for what it is, rather than dwelling on such acts of terrorism, which quite frankly, has no religion.

View from the Eiffel Tower

During my time in Paris and as we were driving round the city, I couldn’t help but notice that everywhere you look, there seemed to be a beautiful building. The architecture and history of Paris is truly astonishing. The views all round were stunning, the people were friendly and the atmosphere gave you a buzz.

Eiffel Tower

Sure, people will be afraid to visit Paris, or any other major city for that matter. School trips and family vacations have been cancelled, civilians will now be restricting themselves, as I’ve heard people quote “in case we get bombed.” This is no way to live in 2015. War is simply an endless cycle that will unfortunately keep happening until the end of time. However, we mustn’t let ourselves be afraid of leaving our homes. We cannot live in fear and we cannot let the terrorists win. I know this blog post will do absolutely nothing to end inhumanity or war, but spreading positivity is a key aspect in what humanity is all about, and hopefully, mankind will learn to live in harmony.

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.” – Martin Luther King, Jr

London

Aloha, so last weekend I went to London for Meg, one of my pal’s, 18th with 2 others. The whole trip was supposed to be a surprise for her but that was just impossible. We planned a West End show for the first night so we kept that a surprise instead. It was one of the best weekends I’ve had in a long time, probably the most drunken too but I won’t go there…

Wicked, Apollo Victoria Theatre

Hotel

On the Friday night we went to see Wicked, I really didn’t know what to expect. My best friend, Jack, is literally obsessed with it and in all honesty I’ve never really been a “musical” person. Don’t get me wrong I love the occasional Mamma Mia song and The Rocky Horror Picture show is my absolute favourite so that sort of gives you an insight, I guess. But I enjoyed Wicked way more than I thought I would; I literally had no idea what the story was about, I just knew it had something to do with The Wizard of Oz (which is a childhood treasure) and I was pretty much blown away to say the least. Even if you’re not really a musical person like me, I guarantee you will enjoy this show, especially if you like The Wizard of Oz! I laughed and even had a little cry at the end. 100% recommend if you get the chance. I just don’t recommend not taking a pair of flats if you’re wearing heels.

Street Feast, Dalston Yard

The Saturday was probably my favourite day; some of Meg’s mom’s friends came down for another surprise, they were such lovely people and we had a great day/night with them. Don’t remember seeing them sober though. Two of them lived in London, near Hackney; they took us to Dalston Street Feast on the evening and it had the BEST food ever. I had the most perfect grilled cheese in the world, they also did pretty good cocktails *shifty eyes emoji.* I think we got back to our hotel in the early hours with everyone and I had even more cocktails, Cosmopolitan, my favourite (just call me Carrie Bradshaw.) However, Jack and Reanne thought it would be funny to run from me and Meg back to the hotel room – lets just say we were in the state of mind to not realise what was happening – so we were locked out from our room for about half an hour, banging on the wrong door shouting “let us in you pricks” and “we can hear you moving around so don’t even try it” (sorry to the people we interrupted), finally resorting to laying down in the corridor until they let us in. Hilarious.

Hotel

The last day, Sunday, was pretty cool, did some extra shopping, went to Madame Tussauds, met Kim and Kanye as you do, had some lunch and missed our train. All in a good day’s work. But seriously, Madame Tussauds was pretty freaky. They’re so lifelike, the Russell Brand one was the worst. But hey, you can’t see a wax work of Russell and not have a selfie with him, right? We then went for some lunch and a Prosecco, whilst casually seeing Chris Moyles at the bar, nice. Anyway, our train was leaving Euston for 7:30, our food literally arrived at 7:00 and I’d never been so hungry in my entire life, like, I was in physical pain, the type of pain only a Sunday roast could cure. We ended up getting the 8:20 train instead, and honestly I’d never felt so exhausted either. Also, we had sixth form and college the next day and getting up at 7am was definitely a struggle.

Madame Tussauds, London

Overall, I guess it was a pretty decent weekend. My old pals were there and I got to meet some lovely people too. London is one of my favourite cities in the world, only you would sort of need to be rich as heck to live there and actually enjoy yourself *crying face.* I would definitely recommend all the things we spent doing over the weekend, with pretty cocktails and amazing food included.

17 Things I Learned While Being 17

I guess this is sort of my first “proper post” so I thought I’d just spare a few moments to share with you what the past year has been like for me, as I’ll be turning 18 soon. I feel like people can grow in such a short amount of time, it’s actually scary sometimes. I’ll be going through my TimeHop and I cringe at things I’ve said perhaps 2 years ago, even a year ago! Which makes me think that I’ll probably be cringing a year from now…

1. Consistency is key. Whether it’s revising for AS Levels or maintaining friendships, it’s important.
2. The people who you thought were going to stay in your life, won’t, and the unlikeliest of people will be introduced. Never be afraid to say hello.
3. It’s okay to be a feminist bitch.
4. Do not be afraid to dream big, you have the whole world waiting for you in the new few years.
5. Eliminate toxic people from your life, no matter what it takes.
6. Waste money on Lush products. It’s totally okay, I promise.
7. Do not, however, waste your “me” time. It’s precious.
8. It’s not a crime to fall for the wrong person, just unfortunate.
9. It’s fine to make impulsive choices sometimes, small or big (I impulsively quit college after 3 days to go back and do my A Levels, I spontaneously ended up choosing A Level subjects without thoroughly thinking it through, but they ended up being the best choices for me. It’s not advisable as it doesn’t work for everyone, but there you go.)
10. Take lots of photos of your friends.
11. Never say no to an opportunity. (I’ve totally stepped out my comfort zone this year and I’m so much more confident.)
12. Stay close with your family and treasure moments spent with them, especially grandparents.
13. Stay humble.
14. Getting into political debates is frustrating, but stimulating for the mind!
15. Never let people get the better of you. Stay feisty. *shifty eyes emoji*
16. Audrey Hepburn will always be your idol.
17. Make the next year of your life the best so far. Cherish moments with your pals before you all go off to university, read lots of books, buy more Chanel. Grow. Grow some more.

Hello, world!

I feel as if it’s important to express yourself in as many ways as you can, after all, it shows your individuality and gives you freedom without fearing the judgement of others. This is to benefit myself, but also others; in ways of influence, enjoyment or perhaps advice. To begin with, there is not going to be a regular theme with this, as it’s beneficial to me, I’m going to post about things that interest me. Be it reviewing my favourite books and films, sharing moments of my life with friends, writing about life issues because, as we all know, it’s awfully tough being 17…

We’ll just see where this takes us.

Although, travelling is my main passion and if I could explore as a full time job I would do it. One of the many great things my mother has taught me, it’s that travel broadens the mind and that life is an adventure – live it. No doubt I’ll probably (will) post about my travels at some point. I feel that it’s an important factor in finding yourself, plus, why wouldn’t you want to be curious about your own planet we call Earth? As Einstein once said, he did not have any special talents, he was simply passionately curious. Exploring a new realm is truly cleansing for the soul.

Watching films, reading books and generally being interested in culture and society is another factor of what makes me, me. I am fascinated by recent historical eras, such as the 1920’s, the 1960’s and even the 1980’s. It is so interesting to see how society progresses in a relatively short space of time. I would wear anything from a 1950’s swing dress to covering myself in glitter and going to an 80’s themed party. I love literature and film which have, sort of cult followings such as Harry Potter, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Pulp Fiction.

So, as you can see, this won’t be a blog which has a direct path. It’s pretty much going to be me rambling about things that interest me and which hopefully interest you to a degree. I do appreciate anyone viewing this blog!

Peace and Love x