By Brianna Rayner
Staff Writer
“Feminism” is about equality of the sexes and activism to achieve such equality for women. Not all feminist agree about how to achieve that equivalence and what equality looks like. There are actually several diverse types of feminism; socialist, cultural, liberal, and radical.
I personally feel as if I am socialist feminist. The major difference of a socialist feminist, compared to all the other types is they believe in order to get anything accomplished, women must work with men, as opposed to ostracizing them. Also the socialist feminist theory focuses on the broader context of social relations in the community and includes aspects of race, ethnicity and other differences.
One major issue that drives feminist crazy is the whole “if a women is dressed inappropriately and gets raped, it’s their fault” theory. Rape is the crime, usually committed by a man, of forcing another person to have sexual intercourse with the offender against their will. I believe that everyone deserves the freedom to dress how they want. If a woman is dressed inappropriately they’re obviously not “asking to get raped.” I’m pretty sure no one in their right mind would ever ask for such a horrible thing to happen, especially to themselves. It’s upsetting that some women are getting blamed instead of the rapist, (the one who actually committed the crime.)
Another issue feminist are fighting to get resolved is how women on average make only 77 cents to every dollar earned by men. According to think progress, “naysayers argue that women earn less than men because of the “choices” they make in their lives – choosing to work less hours, and to take more time out of the paid labor force to stay home with children or care for elderly relatives.” In some cases that is true, women do tend to go on maternity leave so they can have a baby. But then again they are still working at home, having a baby and taking care of it is a lot of work that some guys couldn’t even handle alone. I feel as if women shouldn’t get paid less than men. I honestly think its sexist; the government is going against their own words “everyone is created equal.” If everyone is equal then why aren’t women getting paid equally? Women can work just as hard and successful as men.
On the other hand the other types of feminist would possibly take different routes to solve these issues. According to liberal feminists, all women are capable of asserting their ability to achieve equality; therefore it is possible for change to happen without altering the structure of society. Radical feminist thoughts are a bit diverse; they believe sexism is rooted in society, and that the cure would be to get rid of gender roles completely. Cultural feminist have a belief that gender differences are part of the essence of females or males, that the differences are not chosen but are part of the nature of woman or man. Aside from all these different outlooks and theory’s, women should be respected regardless, the same for men of course.
