Is Feminism Male Bashing

It's about equality

It's men and women on the same plane

Don't look for a rich husband, be a rich wife.- Rihanna

According to the Oxford English dictionary, feminism means ‘the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of sexes'. And a feminist is a person who supports the belief that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men. Feminism was a moment that was started to establish equal rights and legal protection for women under the sectors of politics, culture, and economics. Even before the term ‘feminism' was coined there were many early revolts against the female oppression that begun with women fighting for their right to vote. The first such movement happened in New Zealand were women were given their right to vote in the year 1893.

From that moment until now women are still fighting for ‘equality'. Women are climbing a very tough ladder to attain what they deserved all along. In the process they realized that they are not alone, there are several other oppressed like them. In number comes strength, they have supported them and gave acceptance, be it the people who belong to the LGBTQIA+ community, the minority classes and anyone who has to be respected as a fellow human. 21st-century feminists have changed the entire ideology of what a feminist is and what a feminist can do.

Now-a-days few media houses have portrayed that feminists are the "women" who do "male bashing" and who want to show their supremacy on men. This idea came out when few women have created false sexual harassment or rape allegations on men. According to National Sexual Violence Resource Center, an allegation becomes false when it is either false or the assault happened but there are no legal pieces of evidence to prove it, and it also suggests that the prevalence of false reporting on sexual assaults is between 2-10% of the number case filed. But what about the remaining 90-98% of the cases? They are either served with punishment (sometimes minimal) or proven guilty in an illegal route.

As an empowering movement #MeToo has bought out many hidden stories about women being assaulted, but few men came out claiming they have been assaulted by women and a movement named #MenToo came to spotlight. But as English rules states, ‘me' doesn't have a gender, it is a movement to voice out every gender's encounter with sexual assault.

Feminism fights for equality be it a male or female or people of the LGBTQ+ community, it demands equality for every human walking on this planet. It supports men who want to be regarded as women, women who want to be as men, people who wouldn't fit in and everyone. Feminism has developed a broad spectrum of acceptance of a person the way they are, no judgment and no denial.

A feminist is someone who knows how it feels to be inferior and makes sure that no one has to ever be there for being themselves. Every human is unique and they shall not be discriminated because they are their own individuals.

Feminism celebrates every person's skin and I am proud to say that I am a 21st-century feminist. Are you one?