Keara Harp
kmharp@lc.edu

 

I’m going to make a somewhat controversial statement, but I disagree with how fourth wave feminists go about trying to make an impact on politics. Respect as a whole comes from respecting ourselves first, not by putting a vagina hat on your head for a protest or walking around topless with only tape covering your nipples.

I understand the point these women are trying to make and I agree with their platform, I am in full support of addressing violence against women, fighting for reproductive rights, reclaiming derogatory terms, and sexual freedom. However, I don’t think vulgarity for the sake of vulgarity is the way to go about accomplishing these tasks, and I also don’t fall into the line of thinking that all men are evil or to be put at fault.

Human respect and common decency are things that everyone should automatically have. It’s the right to be treated the same as everyone else without gender, sex, orientation, race, or religion interfering. That women, or anyone else for that matter, have to fight for their right to be respected is a fault on society, not on women. I don’t think women should have to lower their own self-respect to try acquiring something they should already have.

The fourth wave feminist movement is often times mistaken as being apart of the third wave which started in the 1990’s. The third and fourth wave tackle the same issues so the confusion is understandable. The main difference between the two is the use of technology in the movement and the plummeting degree of decorum.

Misandrists, a term that is defined as a person who dislikes, despises, or is a strong prejudice against men, do not make up a majority of feminists, but they do speak the loudest. And they’re giving feminism a bad reputation.

By lowering their own self-respect and parading themselves around, they are lowering the respect other people give them. Human respect is equivalent to common decency. It is separate from personal respect that we gain in our day to day lives. Personal respect is given and is usually reflective of the respect we give to ourselves.

Misandrists are giving up self-respect as they march in protest, over-sexualizing themselves with crassness, in an attempt to gain human respect. Their efforts are missing the mark however as a lack of self-respect results in a lack of personal respect given. All these women are doing is losing respect overall while they’re attempting to gain it. It’s counterproductive and as a whole harms the movement.

In terms of men being the root of all evil, aside from me believing that to be plain wrong, I also think it is contradictory to the point of feminism. Feminism was originally born out of women desiring and deserving an equal right in society as men. Tearing men down as one attempts to build oneself up is lowering oneself to the standards that they are fighting against. Human respect is for everyone, not just a select few.