For my final article, I wanted to share an essay I had written at the end of last year for the World Class Schools Essay Competition. The essay focus was: does breaking the rules change the world? It was a very interesting and insightful experience and enabled me to learn more about social issues and historic events. To learn more and read other essays from last year's competition, check out the World Class Schools website.
On June 4, 1913, Emily Wilding Davison stepped in front of the horse of King George V at Epsom Downs. After sustaining considerable injuries, she was soon pronounced dead. Alongside the Suffragettes, she fought, struggled, argued for the rights of women, a concept that was unfamiliar to Edwardian society. This simple stance, along with a plethora of other revolutionary movements, was able to transform and rebuild the world that we live in today. Women throughout history have strenuously argued for the sake of our rights, leaving their extraordinary mark in history. By breaking societal rules, they were able to change the world and bring equal rights for everyone. This idea of fighting for equal rights can be summarised into a simple word, whose connotations speak volumes: feminism.
Feminism is the belief that women and men should be treated as equals. Often in history, society was built upon patriarchy. Patriarchy can be defined as a system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women. This idea has been around for many centuries, considered to be dated back to 8000 BC, over 12,000 years ago. During this time, agriculture had become a popular source of income. Since this form of work is usually laborious and hard-working, the ‘physically' strong males would usually take over, establishing the power of men. A sense of control over women was built and from this, patriarchy emerged. It continued to have a strong influence on society for many centuries, restraining and degrading the female gender. However, the new millennium brought over innovative ideas that had the ability to change the societal mindset. By speaking out about the problems, many people are able to come together as one and voice their opinions, regardless of gender. Furthermore, the ability to speak out has also aided to bring equality between women and men. Through this movement, gradually the patriarchy has been eliminated. In succession, it has enlightened society to think with a new perspective.
Empowerment and self-importance are vital for the sake of your mentality. Believing in yourself can allow you to succeed and achieve beyond your personal limits. This is a major advantage of feminism as it strives for you to do your best. This ability to empower people is invaluable as we are able to understand our self-worth. Additionally, by eliminating the ideas of a patriarchal society, it has given women control over their lives, their bodies, and their opinion. Unlike recollections in history, it has given us a sense of independence; as modern-day women, we are no longer reliant on men. Through this liberation and the ability to voice your opinion, we can bring our forms of change. Learning from influential movements and historical figures from the past, we too can learn to act on current issues. Over the past few decades, this idea has come to light frequently. People of all different ages, genders, races are coming together to fight for what they believe is right. Personally, I think that this is an embodiment of feminism: the joyous harmony between people. From protests to campaigns to speeches, we can feel unity amongst one another, while bringing improved situations for everyone. This is not only taking into consideration of equality between men and women but also challenging other issues which are affecting our society. Altogether, feminism empowers people in many ways which in turn can cause massive change not only now, but for the future. Though there is still a long journey ahead, feminism has enabled us to bring some major improvements within our community.
Additionally, the feminist society has shown to be very beneficial for men. Although the patriarchal society posed a very difficult time for women, this form of society was also extremely compelling for men. As mentioned previously, patriarchy is a type of society where men dominate over women. Because this ideology was built upon gaining control, it placed immense pressure onto males, and continue to do so today. As a result, men tend to carry a competitive nature amongst one another. This has been clearly showcased through a plethora of movies, books, TV shows, social media, and general society. However, this places not only pressure, but threatens many men and, within the male community, can cause people to question their ‘masculinity'. This has proven to pose a threat to men as they may feel insecure and may not be able to seek help because of this. However, as mentioned previously, the feminist community should be a place where people can share their opinion and speak out about issues that may concern themselves or society. Through this, we can progress even further and make a better society for everyone.
Along with allowing society to share our views, similarly, it can break us free from social norms, which are restricting us. At this moment, we have undeniably achieved a lot in this field, by questioning and removing societal stereotypes. Through race, gender, and culture, this has caused major liberation for everyone. Additionally, society has been introduced to new and contradictory viewpoints, gradually making people more accepting. Furthermore, it can impede the categorisation between the abilities of males and females. Everyone deserves the right to pursue what they wish without being questioned or scrutinised. However, people must learn this from a young age to prevent them from deferring to the influence of things like social media and societal behaviour. The youth should be taught that we do not need to follow what others are doing, which seems to be a common occurrence amongst children. Through this medium, future generations can feel capable of attaining whatever they wish. This could potentially invite futuristic professions that could change the world or be able to solve major crises, by simply becoming more open-minded. Evidently, by breaking the social barrier, it could introduce so much more potential in the world. Gradually, this change is being brought about. Through the power of education, TV shows and books, we can introduce innovative ideas to future generations and completely eradicate conventional attitudes.
Feminism has been extremely advantageous to our society and our mentality, establishing a modern realm of possibilities and positive ideology. However, its appeal has taken a turn in recent years. Today, the word feminism reeks of negative connotations, portrayed as delirious feminazis. They are usually referred to as extremely mad women who hate men and believe that female is the only true gender. Streams of feminism have diverted from the true ideals of this belief and are creating a misconstrued ideology. They are portrayed to scrutinise other men and women, by indicating what we are not doing. For example, you are a stay at home mother, housewife and you are also a feminist. However, society will call you out for not doing something bigger and better, claiming that you are a ‘bad' feminist; this is not the point of feminism. Additionally, in the world of media, celebrities and public figures are being heavily degraded for not sticking to the ‘general consensus' of feminism. In 2017, Emma Watson, a leading actress, and advocate for feminism was claimed to be anti-feminist due to a photo that she had posted on a social media site. In this photo, part of her breasts were revealed. Radio presenter, Julia Hartley Brew said "She complains about women are sexualised and then sexualises herself in her own work. Hypocrisy,". However, Emma Watson responded that feminism is about giving people choice. Women should not have to follow a ‘general consensus' in order to be a feminist; this is promoting casual sexism. We should be breaking and contradicting the rules; we should not be making a new order which will once again restrict. Feminism is the belief that men and women should be equals; we must stick by this. People are forming misconceptions about the belief. Subsequently, it is resulting in a forceful behaviour upon others. This has given feminism a negative reputation on who we are as individuals. Rules are broken only for new ones to appear. We must break them permanently.
Through the misconceptions of feminism, it has received a pessimistic reputation. Especially amongst the youth, it has become a taboo to identify as a feminist. Upon doing my research, I searched up the word feminism; article upon article came up stating the horrors of feminism. Recent data says that, in the UK, there fewer than one in five women would call themselves a feminist. Though these individuals do not identify as feminists they do agree with gender equality, one of the main principles of feminism. However, where this belief is meant to the ground of the equality of the sexes, it has been twisted into a hateful division. Although individuals who are diverting the true meaning of feminism are at fault, the media is also partially to blame. The media tends to bring the adverse side of a belief to the public, feeding them negative information and impacting their opinions. Meanwhile, amazing organisations and people are trying to fight this battle and are not given enough justice, in terms of the awareness of the issue. This has a mass impact, especially on the youth, as social media is mainly an appeal for teenagers. They are not made aware of the ground-breaking movements for women and equality. For this reason, many teens may not wish to identify as an advocate for feminism.
As mentioned before, over recent years, identifying a feminist has become a taboo, due to its negative portrayal. However, these individuals do agree with feminist ideology. This is commonly referred to as the Feminist Paradox. Like any other belief, feminism has an infinite number of paradoxes. The feminist community tends to have controversial opinions that contradict each other in itself. Because of this, the reputation has had a shift in society as it indulges in these paradoxes. For example, let us take the makeup industry. On one side, makeup is products that are produced and advertised to ‘make you look better'. This is promoting the ideology that you cannot look good without makeup, particularly amongst the youth of our society. Through the influential power of social media, makeup brands are superficially advertising their products, commonly targeted to young women to be able to obtain their ideals. This has gradually become normalised within society. On the other hand, makeup can be seen as a form of art, that many people choose to indulge in. Many feel empowered, through the use of makeup and can find it as a relaxing pastime. Similarly, feminism has its own opinion. On one side, feminism says that if men don't need to wear makeup to look presentable, then why should women. However, feminism also says that makeup can be a tool for empowerment. In this sense, feminism can be contradictory. This causes problems as people may not always know what to believe in. Where feminism should be resolving issues and progressing through inequality, it is instead forming confusion and problems inside and outside the feminist society.
Although feminism definitely has its faults, which are affecting its reputation in society, there is a simple solution that can solve this. All people need is choice. Though we have advanced majorly, our society has gradually become rigid and trapped. People are interrogated and criticised for their every opinion or action; this issue is affecting all beliefs. By granting people freedom of it releases us from this cage of discomfort that we have formed. We have to give choices in people's opinions, actions, and values. Everyone deserves this power of choice. In saying that, though we are free to choose, we are not free from the consequences of our choices. Society needs to be made more aware of this.
We, as a community, have made extraordinary progress. This movement of emancipation has introduced us to a new spectrum of life and has changed our world forever. We have been able to produce a plethora of incredible women from the fields of science, technology, film, politics and so much more; the efforts of this movement are ineffable. However, the gender inequality concern is still an ongoing fight in many countries. Girls across all ages are being exploited and their true worth is not being identified. Marriage, education, rape culture: they are extremely poor in many countries, ruining the chance at a life of choice. We must gain awareness of this issue, especially in the urbanised world. Alongside girls, many other groups of various races, genders, and cultures are being targeted in an appalling manner. As the current generation, it is our motive to make sure that every individual is aware of their worth, their value and their capabilities – to be made aware of their choices.
Although feminism is a fight of its own, other social factors are intertwined within this. This theory was first formulated by the renowned feminist, bell hooks. bell hooks commonly theorises on feminist ideals and has written comprehensively on racial and sexual politics. This has mainly been through, music, film, and popular culture. She is an integral part of the feminist community. Regarding the relation between feminism and other social factors, she theorised that ‘the idea that race and class, as well as sex, determine the extent to which individuals are exploited, discriminated against and oppressed'. To summarise, hooks is stating that different social factors work hand in hand to cause discrimination. Society, from past and present, has conveniently decided how different people of different social factors should be treated. She argues that ‘all women do not share a common social status. bell hooks points out that ‘a woman from a white, middle-class background will not necessarily share the same experience of oppression as a black, working-class woman', due to social boundaries. This contradicts the ideals of feminism, as it is about finding a common ground that everyone can share. However, social factors, such as race and class, are preventing this. As a result, this means that we cannot experience true equality amongst society until equality is built on all levels.
As you can see, the feminist society is certainly viewed in a split manner; many adore its forward-thinking, others may not agree with its influence. So, does that mean that breaking the rules can change the world? There are seven billion people; there are seven billion opinions. They all differ, from one to the other. Although feminism has made extensive progress, there will always be someone who doesn't agree. New rules emerge. Not every rule can be broken. In conclusion, yes, breaking the rules can change the world. However, not everyone will be content with this change.
Ananya Sinha
