Do We Still Need Feminism?

Introduction

Something widely known is that years ago women didn’t have basic rights. We also know that the feminist movement was a big part of fighting for women’s rights. Feminism was the reason women got their voting rights, access to education, and many more rights. However, that was years ago. Now, on paper, women should be equal to men in most countries. Is feminism even needed? I want to explore three questions to answer the question which started this project. That question is, “Do we still need feminism? “. The answer might seem straightforward to most of you; to some it's yes and to some it's no. How do ı know that? Well, ı did a survey to begin this project and one question ı asked was, “Do you think feminism is needed in our day and time?”. The answers were interesting because a couple questions before ı had asked if they thought there was an injustice against women and over 83% said that they strongly believed that there was an injustice against women but only 75% thought feminism was needed. I know this may not seem that big of a difference, but the survey was admittedly biased. This is because half the people that took it were feminist friends of my aunt and nearly 70% of the respondents were women.

So the statistics would have been even more drastic if the survey was taken from the generic public. So yes, the answer to my question might seem easy to most, however ı believe that there is more to it. I want to find out exactly which kind of feminism is needed and ı want to find out what misogyny really means. Where did misogyny originate from and whether it is at fault for all the femicide and violence? I also want to find out what kind of role men play in feminism and how it affects them. Lastly, ı want to find out what we can do from now on to improve the state of the world. I really want people from all genders and identities to find something that resonates with them. Hopefully, ı can answer these questions as clearly as possible without oversimplifying it. I don’t only want people that are already feminist to read this ı want people that have some prejudices about feminism to read this and see if they have a new insight on this topic. So here is, “Do we still need feminism?”.

Chapter 1: Misogyny

Firstly, misogyny and its history can’t be fit into a couple of pages but I will try my best. I recommend you read “A Brief History of Misogyny: The World’s Oldest Prejudice” by Jack Holland. Which was a source I used as research and I find the book to be very informative. So first of all:

What are the roots of justification of misogyny?

To discover the justification of misogyny, we need to go back to the start of history. Pandora is a woman we all know for opening the box filled with evil and letting all disease, death, and hard work into the world. In a documentary by Amanda Foreman, she discusses the myth of Pandora with Dr. Lloyd Llewellyn-jones. They talk about how Pandora's box was actually a jar and the Greeks thought that a woman's womb was shaped like a jar. So intercourse, the opening of the womb, was the action that let out all the evil into the world. Pandora is also the first mortal woman in Greek mythology and all other women are kids of Pandora. So this myth enforces the idea that women are an afterthought, are dangerous to mankind if not “contained” and that women and men were created separately.

One of the most known philosophers is Aristotle. His ideology was that women weren’t a different species but they were sub-males. Women were incomplete males because they didn’t have semen, which had all the personality and soul. He also said that women were mutated males that hadn’t reached the full potential of humanity. So in Ancient Greek, there was also this idea that women didn’t have the same rationale and judgment as men; this is also seen in our day as justification of domestic violence. So this led to fathers and husbands controlling women because they weren’t seen as capable enough and there was a fear of what women would do if they had freedom. Aristotle once said that women had fewer teeth than men. As a response Bernard Russel, a British philosopher said,

> “Aristotle could have avoided that mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted.”

Some may wonder why ı am telling you about all this, it is ancient history after all. Well, I am talking about ancient times because ı want to see how these old ideologies still show segments of themselves in our day-to-day life and also see where the hatred of women started and how it lasted thousands of years.

Let’s talk about Ancient Rome. After Romulus killed his twin and as the new ruler he needed to populate his city. His friends were all shepherds from neighboring towns and so he sent out invitations hoping that women would come around to his city. However, this didn’t work, so he had another plan. He sent out invitations to neighboring families for a festival; Romulus’s men chased the men of neighboring families out of the city. Women were however held in the city and Romulus’s men and the women had families and the city got populated. This is known as the rape of the sabine women. What this means is that Rome was founded on rape and it is the example of the first roman marriage. Cambridge professor Mary Beard says that these marriages suggested the idea that “Marriage is rape” which is an idea still used to this day. Violence in marriage is justified by saying being married means women don't need to give consent because marriage is consent. Professor Mary Beard said,

> “What is it to be a woman in the ancient world who could speak for herself? She has to be a man.”

Cato the Elder who was a Roman historian said this against another historian Livy,

> “Woman is a violent and uncontrolled animal, and it is useless to let go of the reins and then expect her not to kick over the traces. You must keep her on a tight rein. If you allow them to achieve complete equality with men, do you think they will be easier to live with? Not at all. Once they have achieved equality, they will be your masters …“

From this segment we can tell that men were afraid of women being free, they felt like women were a burden they had to put up with and honestly, this is what misogyny is. Hating women to a point where you would like to live in a world with no women, not wanting them to exist. From this passage we can also understand that men didn’t want women to speak, they didn’t want them to have any kind of power. This idea of women being immoral and off-putting because she speaks her mind is still a theme that comes up today. The amazons, women gladiators, fighters, and women in charge were in tales told by men. However, men didn’t tell these tales because they admired these women instead they thought it was absurd, ridiculous, and very frightening. The idea that women who could think for themselves were immoral and wicked was also one of the big ideas that controlled the ancient times. In 42 BC Rome; Mark Antony, Octavian, and Marcus Lepidus ruled a three-man dictatorship. The triumvirate imposed a heavy tax on 1400 upper-class women. So the women marched in protest, trying to get a sympathetic hearing. They forced their way into the forum to the speakers’ rostrum. Hortensia asked, “why should we pay taxes when we have no part in the honors, the commands, the statecraft, for which you contend against each other with such harmful results?” This is a case which showcases the rebellion of Roman women. They stood against misogyny, they were the center of social life. They also came very close to political power, however it was unthinkable that women could rule or have any political position. This also reminds us of our day. The backlash that would take place if a woman were to be president in Turkey is definitely easy to imagine; let’s take the USA as another example. Clinton went against Trump as a candidate and instead of her intelligence or agenda she was judged based upon her looks, her mannerism, her womanhood, her home life, and her motherhood; which all contained sexist remarks ı should add.

Let's move on to another time; the time of Christianity. The story of Adam and Eve, just like Pandora has the same messages behind it. Women played a crucial part in Christianity. Jesus’s attitude against women was “revolutionary”. Even his disciples are said to be marveled that he was talking with a woman. He offered a liberating alternative to the world women lived in, and so most of his early following was made of women. However Christianity gave misogyny a new dimension; shame overtook the human sexuality, sex was for procreation, not recreation. Still the population of women in Christianity grew, they got married later, so they had better chances of surviving pregnancies, and women were given the choice of rejection. Even though this may seem like a radical stance for the time it was in, that wasn’t exactly the case. The repression of desire was ideal for Christians and so female dress and makeup was seen as an evil and distracting, powerful force. There was a revolution against the body; this also brought the Olympic games to an end for... obvious reasons (athletes competed naked). Hypatia of Alexandria was born around the end of the fourth century, she was a prominent philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer. She was accused of witchcraft. She was dragged to a church named Caesarion where they skinned and dismembered her brutally and burned her body. She was truly one of the greatest scholars to live at the time and her death had a great impact on the history of Alexandria.

Then came the Middle Ages; women were seen as heavenly creatures at the beginning and then reduced to burning in hell, literally in this case. Raising women to mystical and heavenly standards is also misogyny. This action also dehumanizes women and dehumanizing is how people justify the things they do to women. Mary was a peasant girl from Palestine who was raised to the position of the Mother of God. The church decided she was a virgin even after her son’s birth; she was perceived as perfect and so she had escaped the Original sin(sex). Also, women could not become priests because they lacked “the superior male essence”. I thought ı would add that here. Anyway, Mary was worshiped as the Queen of Heaven, and women were perceived as saviors of men by offering themselves and their love to them. This gave women the role of the helper of men, making them objects that were necessary to preserve the species and provide. After this era came the infamous witch hunts. The Pope was convinced that women were eating children, having sex with demons, collecting genitals of men, and these witches were a threat to the Church. In 1484, the Pope issued a Papal Bull that led to the execution of “witches”. 80% of these people were women. Women were tortured until they were slaughtered and burned; I will not be giving details for your sake. However morality wasn’t all lost(!) they didn’t torture pregnant women until they had given birth. The number of women executed isn’t known for sure but there are ranges from a couple million to 60 thousand. The last woman to be legally executed as a witch was burned in Switzerland in 1787.

The modern world came in from 1500 to 1800. With Galileo’s discoveries and science expanding, the Church was struggling to hold its authority in the same place. In the 16th century, women could become queens and have people fear them and listen to them. In the 16th and 17th century women were expected to be submissive, weak, modest, and innocent. However, educating women was becoming a rather popular idea among people, the idea of being a blank slate at birth and the upbringing and education determining women’s nature became a known ideology. Women took to the streets in political protest and during the English civil war (1642-9) the more radical women chanted “We shall not be wives and tie up our lives in villainous slavery”. Mary Astell, a feminist writer, stated the question “If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves?”. The condom was a big step because it represents the choice of women being able to protect themselves and avoid pregnancies. During the end of the 18th century the novel became a thing, and it was very important for women since it gave women actual personalities. The novel was a way of showing women were human as well however this wasn’t always in the most feminist and positive light (surprise!). Fun fact; by the end of the eighteenth century in England there were more women novelists than men. Jean-Jacques Rousseau is a name we all know, and he was quite influential, plus he was quite the misogynist. He said, “Women do wrong to complain of the inequality of man-made laws; this inequality is not of man’s making, or at any rate it is not the result of mere prejudice but of reason.”, this shows that it was natural for women to obey, which is an idea we face to this day. Women need to obey rules made by men for men and this is seen as “the natural order of things”. We see this as a justification for violence, assault, catcalling, sexist language and so many more actions; people say that it’s normal for boys and men to do or say certain things, even most women have accepted this and give people the pass by saying things like “boys will be boys” or “it's not a big deal”. If you are disrespecting another human it is a big deal.

I will say that my research is based upon Western history because ı didn’t have time to make my way around the world and if I did I may as well have written a whole book.

The industrial revolution created the working class which brought extreme poverty and underpayment. By the middle of the 19th century, in England, a male spinner earned around 14 to 22 shillings a week and women earned 5 a week. Also, women had to deal with pregnancies in terrifying conditions. The working class suffered and was seen as something that wasn’t human.

Masturbation also brought trouble because it was believed that the clitoris was masculine as it only provided pleasure with no reproductive purpose and so in 1894 the New Orleans Medical Journal announced that masturbation was more destructive than war, plague or smallpox. Something ı will not be going into detail about is clitoridectomy, which was actually performed by Mr. Isaac Baker Brown and featured in the British Medical Journal. Fortunately, in America it wasn’t popular after he performed it and was highly criticized. However, in places like Egypt it is still performed even if it isn’t legal. “Am I supposed to stand around while my daughter chase’s men?” said a farmer, “So what if some infidel doctor says it is unhealthy? Does that make it true? I would have circumcised my daughter even if they passed a death sentence against it. You know what honor is in Egypt. If a woman is more passive, it is in her interest, it is in her father’s interest, and in her husband’s interest.” He added. Between 80% and 97% of girls are said to have undergone genital mutilation in Egypt. African American women had no rights as they weren’t regarded as human and were not given control over anything, even themselves.

Lastly, Islam; the fall of man myth was as important in Islam as other major Abrahamic religions. Islam as the latest religion has absorbed a lot of aspects of other traditions that were already in place, so scholars find it difficult to pin unequal practices to Islam. However, we need to address that Muslims oppressed women and still are in most countries in the Middle East. Women are in very hard situations and most countries are just letting this pass because it is their “culture” and “traditions”. Misogyny is a cultural trait to some people, it is seen as inevitable. It is like the idea that wife beating and domestic violence wasn’t anyone’s business except the families. Misogyny is a prejudice that reflects all of our history. A quote from the book by Jack Holland,

“What history teaches us about misogyny can be summed up in four words: pervasive, persistent, pernicious and protean. Long before men invented the wheel, they invented misogyny, and today, as our wheels roll over the plains of Mars, that earlier invention still blights lives.”

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Chapter 2: Feminism

This chapter will have a brief and oversimplified history of feminism, what feminism is to me, men’s place in feminism, and lastly which forms of feminism we need. So let’s get into it:

A Brief History of Feminism

The first wave of feminism was from the early 19th century to the early 20th century and it formally started with the Seneca Falls convention; the convention was organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Women held this gathering to discuss civil and legal rights of women or the lack thereof. “We hold the truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal” was preached. Frederick Douglass attended this convention as one of the few men and the only African-American. 12 resolutions were passed and since this was the first time women demanded change in America, there was a lot of backlash. Newspapers called this insane and ridiculous. However, this didn’t stop the movement, years of protests took place fighting for suffrage rights of women, and finally in 1920 the 19th amendment was passed and this guaranteed the right to vote for women. One thing ı have noticed is that feminist history is very much told from the American perspective; so that is what ı will write about however the world is a big place and different things were happening in different places in the world. With that said, I should also add that even though history may be different, these waves and historical occurrences affected the world even if it may have taken place in America. Suffrage rights in Turkey have been passed long before most western countries, however that progressiveness didn’t last. Before moving on to the second wave, ı want to mention a word that is relevant. İntersectionality; this is the idea that there are many layers to oppression and we can’t focus on one without taking others into consideration. The feminist movement for example can’t advocate for all women if it doesn’t take issues of women of color, trans women, and lower-class women into account. This is a problem we still face, and it is a problem that overtook the 2nd wave.

The second wave of feminism started in the 1960s and ended around the 1980s. The movement started with the “Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan, which came out in 1963. It sold 3 million copies in 3 years. The book talks about systemic sexism that teaches women they belong to the kitchen and were born to be housewives. I want to add some of her quotes that ı want to be very interesting.

> “The key to the trap is, of course, education. The feminine mystique has made higher education for women seem suspect, unnecessary and even dangerous. But I think that education, and only education, has saved, and can continue to save American women from the greater dangers of the feminine mystique.”

> “Men weren’t really the enemy — they were fellow victims suffering from an outmoded masculine mystique that made them feel unnecessarily inadequate when there were no bears to kill.”

> “No woman gets an orgasm from shining on the kitchen floor.”  (my personal favorite)

These ideas explored in the book weren’t revolutionary as they were in discussion before the book came out, but the important thing about this book was its reach. Those 3 million copies reached women, and it told women that they had the right to be angry, it told them they weren’t in wrong for wanting to do more. With these copies that reached the hearts of women everywhere, feminism reached a new height and gained momentum. Social equality was being sought this time instead of legal rights. The slogan of this movement was “The personal is political! “. This meant that issues that seemed minor or personal like relationships, sex, reproductive rights, abortion, labour, and so on were political and systemic problems. The equal pay act of 1963, the right to equal education, reproductive freedom, raising awareness about domestic violence, building shelters for women, encouraging women to understand the sexist power structures that were all over their lives and so much more were the works of the second wave. It fought the social standards and sex roles. The famous bra-burning actually never happened -those things are expensive just saying¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . In 1968 women protested Miss America's pageant for its patriarchal treatment of women by throwing away symbols of objectification of women like bras and magazines. By the end of the era feminist were framed as hairy, ugly, rude, sad, humorless, bitter and cared for unimportant topics like working at home or bras instead of “real” problems. Also, they were perceived as lesbians and they were said to be mad because they couldn’t get a husband. As you can see, dear reader, some things haven’t changed much. Even women didn’t want to call themselves feminist saying “Look around and you’ll see some happy women, and then you’ll see all these bitter, bitter women. The unhappy women are all feminists. You’ll find very few happy, enthusiastic, relaxed people who are ardent supporters of feminism.”. The second wave ended in the 1980s.

1991 is said to be the start of the 3rd wave; it is said to have started with the Anita Hill case and music groups like riot grrrls. First, the Anita Hill case; it all started with her accusing Clarence Thomas who was a Supreme Court nominee of sexual harassment. Thomas of course denied everything, and she faced backlash and she wasn’t believed. For all the women watching the case in real time, it was like a wake-up call; Rebecca Walker said, “I am not a postfeminism feminist, I am the third wave.” So this was the beginning of the 3rd wave. The third wave was focused on reproductive rights, “my body, my choice” and recognizing the women left out of the movement before. Girl bands in music spread the message of female empowerment through punk rock. Also, words used against women were being reclaimed and used as a tool of liberation. There were slutwalks with the purpose of sending a message about the justification of rape by blaming women on their clothing. This victim blaming ideology is one we still face a lot. 1992 was called the year of Women since political representation had improved a great deal. However, after 1992 women entering politics plateaued. There isn’t a certain ending to the 3rd wave. Some say we still are in the 3rd wave however most believe that the 4th wave is upon us and it is said to have started in around 2014.

The fourth wave comprises online activism. It is based on working conditions, the insignificance of labour, and the international value of feminism. Feminism is more international than ever because of the internet and movements like #metoo, time’s up, and “Bir kişi daha eksilmeyeceğiz” are accessible from online platforms. Also, these movements are all against violence, so we can say that the fourth wave focuses on violence as well, which is an issue that has been discussed since the second wave. Lastly, it focuses a lot more on intersectionality and defying gender roles, and expressing oneself.

That concludes the history of feminism. I know it was very brief but forgive me... Fitting over a hundred years into a couple paragraphs is bound to not be perfect.

#### _What is feminism?_

Okay, now let's come back to the present time. I did an interview with a feminist activist, her name is Yasemin Özgün.

I want to use what ı discussed with her to explain feminism in a brief paragraph or two. She mentioned a project and a podcast she took part in, and ı wanted to mention them here because ı listened to a few episodes and read some articles and ı really enjoyed them. The podcast is this and the website is called “FeministBellek'' and you can click this to visit the website. She said that feminism is an ideology and a movement that recognized the inequality between the sexes, but also recognized that these inequalities were changeable. She added it was also understanding and questioning that throughout history women had been objectified and that we live in a society with hetero-normative values. She said feminism comes from questioning all these values and structures. If you know Turkish ı recommend you listen to episode 10 of the podcast, it talks about the feminist policy and Yasemin Özgün is answering the questions. A quote from her that has gone through my amazing translation is “Feminist policy is a struggle against the seizure of women’s body, hard-work and identity by men and women’s secondary and disadvantaged stage in society by using feminist principles.”. I understand that feminism is the belief that this secondary stage of women in our society can be changed and should be changed. I also want to look at some definitions of feminism by celebrities because it seems like people like celebrities and what they have to say, so here are some of my favorite celebrities’ definitions of feminism.

> “I’m embarrassed to admit that I only recently discovered the ACTUAL definition of ‘feminism’. That the term is sometimes clouded with anything other than pure support and positivity in our society is very tragic. I believe in gender equality. Being a feminist is for both women AND men. I AM A FEMINIST. In for equality? Pass it on.” -Matt McGorry

> “A feminist is a person who believes in the power of women just as much as they believe in the power of anyone else. It’s equality, it’s fairness, and I think it’s a great thing to be a part of.” -Zendaya

> “I’m aware of a lot more male feminists now then I was a few years ago, and it’s really heartening. People have come back to what the actual definition means, and that’s equality: socially, politically, and economically.” She added, “I think men think it’s a woman's word, that it’s only for women. But it really just means you believe in equality. And if you stand for equality, you’re a feminist. That’s it.” - Emma Watson

> “I am no longer accepting the things ı can not change. ı am changing the things ı can not accept.” -Angela Davis

Okay, so the last one wasn’t really a definition of feminism, but ı think it had the same spirit. I think that my opinions are not the most important as they are bound to evolve as ı get older. However this is my writing so ı want to add some things. Feminism is women supporting women and letting them share their experiences in a safe space, feminism is challenging gender roles to give freedom to all genders, feminism is fighting violence and assault by educating, bringing awareness, and demanding laws and rights. I think I have explained my opinion and the word feminism. So let’s move on.

#### _What is men’s place in feminism?_

So in my survey, ı asked whether people thought men were active in supporting women’s rights. Only 8% of people thought they did so then ı asked if they thought they had a place in the fight for women’s rights. Over 60% of people said that they had a place and 25% was uncertain. I asked a similar question, if they thought men should take place in the movement and 70% of people thought they should. Lastly, ı asked if they thought men should act against the patriarchal values they live in and 88% of people thought they should.

The whole reason ı did that survey was because I had watched a YouTube video about a woman in Turkey that had gotten paralyzed from her hip down because she was shot by her ex-husband and the trials were still going on. In the video they interviewed some people in the street and all the women they talked to said that all the women they knew had been subjected to physical or mental abuse and all the men they talked to said that they didn’t think violence was a regular occurrence. After the video, I was very interested in the topic because I wondered why the opinions of people that lived in the same country and city had such different observations. So ı tried it out for myself and did the survey. I realize that sexism and hatred of feminists was a lot bigger issue than ı had taught. Many people on the internet were against feminism and that really made me realize that the world I lived in was so small and it was really just my bubble. However, the internet gives me the opportunity to at least try to understand other people. So this survey showed me that most feminists I gave the survey to thought that man should be a part of the feminist movement. However, the ones that didn’t think that men should be in the movement had a very valid argument that ı wholeheartedly agree with. Under my survey, ı got these two comments (again, I tried to translate as best as ı could); “Men can take part in women’s rights movements but they will know their place.” And “I think the fight for women’s rights should be separate from men. However, men can contribute to the fight by questioning masculinity and men’s privileges.”. So this made me wonder even more what place men had in feminism and how feminism affects men. Okay honestly ı didn’t really wonder if feminism was “sexist” because it didn’t include men, I didn’t really care about that part but in my research ı saw many men asking these questions and refusing feminism because of this so I wanted to answer it and explain it to them. In my interview with Yasemin, she explained this idea to me even further. Yasemin told me that men being profeminist was important. She said she didn’t want men to talk for her, talk over her explaining the problems SHE went through. She also said that men should question sex roles and masculinity. Another important point for me was that she talked about men also having gender roles forced upon them, they are perceived as strong, emotionless, the head of the house, problem-solvers, animalistic, aggressive, violent, and people that are always thinking about intercourse. Listen, I am not a man, but I think these prejudices and sex roles affect men’s wellbeing, mental health, and self-worth a lot. It pressures them. Feminism wants to challenge these stereotypes so men should also raise awareness and consciousness about the issues, talk about the issues that are making them uncomfortable, and not over-power women in women’s fights. This is why I don’t think men have a reason to be anti-feminist. However I also think some parts of feminism should be completely separate from men, giving women just a place for them separated from men. This is because all of feminism shouldn't be about men and their doings instead it should be about women, how they feel and what they want. These points are the most important when it comes to men’s place in feminism.

Which forms of Feminism is needed?

Honestly, ı couldn’t get a clear enough answer to this question of mine. However, ı will still explain the information. Feminism should be adapted to the needs of certain places or people it contains; we can not solve sexism and inequality with one slogan worldwide, everyone has to focus on issues of their own community however that doesn’t mean that women shouldn’t support one another in these issues. I am just saying that one size fits all is a myth. We also need to take action with intersectionality in mind because trans women, women of color, and other oppressed communities need to be heard and represented for feminism to mean anything. Feminism can have a lot of different meanings and forms for different people so this question can change for every part of the world but this is Turkey so let me talk about that. Turkey has problems with having basic things like protection rights, even on the legal pedestal. Plus blaming women and normalizing sexist language and actions is not a rare occurrence. So ı think women should work together, empower each other, create trusting communities and keep pushing for what we want. The last one is very important because this will be a long and difficult process but we just have to keep pushing because as Malala said;

“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.”
Okay, maybe that doesn’t make perfect sense in this situation, but ı think it is a powerful quote from a powerful person.

Chapter 3: Finally, what can we do?

Solutions

Honestly, it would take a long time to come up with solutions to all the problems we discussed or didn’t discuss. But ı want to make some suggestions. I think that domestic violence, femicide, violence against women in all shapes and forms, not giving women credit for their work, degrading and objecting language and manners are some issues we need to solve in turkey. According to “we will end femicide turkey” at least 300 femicides took place in the year 2020 alone. In the year 2021, in only 2 months there have been at least 28 femicides according to a report by “we will end femicide turkey”.

“Violence starts with dehumanization. Dehumanization starts with language.” -Brene Brown
I think this quote is very important. From our political leaders to our classrooms and dinner tables we always hear sexist and dehumanizing language. This language can be targeted towards women, different races, nationalities, religions, and so on. When this becomes “normal” and encouraged by the people around you is when this language shows itself in violence and assault cases. When you say things like; “boys will be boys” or “she was asking for it” or “good for a girl” or “what was she wearing?” or “you should smile more.” or “treat them mean, keep them keen” and many more phrases dehumanize women. All the women that are reading this probably know exactly what I’m talking about, feeling uncomfortable and scared at night, being objected to sexist remarks are things we let slide all too often.  Of course, this is just a handful of them, but ı thought giving some issues before suggesting solutions would be a good idea. I also asked Yasemin in my interview why she thought there were so many cases of violence against women in Turkey. She said that in schools and the state there aren’t strong enough campaigns about this issue and there is always a language used that is blaming the victim and shaming them. She added that people also got out of the hook too early and weren’t faced with proper punishment. She also said that there isn’t solitary between women.

I recommend we use language that advocates equality, even in math class. All the examples of women shouldn’t be doing housework where the man is working outside. I know this seems rather small but children will absorb what you teach them and in which way you teach them, of course this can be reversed but it is a lot easier for younger kids to learn new concepts instead of unlearning one and then re-learning it. So ı think the education system should include more women in its history, not just focus on them when march comes around. I am also going to recite my point from before about not giving up and being in solidarity and support of one another. Honestly, the next points are mostly for kids my age; we should learn as much as we can and listen to different opinions and perspectives. We should also empower each other and never shame people for coming out with their own experiences. We can also support feminist groups, spread awareness to friends and family, and use social media as a platform if you are into that kind of thing.

So “Do we still need feminism?”

Yes. We definitely need it, but it isn’t the only way to go about fighting for women’s rights and gender equality. I think feminism is misunderstood by many people, and I hope this gave those people a bit of insight. I also think feminism isn’t perfect; it needs to do a lot more for women all around the world, not just rich white women. I think being “equal” with men isn’t the goal. I think women being able to do what they want without their gender standing in the way and freeing people from stereotypes is the main goal. With that being said violence and assault is something we need to eradicate as well. The only way to do that is education and feminism will play a major role in these by creating a community for women but it will not be enough. I think this is all from me. Thank you.

I recommend you check out some of the resources for additional information.

Resources:

https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/feminism-womens-history

https://libguides.spsd.org/womensrights/first

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0vRzb1hS-E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ejHbz7vvE4&t=233s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcu0_7NiDl4&t=867s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1mwZrVJ-TI

https://www.coe.int/en/web/human-rights-channel/stop-sexism

http://www.kadincinayetlerinidurduracagiz.net/for-english

The whole “A Brief History of Misogyny: The World’s Oldest Prejudice” book.