Feminism favors females in media

Alyssa Beck
Reporter

NEOSHO – Feminism favors females more than males. The word itself uses the prefix, fem- which means female or feminine. While some feminists see it as having equality between both genders, others, including myself, feel females have the upper hand when it comes to legal as well as political rights.

Feminism is defined as “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, and it is “organized activity in support of women’s rights and interests.” While females may have it harder than males in some aspects such as unequal opportunity in the workforce, feminists are forgetting to look at what they are supposedly fighting for, which is gender equality. Gender equality is about both genders having the same rights and not females having more rights than males.

The ratio of female to male victim stories in the media favors the female side immensely. Sexual abuse and domestic violence are very real things, but not just for females. “…Male victims of these crimes still tend to get short shrift, from the media and activists alike,” Cathy Young, from Time magazine wrote in her article, “Sorry, Emma Watson, but HeForShe Is Rotten for Men,” Sept 26, 2014.

Additionally, Young writes, “experiments have shown that while people are quick to intervene when a man in a staged public quarrel becomes physically abusive to his girlfriend, reactions to a similar situation with the genders reversed mostly range from indifference to amusement or even sympathy for the woman.” This idea that people have about men deserving what they get and women deserving nothing needs to be banished. Unless a person is being hit first, he or she should not be hitting any other gender. This is equality.

These experiments show that the stereotype of men being “bad guys” still exists and gives an unfair advantage to women when cases involving sexual abuse and domestic violence are brought up in court. Women are too often seen as victims and people who could do no wrong unless something were to make them such abusive husbands, or traumatic life events.

Females have been working for years to get equality. Yet, once they got the right to vote, they kept looking for more. What started out as voting rights turned into more job opportunities, the banning of politically incorrect clothing, and bashing men for not getting the check on a date. Until feminists get the idea that all men are bad guys out of their head, gender equality will be a long fight.