ALEX FERWERDA

First of all, I am a feminist. Now, I’d like to believe that I live in a time and place where a man calling himself a feminist is the norm, but that sadly isn’t the case.

Recently, the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union Women’s Centre hosted a local “Who needs feminism?” campaign. The campaign asked people on campus to have their photos taken while holding a whiteboard on which they wrote why they need feminism.

It did a great job allowing people to share their opinions on what feminism means to them, but it got me thinking.

Although I consider the campaign a very good idea, I purposely chose not to join others in finishing the sentence, “I need feminism because….” The reason is that I don’t think I could fit how I feel about feminism today into a sentence or two on a whiteboard.

One of the biggest issues I have regarding feminism today is how it sometimes functions in practice rather than theory. My problem with feminism as it transitions from theory to practice is something I’d be glad to get off my hairy feminist chest but, before I jump into that conversation, I feel a bit of backstory is necessary.

It is understood that feminism has gone through three main phases, or waves, and that we are currently experiencing the third wave.

The first two waves dealt with easily understood and articulated goals. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the first wave of feminism was concerned with winning women basic legal rights such as property ownership, divorce and suffrage. The next phase was a progression of the first. It dealt with somewhat less straightforward goals, many of them related to the inextricable link between women’s bodies and their politics. Reproductive rights, sexual freedom and equality within the family are all examples of this link.

Arguably beginning in the mid-90s, the third and current wave is a separation from the first two in a number of ways, but mostly it is an attempt to diversify the movement. The first two waves had clear-cut goals and quite explicit understandings of how to achieve them. This third one has a tough time, in my opinion, making itself clear.

Please don’t get me wrong: I would never want to take away from what women have worked for or are still rightfully trying to achieve. These are things such as suffrage, equal pay for equal work, respect for their bodies (no matter what they wear), a place in government, top-tier corporate work, etc. To me, these are some of the most important aspects on which equality should be defined.

However, since the third wave seeks to separate itself from its precursors by being more inclusive to everyone, it struggles to refine its goals. Having no clear understanding of what the means to get to one’s goals are, or what those goals even look like, can take away from the effort.

Let me discuss two brief examples I have seen of third-wave feminism getting lost in lesser issues and failing to define its end goal.

The first is the awkward false dichotomy of “Real Girls” versus “Fake Girls.” I completely understand this discussion as a response to the grotesque manipulation of women’s bodies in the media, most often achieved by airbrushing and Photoshopping the pictures that end up in magazines, but the comparison of “real” women and “fake” women has got to stop. Women’s bodies are real if they are skinny, stout, curvy, chubby or anything in between.

In theory, a discussion about women’s bodies being airbrushed or Photoshopped in pictures is important because at the end of the day it’s insulting to women. However, in practice, this discussion focuses more on what makes a woman “real” or “fake” and less on the fact that the photos are being manipulated. This focus divides women into separate groups, one which associates with “real” women and one which associates with “fake” women, and pits these sides against each other.

If there is point to discussing women’s bodies, it should, in my opinion, end up both making all women feel good about what they look like, and more importantly, it ought to drive home the point that discussing women’s bodies should be irrelevant anyway.

The second example regards women’s sexual decisions. Given the diversity of participants in third-wave feminism, there are going to be many different opinions on what women should and shouldn’t do. I am not going to get into what my opinion on this issue is but I would like to point out that even among these diverse feminist voices, there are both conservative and liberal ideas on female sexuality. Whether you believe it’s important for women to wait for marriage to have sex or you think they should have all the social legitimacy to “get around” that men do, keep something in mind: As feminists argue amongst themselves (or ourselves) over things like this, it takes the picture out of focus and only serves to distort the short-sighted lens many movements have developed.

In less pretentious terms, let’s pay attention to what really matters.

The end goal of bringing about equality for women should never be lost by the infighting over the means to get there, or even trying to strictly define what “there” looks like.

I think it is safe to say gender equality is the end goal of feminism. Although the word may mean different things to different people, there has got to be a more constructive way of getting there than debates like those mentioned above. Let’s not take away what first and second wave feminism has done by engaging in conversations that really aren’t that important in reaching for equality.

It really comes down to a question I once asked myself in midst of a conversation: “As a male feminist, where is my place?”

Men run into major problems whenever attempting to enter debates about “Real” vs “Fake” girls or women’s sexual choices, and it’s the reason I typically chose to tap out. I am not trying to say that men and women shouldn’t have a right to their own opinions; rather, I just want to point out that if these opinions get in the way of more pressing issues of feminism, it takes away from cause. In cases like these men automatically lose with a simple, “How could you as a man understand?” or “You have no right!” To that I say, damn right we have no right!

I can only hope we are fighting for women’s rights at the end of the day. If equality is the focus, can we please keep our eyes on the bigger picture?

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Photo: Jay Morrison/Flickr