Pseudo feminism: The chi chi act

Dear beautiful women, do you really care about the sufferings of other women or is it just your fabindia skirts and sarees you obsess over 24/7? There’s always some Meera or Geeta who’s a victim of domestic violence and garner no attention in spite of the dharnas and pradarshans in abundance!
To what avail is this kind of feminism instrumental and how does it foster and corroborate the ideals of feminism by ingraining the minds of youth with the vitriolic view of men. Isn’t misandry as bad as misogyny and do we not have men around who aren’t simply presumptive rapists or sexists or predators? Aren’t so many men despised for their actions just as women? Aren’t they too caught between the devil and deep blue sea, struggling to meet the expectations of the society?

Hasn’t feminism been merely reduced to the usage of big and hefty words and to propound the simplest ideas in the most complex form which like other tactics is another way to garner attention? It’s because the idea of feminism has drifted away from equality and equity for all to despising the other half, the pseudo feminist side of the movement which sadly, the pseudo feminists have maneuvered as per their discretion. The ideals of feminism revolve around women empowerment as well as equality. Equality is in opportunity and respect for which all genders are essentially equal cornerstones of life.
The kind of feminism promulgated by pseudo-feminists profess is limited to social media, as a result of which it has become a revolution of the elites. How does posting a picture online holding a sanitary napkin help when there are thousands of needy who’re left bereft of even the basic amenities and aren’t even aware of such movements? Why do we not cater to the basic amenities for the upliftment? In a country where a major chunk of the female population didn’t have access to restrooms only until a few years back, how will they benefit from the movements rampant on the social media? Why is body shaming of women “objectification of women” while ignoring a whole chunk of the population who’s a victim of the same as much as them? If we’re in fact a society in harmony, why this abhorrence?

I’m not against feminism, it’s pseudo feminism hampering the feminist sentiment that I condemn. In a country like ours, it is a necessity because in India there are only 940 women to every 1000 men, 71% of the female population is non-working, 35% of the women are illiterate, approximately 2 million female infanticides occur every year and two women raped every hour. We need feminism to reach out to the needy, WE REALLY NEED FEMINISM to be the voice of thousands of Nirbhayas and Asifas whose voices and efforts are being suppressed under all the corrupt policies and nepotism helping their kins escape these terrible crimes. That’s where we need feminism and that’s why we need feminism

Sadly, amidst the echoes bolstering the feminist sentiment are cases of misuse of the laws meant for protection and well being of women wherein many women allege their spouse of heinous crimes by orchestrating the crime scenes themselves in the first place for sake of alimony or any other selfish interests, pressing till it hurts so bad that it drives one to the point where one takes his own life. This isn’t my idea of empowerment and nothing but belittling a concept so holistic.

I just have one message for all the women out there (to quote Regha Jha)

Dear women, we’ve spent so long aspiring to be “strong” women, not realising that the glorification of strength is itself a patriarchal hang-up! Be vulnerable women, be soft women, be women who falter and fumble and then learn. It’s okay, strong is overrated!