Devrim ÇAKMAK

A FEMINIST MANIFESTO

Very recently, a woman who is called Ann Coulter gave an interview in a talk show,

Skavlan, which is broadcasted in Sweden and Norway at the same time. The host asked her

whether she is a feminist or not because she was known as conservative and a supporter of

Trump Administration. After this question, it can be seen that her face fell and rolled her eyes.

‘Oh Gosh, no’ she said, ‘I think Feminist are angry man-hating lesbians’. The host got

shocked and some of the audience booed her. She did not understand why the audience booed

her and continued to express her own thoughts about feminism.

Many people, like Ann Coulter who is mentioned above, have so many different ideas

about Feminism. They do not know what Feminism actually is and what it stands for. Some of

them think that it is an idea which is fighting against the men, some think that they are the

armed women who try to kill every man in the world until their kind fade away, and some of

them think that it is solidarity among the women who are against the all patriarchal

institutions. It is very hard to declare an idea as the truest one, but it is much more easy to

allege that an idea as wrong. So that reason, everyone who identifies himself/herself has a big

role to explain what is true about Feminism. Since I find myself as a feminist, I am going to

let you explore the aspects of Feminism. Also, at the end of this manifesto, the readers will

find out why Feminism is needed in our everyday life and in philosophy.

In the history of philosophy, it can be seen that women are seen as irrational beings.

They were not mentioned in the philosophy because they were thought as worthless creatures

to talk about. According to Aristotle, only rational beings can be happy and virtuous.

However, since women were not rational beings, for him, they cannot be happy and virtuous.

So, the status of women and the status of the slaves were equivalent. Also, it can be seen in

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the history writing that women were not talked about so much. Women heroes or protagonists

cannot be seen in those historical texts. If a historical text will be written about a woman hero,

then the wording of this text can be very exaggerated and passionate because they think that

women cannot do those things that an ordinary hero can do. When they write about Şerife

Bacı or Kara Fatma’s valour in the Turkish War of Independence, they turgidly talk about

these women and what they did in the war. What they did was not different what the men did;

but since they are women, the writers want us to be surprised. It should not be considered that

on the very contrary of the historical text, women have so many capabilities and these

capabilities should not be mentioned as something surprising.

After criticizing the history and the historical texts, it is going to be better to make a

differentiation between sex and gender. While the sex is something innate, gender is a

category which is socially constructed. Sex differs the beings according to their biologically

and bodily structures, however, gender differs the beings, especially human beings, according

to their social and cultural places. Although they have different meanings, gender is

constructed based on sex. When a fetus’s genital became apparent, its future life was

immediately constructed. If it is a male, then everything related to the manliness is attributed

to that fetus even before its birth; and if the fetus is a female, everything related to the

womanliness is attributed to it. When they were born the colour of the snapsuit that they are

going to wear were decided, the types of toys were decided. They grow up in different ways:

while the boys are allowed to go out, the girls are not allowed to go out; and while the boys

are engaged in physical activities, the girls are playing with the dolls and they are taught how

to become a mother. Girls are taught to be emotional, to be fragile, and to be careful; and the

boys are taught to be strong, to be a real ‘man’. That is why there are so many differences

between the people who are differed according to their innate differences which are simply X

and Y. The result of this socially structured institutions can be seen in the business and in the

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choice of occupations. So that reason there are so many gendered occupations such as

nursing, caregiving, and nursemaiding. What is common between these occupations is the

characteristics. All of these occupations are about caring because women are told to be

careful. They learn how to be a mother and the result of this can be seen in the occupations

which are gendered. If an occupation is about to caring, then it is her job, not his. She cannot

work in any field which requests physical strength because she is not that much strong, and

she is fragile. That is why Feminism is against those institutions which are socially

constructed and which make the women oppressed.

Man, who is at the centre of the society, sees the whole world from his own

perspective. He always acts like he is the only one in the world, and no one is going to judge

because of his wrongdoings. So that reason, he sees himself as the norm, the rules are decided

by him, and the laws are enacted by him. He thinks that he has a meaning in his life.

However, according to him, women are sent to him as means. So that reason, he can charge

her because of her wrongdoings because he is the judge. He can say that you cannot do this,

you cannot wear that, and you cannot go there. If a woman is raped, then it is her fault, the

fault is not on the cruel rapist because you seduced him by going out too late with a very short

skirt. Blame it on you! You have to stay at home, and you cannot wear that much short skirts

not only in order to protect yourself but also in order to protect the men. Also, the laws are

always male-centric, and the influence of the man can be seen at the very centre of the laws,

the canons, and the customs that shape our lives. As a result, Turkish Labour Law says that

women are not allowed to work in mining because it is dangerous for their fertility. Also,

Turkish Civil Code says that women should wait for 300 days when they got divorced

because they can be pregnant and if they get married to someone else, there can be a problem

about who is the dad. These two laws show that the codes are enacted by looking at the issues

from men’s perspective, and they see the women as means of reproduction. So that reason, we

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need Feminism; only Feminism can fight against these male-centric ideas which make women

oppressed.

The scope of feminism is not limited to the women and their lives under the

oppression. Feminism is also against the racism, colonialism, homophobia, transphobia, and

other cruel isms and phobias. Since all these things are underestimating everything related to

femininity and value everything related to masculinity, Feminism has to broaden its scope. All

of these isms and phobias are about patriarchy which is simply a hierarchal system of rule and

domination by men. Racism is about the hierarchy between the races which is also socially

constructed. The idea of racism declares that some races can be superior to the other races. In

the history of civilization, it can be seen that some people declare that they are superior and

the other races should be ruled by them. If they do not enter under ‘the superior race’s rule,

they are dominated and ruled by force. Again, the ones who are the most affected from the

racism are the women. They do not only struggle with the idea of racism they also struggle

against the patriarchy and the domination of men who are from the same race. Colonialism is

also related to the idea of racism, and they are parallel to each other. When European

explorers discovered the continents of the Americas, they do not only dominate and rule the

indigenous people but also shift their social institutions. Before the white men came to the

continent, there are more than two genders, and there are no such differences between the

genders. However, when they settled in the continent, they brought their gender systems to

dominate the local people in a much easier way. In addition to racism and colonialism,

homophobia and transphobia are used in order to dominate the people who are ‘rebels’.

According to the patriarchal system, transgender people and the homosexuals are against their

innate identity and they should be ‘tamed’ in order to conserve the institutions of patriarchy.

History witnessed so many cruelties to the LGBTQ+ community. So, it is not their own

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struggle, but it is also Feminism’s struggle because the very idea of those isms and phobias

are related to patriarchy.

Feminism should reach all of the people in order to achieve greater success. However,

some Feminists, such as Radical Feminists, do not want to broaden the scope of Feminism

that much. They think that it is about women’s struggles against the patriarchal society, and

the lesbians, transgender people, or the intersexual people should not be in the scope of

Feminism. Also, some of them are Eurocentric. It means that they think that their values are

universal for all women. However, there are so many women who are not from the continent

of Europe, and their struggles are much harder than the European women’s. If the European

Feminist values are accepted as universal, the oppression that the other women encounter can

be ignored, and this is not wanted in order to achieve success.

As a result, it can be understood that Feminism is not an idea which is against the

whole manhood. On the contrary, it is against the all the institutions which feed the

patriarchy. We, Feminist, should bear in mind that we can make the world liveable, no one

else can. So that reason we should reach all of the people in order to achieve our goals. When

we do not mention the word ‘Feminism’, and when we do not identify ourselves as

‘Feminists’ our job will be over.