On Radical Feminism and Women’s Suffering

Feminist Ideologies

The basic goal of feminism, as a complex system of beliefs and ideologies, is to give
women equal social, political, and economic rights. Feminism's goal is to bring about
equality for women, even though everyone benefits from it because releasing those who are
most oppressed also liberates everyone else. Feminism does not seek to assist males because
men's rights are already guaranteed and institutionally protected.

One cannot be a feminist without being anti-capitalist and vice-versa. Parading

oneself as a radical, ‘intellectually liberated’ leftist but then rejecting feminism and
barricading one’s own ideology from it makes you just as productive as a conservative in
regards to a movement towards large-scale communism. It’s simply counterproductive - out
one side of your mouth you’re talking about how one should hate economical hierarchies and
out the other you willfully fail to acknowledge that same hierarchical structure that’s been so
deeply embedded into gender. Yet additionally you also cannot be a feminist without being
anti-capitalist. Men have, for centuries built their careers off the backs of their mothers,
sisters, girlfriends and wives unpaid -yet necessary- labour. That will never change by
continuing to suck up to capitalism. Both ideologies go hand in hand. There is no one or the
other.
The United States of America is a perfect example of why economic success does not
determine how well a country functions. Despite being the richest country, they still give
mothers 0 paid leave after giving birth, criminalising the existence of homeless individuals,
and charging catastrophic numbers for basic healthcare services. The idea that being the
‘richest’ somehow equates to a well-rounded society. It is especially indicative of how deeply
ingrained the metric of currency is in personal distinctions between right and wrong.

Misogyny

Sexual Education

Gender Based Violence

The most common violation of human rights is violence against women and girls,
which has its roots in gender discrimination, unequal power dynamics, and damaging societal
norms. The most heinous and severe example of this brutality is the slaughter of women and
girls because of their gender. The research suggests that there hasn't been enough progress
made in preventing the murder of women and girls because of their gender. In order to boost
responses to gender-based murders and other types of violence against women and girls,
concerted, immediate action is required. Violence against women and girls, including
murders motivated by gender, is not inescapable. Through early intervention,
multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral collaborations, including the ones that contributed to the
creation of this study paper, which we hope will encourage more resolute action against this
crime, they can and must be averted.

Rape is the most under-reported crime; 63% of sexual assaults are not reported to law
enforcement, only 12% of child sexual abuse is reported to the authorities. 98% of these
crimes are committed by men. - UN Women

The average prison sentence of men who kill their women partners is 2 to 6 years. Women
who kill their male partners are sentenced on average to 15 years despite the fact that most
women who kill do so in self-defence - UN Women

Rape Culture

Dead Men Don’t Rape - Aileen Wuornos

Rape Culture is a setting where rape is common and where sexual assault on women
is accepted and justified in the media and popular culture. Through the use of sexist rhetoric,
objectification of women's bodies, and glamorization of sexual violence, rape culture is
sustained, resulting in a society that disregards the rights and safety of women. Rape culture
affects every woman. One woman being raped degrades, terrorizes, and limits all women.
The fact that rape occurs limits the conduct of the majority of women and girls. Most women
and girls constantly worry about being raped. In general, men don't. Rape serves as a potent
tool for holding all women in a position of subordination to all males, despite the fact that
many men do not commit rape and that some women do not become victims of rape. The
legacy of rape culture is this cycle of terror. Rape culture examples include:

Victimisation ("She asked for it!")

Sexual assault being made light of ("Boys will be boys!").
Sexually graphic humour
Acceptability of sexual harassment
Inflating the number of fake rape reports
Scrutinising a victim's attire, state of mind, motivations, and past
Gender-based violence that is gratuitous in film and television
Considering "manhood" to be forceful and domineering
Defining "womanhood" as meek and submissive sexually
Men enduring pressure to "score" from other men
Women are under pressure to not seem "cold
Assuming that rapes only occur on promiscuous women
Assuming that neither males nor simply "weak" men are sexually assaulted
Denying the veracity of rape allegations
Instead of teaching women how to prevent being assaulted, we must teach men not to rape.

It's become exhausting attempting to explain how combating rape culture through
warning people, especially young girls about only outlandish scenarios like getting abducted
by a trafficking ring or being taken advantage of in a dark alley-way is harmful due to this not
being the way sexual assault happens in the majority of cases. Thus blindsiding these victims
when it occurs in a completely ‘normal’ setting with a person they know and trust (the
statistical majority) can even lead to forms of self-gaslighting because the way in which this
traumatic event occurred wasn't the way it was portrayed by the media and adults around
them. The victims then begin to convince themselves that what they experienced wasnt rape
because it didnt match the dramatic stories theyve heard their entire lives. And the cycle
continues.

Anti-Feminist Men/ Masculinity/ Misandry

The male is a biological accident; the Y (male) gene is an incomplete X (female) gene, that is,
it has an incomplete set of chromosomes. In other words, the male is an incomplete female, a
walking abortion, aborted at the gene stage. To be male is to be deficient, emotionally
limited; maleness is a deficiency disease and males are emotional cripples - Valerie Solonas

“It’s Men’s Mental Health Month where did all the women go?”

Because misogyny is disproportionately prevalent in the Middle East and

"Developing Countries," we frequently hear anti-feminist men claim that patriarchy only
exists in these areas. This is so that they can use this argument to limit the scope of the notion
by only presenting its most severe manifestations as evidence that it exists. Simply because it
doesn't cross the line into the extreme, it permits men to ignore less extreme forms of
misogyny as "normal" rather than seeing them as aspects of a much broader oppressive
system. By obscuring the distinction between what women are fighting for and against in the
perspective of the average man, it even enables them to influence the broader public to
oppose feminism. Stop allowing them to redefine a system that they have shown themselves
to be unwilling to defend, not even in the areas where they acknowledge that it exists.
Tokenizing women in this way is wrong.

One of the main reasons men’s masculinity becomes compromised so easily is

because masculinity, as a concept, does not exist outside of its contrast to femininity.
Masculinity is everything femininity is not but has no characteristics that exist on their own.
Nothing pink and frilly, that's for girls. No dresses or heels, no obsessing over boy bands or
reading romance novels. No wearing crop tops, skirts or any other article of clothing that
could be associated with women at the given time period. And don't think about shedding a
tear, that's for girls. It's so easy to step on the toes of masculinity and watch its fragility
crumble before you because it was never a concrete subject to begin with. It has been a never
ending state of malleability since the beginning of time. Morphing into whatever was deemed
‘not feminine’ for the current era.
 If you are a man reading this and you genuinely believe that misandry will actually
cause you or the men around you real systemic harm, then you have essentially bought into a
moral panic. The idea that misandry is actually harming men outside the confines of twitter
and the occasional jokes that women make in their interpersonal lives is a lie that was
fabricated on the basis of further delegitimizing feminism. It is purposefully shifting the focus
away from real issues that women face and redirects the focus onto men by gaslighting
everyone involved into believing that men are the ‘real ones’ being oppressed due to the
misandrist jokes and rhetoric they receive. I would actually argue that in this way, men
‘suffer’ from society in the same way that your knuckles suffer from pain after punching
someone in the face.

The group of people who use the phrase "not all men" in their arguments against
feminism are especially interesting since they only genuinely believe it after having
daughters. The traditional clichés of a father threatening a daughter's boyfriend because he
doesn't know the boyfriend's genuine intentions or a father forbidding a daughter from
spending time alone with a male acquaintance are then repeatedly reinforced. Because he
never uses the same intimidation techniques on his son's girlfriend or other female
acquaintances on a platonic basis, this is specific to the father's perspective of males. It's
surprising how quickly they give in to hypocrisy. Furthermore this opens an interesting
conversation on how fathers are actually the ones who introduce many women to ‘misandrist’
ideations as opposed to the commonly held belief that feminists are the ones who do so.

“Not All Men”

It's a phrase we frequently hear, albeit in a relatively limited range of situations. It is

never used, for instance, when male observers assert that men are superior to women drivers
or that they are better map readers. No, for some reason, the people who shout #NotAllMen!
never seem to have a problem with such broad generalisations. However, you can bet your
bottom dollar that males will line up to object when women discuss sexual abuse and
harassment, as they did since their favourite celebrity or politician's charges came to light.

This is how it typically works:

Woman: I've been assaulted on the train, yelled at in the street, groped in nightclubs, and
raped by my partner.

Man: I believe it's crucial to emphasise that not all males are like this. The majority of males
would never act in such a horrible manner. Definitely not me. Isn't painting all males with the
same brush a little sexist?
The #NotAllMen movement does not honestly believe that women who speak up about the
violence we have experienced at the hands of men believe that every male on the earth has
acted in a similar manner. That would be kind of ridiculous. However if almost all of the
women you know have experienced sexual abuse or harassment in some capacity throughout
their lives, then it shouldn't be controversial to ask why males continue to support this
culture. Yes, we are aware that not all men are accountable. Yes, you have reminded us
enough times that we are certain you would never act in that manner. Therefore, #NotAllMen
offers no clarification. It doesn't advance the conversation in any manner or add anything to
it. It only serves to undermine and discount the real-world experiences of women and girls.
The males who jump up to declare, "Not all men are like that," are actually saying, "I'm not
like that." Or, to put it another way, they are communicating to women that they find it
uncomfortable to talk about misogyny and that they must first be cleansed of any
responsibility before allowing women to continue. In order to tell their stories of sexual
violence on the #MeToo platform, women expended a tremendous amount of emotional
energy and experienced personal anguish. It is unfair, at best, and offensive, to ask us to give
out a "Well Done For Not Raping Anybody" badge to men who rush to tell us #NotAllMen.
It's excellent if you're a man and don't recognise yourself in the recent behaviour reported by
women. We don't address it in a way that makes you uncomfortable or offended. Men who
are engaging like allies in this situation are those who are amplifying the voices of women,
reflecting on their own actions, and refraining from stifling our talks in an effort to gain
attention or recognition.