Feminism and Patriarchy

 Feminism and Patriarchy 

The two most misinterpreted words for today’s generation. Those who know that Feminism has nothing to do with men, are the ones who are aware and those who think that feminism is Neha Dhupia saying “it’s okay to have five boyfriends, it’s her choice ”need some insight. Though, what the actor said wasn’t at all wrong after Indian laws on adultery had been revised (adultery is no longer a criminal offence in India). 

Coming back to feminism, it’s a revolution against a system called Patriarchy which has been ruining people’s life since decades. Patriarchy (pitrasatta) is a system of society or government where the male becomes the head of the family and descent is reckoned through the male line. Putting together in simpler terms, it’s a system which gives one gender i.e. male the complete hold of power and totally excludes one gender i.e. Female. Women are not the only victims of patriarchy, men too suffer from it. As a result of patriarchal mindset, gender roles or gender stereotypes became common, these are basically widely accepted ideas of how people should act, dress and behave on the basis of their sex. There are a few roles which affect people the most, “Men shouldn’t cry” ,“Women shouldn’t be loud”, “women should be emotional and warm”, “women shouldn’t have a say on important matters”, “men shouldn’t cook or do household chores” , these would be a few to name for now. As toxic as patriarchy is, it has been engrained into people that they cannot express themselves, pursue what they like, behave according to the expectations of people. Men have stopped opening up to people, they’ve forgot that they have this ability to cry and vent it all out. There is no emotional cleaning in men, they’ll store everything inside them afraid of letting anybody know about their feelings. A boy child begins to cry about something and the first thing anybody would say to him is “stop crying like a girl, be a man”. This makes a boy realise that crying is not for him and he is under the pressure of “being a man”; he learns gradually with experiences that a man’s world is hollow, it’s full of pretending and idealising wrong, volatile norms and people. 

Feminism has nothing to do with men.The only aim of this revolution is to smash the patriarchy, the system not another gender. For years women have been deprived of the privileges enjoyed by men just because they were men and patriarchy. Feminism raises questions like who and what let people decide that what gender is stronger and gave power in the hands of one. It takes both a man and a woman to reproduce a human child but a woman is anatomically made to carry it for nine long months, deliver it with great pain. If despite this one thinks that female gender is weaker than male gender, it’s not them it’s the engrained toxic patriarchy which feminism tries to smash. Patriarchy is not men and women can easily support patriarchy as men support gender equality. Patriarchy is a system of which we’ve been a part of since hundreds of years and it is not easy to take out the deeply rooted beliefs from people but little efforts can contribute in making big changes. 

When one talks about feminism, they should be looking at people like Savitri bai phule, Malala Yusufzai, Raja ram mohan roy who challenged patriarchy on it’s face. 

If one feels that they are triggered by this content, they too are a victim of patriarchy and I hope they get out of it soon.