Introduction
There is a phrase that sometimes seems taboo if you use it: “I am a Feminist,” for which you can hear verbal abuse from people, and they would consider you a critical or crucial defect of society. Our world here has individual definitions of universal terms without knowing what they are and what their role is in our daily lives. The same goes for feminism. It is considered that feminism considers women superior to men, which is really a myth, and it has another perspective that supports the concept of equity for males and females in economic, social, and political roles, for which they are struggling around the world.
For this, we conducted a study and review of the text delivered by Roxane Gay, who is one of the best-selling writers in the United States of America. She is also a professor at Purdue University and contributes her opinion to the New York Times. She is also an editor for The Rumpus and founder of The Tiny Hardcore Press. Also, she published a book named Bad Feminist in 2014, which is one of the best-selling books in the US and has been appraised all the way. The talk we are going to discuss is around the same book, where she titled it “Confessions of a Bad Feminist” (TED).
Discussion
The talk was conducted under the umbrella of TED, in which the audience looked at prominent females sitting and listening with concentration to the talk, which is the broader view of the book she has written and why she terms the book Bad Feminist. This talk addressed the topic we must choose to give the real idea of what feminism is, to be what we are, and why calling herself a bad feminist is necessary and has to change. In this talk, she shares what we still do that is not linked to feminism and why we are even ashamed to call ourselves feminists in front of others. In the talk, she states a line saying, “Too many famous female leaders and organizations were afraid to be termed feminist. They are afraid to stand up and say Yes! I am a feminist because of fear of what this label means, for being able to live up to the unrealistic expectations” (TED).
The purpose of this talk was to discuss feminism and how we practice it in real life. If we take the quote mentioned above, it explains two things by linking them to one subject: women are still afraid of calling themselves feminists because they do not understand what it means to be one, and they are still living with unrealistic expectations, which are affecting the practice of feminism and making it ineffective by raising bias.
If we explain the first argument, what does feminism mean? We mostly think of the superiority of women, which is not so true. Feminism means having the liberty to practice their social rights and control their lives with an independent approach without the influence of patriarchal values, which is not unnatural, and everyone loves to be independent. Feminism empowers women to share men’s tasks with them and become more active in economic development roles because they have the potential to improve the labor force. They should not feel ashamed of doing a task that society has attached to a man. Roxane mentioned washing a car that is full of dirt or maintaining the exterior or interior of the house, like plumbing and minor electrical fixes, for which women mostly depend on men.
The second debate that is valid to talk about is the level of unrealistic expectations, which is true. Roxane targets it in a way that we are still dependent on men for many things. We are not ready to wash our cars by ourselves; we are not ready to get out of that fake fairy tale, which is unrealistic, and we cannot get out of it. Feminism basically relies on reality and logical aspects of life, where being emotional is not bad but being emotionally dependent is bad. You should have liberty, and being realistic in your life is a part of feminism. Women should be a source of inspiration and support for each other. Instead of being jealous, they should break the glass ceiling for other ladies. Mostly, we see women as a hurdle to women in professional life, where they do not let other women excel in their profession because of feeling insecure about their place, which makes them ashamed to call themselves feminists in front of others. Many women claim to be feminists and use words that are pro-feminist, but in their actions, they are weakened.
The talk is all logos, and there is a blunt discussion conducted with the logic of how we are bad feminists, in which we openly share the behavior that we have adopted.
Conclusion
Feminism is not an option; it is the reality of a society that we all have to accept and fight for. The talk highlights the reality of feminism, which has to be adopted from the realistic approach demanded by feminists. This talk covers all the perspectives in this regard, where it defines feminism in actual terms and its need with a realistic approach. Will this approach help us understand what feminism is?
Works Cited
TED. Roxane Gay: Confessions of a Bad Feminist. 2015. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxt_MZKMdes.
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