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Ashraf Owda

Ms. Moore

Expository Reading and Writing Course

16 December 2016

Modern Feminism has Ruined Feminism

As recently as 2014, the New York Times has described feminism as, Hot, Rude, and

self-confident. These are few of the positive aspects about this new wave of feminism. And that

certainly is true, men and women are now fighting for equality on a global spectrum, on paper

that is. However, in reality, feminists tend to veer off so far into aggression while trying to make

their point that the neutral observer sees their cause as a feud rather than a call to reform.

Therefore, modern feminism has overshadowed the great work done in the history of feminism,

especially that of the 1960s-70s. The new demented spawn of feminism brings negative

connotations that stray away from its roots, portraying men and woman badly, and misconstruing

the actual goals of the feminism movement.

Feminism has not garnered itself a bad name, feminism as a movement, has garnered

itself a bad reputation due to the actions of the people who partake in it. According to a poll

conducted by The Washington Post, 43% of American believe that the word Anger perfectly

describes feminism. 48% said that yes, feminist unfairly blame men for women's challenges.

More and more women are now ashamed to join a group such as this, and it shouldnt have to be

this way.

In 1966 the National Organization of Women (NOW) was created to fight for equality.

Dont let their name fool you, they fought not only for women's rights, but for rights overall.

Chab Dai was founded in Cambodia in 2005, hoping to rid the world of all forms of sexual
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abuse, human trafficking and exploitation. These are just a few of the hundreds of thousands of

feminist organizations fighting for a better, unified world. But once you look up modern feminist

movements, you get different results. You get hate, anger, and desperation. This new wave has

run out of things to fight for, or so they think so. There are still inequalities in this world that they

can go out and challenge, but that would require actually doing something.

The word trigger has also acquired a new meaning. When one thinks of a trigger they

think of a gun, someone using it to hurt others, shots fired. Now, whenever the word is

mentioned it is associated with feminism. They think of women flailing their arms in anger and

disrupting people for no apparent reason at all. It is being used to silence the masses, words such

as large, black, or thin are now considered to offensive to be politically correct. These are

descriptive words that we as a society cannot use. Why does this matter you may ask? When

words get silenced, and/or get you punished, your freedom is also being silenced. Your basic

human rights are being infringed upon, and what is one thing feminist fought for?

These new feminists would argue that its a good thing to go out there and make your

voice heard, and that not using certain words keeps us from hurting one another. They bring up

the fact that they are not doing anything wrong, merely practicing their first amendment. Which

is true. They also bring up many important issues, such as the government's involvement with

abortion, They are currently protesting Ohios twenty week ban on abortion, so some say that

they are still functioning members of society.

They are absolutely right, they are allowed to practice their basic human rights. But

modern feminists are one of the most hypocritical group currently out there. A man of size was

being interviewed for a news segment a few months ago when a woman approached him

claiming he had no right to be speaking on behalf of the people. Rudy Pantoja Jr. was speaking
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about the injustice of the political system when it came to treating criminals when he was

verbally attacked by a self labeled feminists. The feminists in question was none other than

Zarna Joshi, a climate change activist and a member of Women of Color Speak Out. This man,

Rudy, was verbally attacked and accused of rape in a public space, tarnishing his reputation, why

you may ask? All because he made a dad joke, he made a pun. Rudy didnt deserve all the hate

he got, and feminist not apart of the 3rd wave also agreed. The fact that actual feminists are

fighting these new modern feminists should be proof enough. Proof that something has to

change.

The belief that this third wave must stop would be a false claim. People change with time,

and we as a society need to change, We need to change the way we view feminism. This new

wave should not be the first thing that comes to our minds when we think of the word

feminism. Why would we as a whole want to ostracize all the great things that actual feminists

have done. Over all the responsibility comes down to us, the majority, to change our thinking and

change it for the better. Why must we change? Why cant the feminists change? Modern feminist

can, and have been compared to spoiled crying children. Sometimes you have to cut them off.

(Totally not Rushed)

Works Cited

Cai, Weiyi, and Scott Clement . Poll: Feminism in the U.S. The Washington Post, WP

Company, 27 Jan. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/feminism-

project/poll/.
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Feminist Majority Foundation - Breaking News, Feminism from Affirmative Action to

Sexual Harassment to Women's Sports. Feminist Majority Foundation - Breaking News,

Feminism from Affirmative Action to Sexual Harassment to Women's Sports,

www.feminist.org/.

Filipovic, Jill. The Men Feminists Left Behind. The New York Times, The New York

Times, 5 Nov. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/06/opinion/campaign-stops/the-men-

feminists-left-behind.html.

Modern Feminism. Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association,

www.ushistory.org/us/57a.asp.

Shulevitz, Judith. How to Fix Feminism. The New York Times, The New York Times,

11 June 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/opinion/sunday/how-to-fix-feminism.html?

_r=0.