What is Pseudo Feminism?
Pseudo feminism suggests that women deserve more respect, or people of other genders do not deserve respect. A few rotten eggs spoil the basket; in this case, pseudo-feminism is a rotten egg tarnishing the true sense of feminism. Pseudo feminism desires to resolve all the injustices committed on women by attacking on and demeaning men. Pseudo feminist wants to create a world ruled by just woman. But that is not the case pseudo feminism shouts out that men can’t be raped, abused or molested, and men exposed to those abuses are lying.
What is Feminism?
Feminism means an ideology that promotes social, political and all other women’s rights equal to those of men. The true meaning of the word implies that there should be no discrimination between either of the genders. Feminism is all about equality, not judging people on the choices they make. Some women prefer to be involved in their household work and family rather than making their careers, but that doesn’t mean that they are a slave to do household work it just their choice. If the meaning of true feminism is to be followed, then all the victims should be treated equally. Victims shouldn’t be concluded as male or female but only as a victim of abuse.
Feminism stands as opportunities given to women equals to men, no more or less. The word feminism is all about equality of rights. Feminism wants a society where women are not compared to men, and men shouldn’t be told that crying is for girls. Pseudo feminist says she believes that men can’t be feminist, but that’s wrong. Being a feminist has no gender; a man or a woman or a transgender person who believes in women’s equality is a feminist.
Men are often abducted for human trafficking, forced marriages, prostitution and whatnot. Even though the cases are minor compared to women, we still can’t ignore the fact that men are also the victims of these brutalities. It doesn’t matter if the victim is male or female; sexual abuse is sexual abuse; it’s a grievous crime to humanity. As Gloria Steinem quoted, “A feminist is someone who respects the dignity and full humanity of women and men”.
Pseudo Feminism on Social Media
Nowadays, pseudo feminism may be mostly seen on social media. People put up stories and post about being feminist, but some hardly know about feminism, and most of them end up being pseudo-feminist. Suppose a girl put up her side of the story about abuse or defamation caused to her by a bloke. In that case, people start believing one-sided from her part and starts bashing the guy without taking note of his part of the story, which can be where pseudo feminism starts happening. People start calling that guy rapist ad whatnot, without acknowledging his side of the story but by believing the facts given by the girl simply because she is a girl and why would she frame things about herself. A vicious quote that many people have come upon on social media that “all men are trash” might be true to some that men might have caused some traumatic experience, but why are we generalizing it to all men. These are the things spread by pseudo-feminist, and some people follow their lead. On social media, it’s hard to distinguish between what’s true and what’s not. People manipulate and exaggerate situations to induce content and focus. It’s really hard to understand what we should be supporting or fighting against.
Most controversial cases of pseudo feminism:
A. The Bois locker room case
This is one of the most controversial cases of 2020 in which on social media, many feminists came up seeking justices for the girls who were given gang rape threats and filthy comments. Social media was flooded with screenshots of the chats of that particular account. After the police investigation, it was acknowledged that the news was fake and spread by the girl who used the “fake identity of a male and suggested in the chat a plan to sexually assault herself” so she could “check the reaction of the boy and also the strength of his character”. This case eventually led to the death of the boy who was under investigation for the case. He committed suicide due to harassment and negativity from fake news, social pressure, and threatening calls from people. This can be what happens thanks to fake feminism, people just believed the one-sided story of a girl, and this is often where it winds up in an exceeding death of a boy.
B. Zomato delivery guy case
In March 2021, a video of a beauty influencer goes viral, in which she was sobbing and telling her story about her abuse by a Zomato delivery man. She said that the Zomato delivery man got infuriated by her because she refused to take the order, which was not delivered to her at the given time, and he hit her on the nose due to the anger. The video enraged feminist, and they started posting and trolling the delivery man. The Zomato company took immediate action, and the delivery man got suspended from his job. Later the Zomato delivery man told his side of the story that he got late for delivering the order due to traffic and the woman. Instead of reasoning with him, she started hitting him, and due to self-defence, he pushed her back. She hurt herself with her ring, and after that, she made an Instagram video about the bogus physical abuse from the Zomato delivery man. The beauty influencer played her victim card on social media for the gain of followers and attention. It can’t be said that she successfully tried and got attention or whatever she aspired, but she successfully ruined the career of a decent man who was trying to do his job and earn for his family.
What Pseudo Feminism Wants?
In pseudo feminism, where the feminine side of the story can quash anyone’s impartial point of view. The primary aim of the pseudo feminists is to humiliate men and masculinity. Pseudo feminism sometimes leads to the suffering of innocent men. Feminism must prevail in society, but for the sake of equality and women’s empowerment, not to subdue men and masculinity. All in all, we need to mature to the concept of gender equality and give women the opportunities they deserve, but what we don’t need is people spreading hate and chaos in the name of feminism. Not every man out there is a rapist stalking or staring at a woman out there. Feminism is a form of equal treatment; pseudo-feminism it’s not about equality but revenge. Revenge for all the atrocities, abuse and dominance that women have faced for centuries at the hands of men. They take revenge by finding fault in everything men do, finding ways to humiliate them and most favourite by playing the victim card. These people are ruining the cause and all hard work done by other people for women empowerment and equality. These people are called sexists, not feminists.
Feminist theory, which has arisen from feminist movements, aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women’s social issues and experiences. The ones who spread pseudo-feminism do more harm than good. They have to understand that men are not bad and that the world has a small number of good people. Every civil man knows the concept of feminism by all accounts, and he values it wholeheartedly and supports it. This generation is aware of all the issues and is quite firm that women are as good if not better than men, and we are seeing the change happening right before us. Women were presidents, prime ministers, chief executives worldwide, and the glass ceiling was shattered and destroyed.
Conclusion
A Feminist is a father who treats his daughter and son fairly. A feminist is a husband who respects his wife to make her choices without imposing his choices/opinions on her. A transgender woman who is like any other human being wants equal treatment and respect is a feminist in a way. Feminism is a philosophy embraced by all logical and educated people worldwide. Still, it is not a fair playing field when women in the garb of feminism target men and engage in character assassination. While it’s not extremely rare to spot a pseudo-feminist or someone who does not wholly understand the concept of feminism, it is not very common either. Partial understanding of a concept is dangerous, and we have seen this in many instances, not just in feminism. Half-baked knowledge is worse than ignorance, so let us first educate ourselves about feminism before calling ourselves feminists and not becoming a pseudo feminist.
This article has been authored by Jaya Chaudhary of Banasthali Vidyapith.