The Simplest Argument Against Feminism

Many like to insist that feminism is “just about believing in equality”.

This is the same as people of every religion insisting that their individual religion is just about “having faith in a higher power”. As much as it might feel like a good summation of their beliefs and reasons for being a part of that religion, it is undeniably false to believe that all religions only require having faith in a higher power. The reality is that religions differ greatly in what faith means, what rules should be followed, what beliefs should be supported.

The same is true for feminism- it is at best a single interpretation of what equality between the genders could mean. It cannot stand for all ideas of equality because it has been clearly influenced by distinct ideas since its inception- writings, leaders, etc. have often shared common views that led to a known and upheld feminist standard. The majority of feminists favor equality of outcome rather than opportunity, breaking with traditional gendered associations solely because they are traditional, and view patriarchy as an inherently terrible concept which has and still does influence the world and the most modern of societies.

Even if we look at the dictionary definition of a feminist, we find similar things. The definition goes something like, “someone who supports the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.”

But what does political equality mean to most feminists? Today it must mean women representing fifty percent of politicians, anything less must mean inequality of the sexes.

How about economic equality? A feminist would again say that until women represent fifty percent of especially the most lucrative and powerful jobs, it must mean they things are unequal for women.

And for social inequality? If there is ever something that we might judge a woman more harshly over than a man, or expect more of her, then the world is still patriarchal and incredibly unfair to women. Nevermind that men who sleep around and don’t want to get married are considered misogynistic F boys, they should still pay for dates, check whether a woman is enthusiastically consenting at every step of an encounter otherwise he’s defacto raping her, and of course, walk on the other side of the street because it might make her feel uncomfortable to pass by a stranger at night.

We can study feminists as a group like with any other. Do you want to know what modern Catholics believe? Go study them. Do you want to know what socialists or capitalists believe? Study them, and be objective enough to state their beliefs truthfully.

Of course, it is true that not every Catholic holds the same beliefs as the other and you can certainly find Catholics that might disagree with leaders on certain subjects. But what makes them a Catholic is that they agree with the most basic of Catholic beliefs.

The most basic of feminist beliefs is that women are still stifled under a patriarchy that tries to oppress them. That is the unpacked meaning behind their belief in equality. Obviously believing in equality doesn’t matter unless you believe that there is inequality.

So, it follows that a person could indeed believe in equality between the sexes and yet not be a feminist because they don’t agree with feminism’s stance on equality. That doesn’t automatically make them a misogynist, it just makes them disagree with feminist ideas.

Egalitarianism is an example of a word that, since it has had no associated movement with it, does purely mean a person who believes in equality. If people were to make a movement from it, we could then study what they said, what they did, what they wanted changed in order to have an idea of what equality meant to them.

Similarly, one could say that socialism and capitalism are both different ideas of how to achieve economic equality. We could have different ideas about gender equality, but we don’t because feminism tries to maintain a monopoly on it.

If you want to still consider yourself a feminist but you also agree that there are many places where feminism goes too far, I hope you’ll speak up about it.