I love it. I think it's spot-on. I just want to talk about this concept for a moment. And I want to start by posing the question: What even is feminism?
I think that, from a very young age, we receive subtle cues that tell us what our place is in society. By which I mean, it is implied that girls cannot achieve, while boys learn they have value simply because they are boys. In modern culture, there are growing pockets where this is less and less true, and I think that's wonderful, but overall this attitude persists.
Obviously it's damaging to women, but let's look for a brief moment at what this accomplishes in men. When you tell a young girl that she is not capable, what you are simultaneously and tacitly telling the boy sitting next to her is "This is how you achieve." And by telling boys that in order to excel, they must first put girls down, it communicates that they have no implicit value.
Feminism is the belief that people are equal, regardless of gender. That everyone can achieve and excel. Feminism rejects sexism in all forms, whether it puts down men OR women, and it encourages all people to fulfill their greatest potential and reject the notion that they must or are only capable of behaving in certain ways, which are defined by their gender.
Why, then, is it not called "equalism" or "genderism?" Because across human cultures, women are historically the oppressed sex. I honestly don't know why this is. Perhaps because women are overall physically weaker, or because pregnancy makes you vulnerable? But either way, if you told me there was a culture where a class of people that represented 50% of the population was put down and treated as second-class citizens, I would bet very, very safe money that that class is women.
Because of this, the biggest and most obvious step toward achieving gender equality is to first empower women. Once equality for women in all things has been achieved, then the other minor details should naturally fall into place, since they emerged from the patriarchy to begin with.
On a practical level, this also ends up being empowering for men. It means not victim-blaming in cases of rape, but also not telling men they are merely animals and not in control of their instincts. It means not pressuring men to be simultaneously rugged and clean, and women to be "sexy and chaste." It means not shoe-horning men into a dominant role in every relationship. It means telling men they are capable of being compassionate parents.
In the end, when you tell men that they are capable of treating women equally, in short, you're telling men that they are capable, period.
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