I won't bother comparing the importance of world problems like this with global warming, human trafficking etc. because a problem is a problem and in my mind all of these are categorized under HUMANITY CAUSED. I chose feminism/sexism for today’s topic because I think that the only thing worse than belonging to a minority and being neglected is being neglected just for having the title of a woman. Just having a vagina instead of a penis. It is so funny! Animals don’t have feminism, well, probably because they don’t have sexism. They don’t have any of these problems mainly because they can’t decide that a straight Caucasian male is the definition of perfect. That it is a being no one is gonna judge, neglect and create stereotypes about.
So, since we all know what feminism is, let’s get straight to my point.
The other day, I was intrigued by a very out of the ordinary newspapers title: UNPRECEDENTED CIRCUS ON A WEDDING IN LESKOVAC: The bride kept her last name; guests threw insults then started a fight
It IS out of the ordinary, for sure, but why and how?
Well, that strictly depends on who you are as a person. You could be someone wondering where her mind was when she decided to keep her last name or you could be wondering if there are still people believing patriarchy is O.K.
Before we get further into this discussion I would like to state that the following ''facts'' are based on my personal experiences in South Serbia. If this is not a thing in the area where you live - way to go! One less problem.
So, why is it so out of the ordinary?
Well, I can't imagine someone would start a fight over an old (read: ancient) tradition that was supposed to be abolished a long time ago. It might sound very rough at this point but we should totally look at the base of this thing, which is absolute nonsense if you ask me.
Translation: women are property. Not stated directly but seeing that this system excludes women, inheriting stuff for instance, is the same as saying she is not a whole person without her husband. Listen, you’re either a feminist or a sexist. Period.
I stumbled upon this article, and I must admit, these women are sending a great message to the undeveloped countries where women are inferior to men:
"Because I am still me when I get married, and I would never change my name unless my partner changed his name (i.e. we both blend or hyphenate our names). I literally cannot believe people still change their names to their husband's names and are excited to do that. It's embarrassing as a society that we permit that."
Now, since we brought all the facts to the front, here comes the most important question of them all: ''Why is there so much trouble fighting sexism?''
I could never understand why people think feminism is a bad thing. It was just stunning for me to see people justifying sexism and hating on feminism all over the internet.
But if we stop focusing on the counteracting side, or the feminism side, we are left with this neutral, silent and ignorant group of people who are the very root of this continuous tradition.
''We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid."- Benjamin Franklin
By this I am not trying to provoke any negativity, but I am just trying to point at the correlation of the aforementioned quote and the described group of people. I am eager to strive for the solution to this problem; it's just that I cannot seem to find what the problem's problem is. How don’t these people see anything wrong with their lifestyle? They don't even bother justifying their thoughts, because "that's just the way it is". People think that one shouldn't mess with what has nothing to do with him. Maybe I should not care because I'm a guy?
I believe people of whom the problem is consisted can't fix the problem, thus if you see something is wrong - fix it. The only thing worse than stupidity and conformism is the diffusion of responsibility.