FEMINISM : MISINTERPRETED AND MISUNDERSTOOD

                                                                                 

                                                                                

Feminism today is a problematised terminology. Especially so,  when it is disseminated not so appropriately. You might ask, why talk about dissemination when feminism was very much rooted in our culture? Perhaps.  As I said the word is a problematic one. It has not been easy to understand it when meanings change when contextualized.

What prompts me to write this piece is a conversation I had with a colleague of mine at the university. We, of course were discussing conferences, books and the 'intellectuals' who were invited to these conferences and seminars. It was shocking to learn that in conferences and seminars on Feminism and Gender, what was propagated was a hatred for men and marriage, a disdain for decent thought and dress and also an arrogance which bordered on rejection of all values which sustain a culture.  And this in the presence of students who are yet to understand what feminism really professes. This is quite a dangerous trend and certainly not the right way to initiate changes in  patriarchy  to end oppression. 

There are moments when we wonder whether what is being disseminated in these learned gatherings touched students. Could we really make an impact on their minds or are we distorting information to thwart a healthy development of gendered society?

Let me elucidate. I teach gender and feminism and the most difficult part of being able to teach 'gender' and 'feminism' is when I have to teach what feminism is and how it is to be understood. I meet several roadblocks.  I will bring in two reasons now.

 One is with the language and the context. It is extremely challenging to teach Simone de Beauvoir to a batch of students who have had little access to these knowledge systems originating within Europe. Simplifying is out of the question and time spent on attempting to bring them the context before the text is pretty taxing. This more or less happens in a rural university because the students have less access and exposure to learning English and understanding the subtle nuances of the language.  I do not consider not knowing English a drawback, yet there are times when you need to know the language to know what it means because knowledge is culture specific. It is essential to know that knowledge generated in a given context need not be the same everywhere.

Two, is  their conditioned mind set. These students are entrenched in patriarchal ideologies right from childhood which is all the more cemented from what they see and experience. To erase this is a herculean task. I need to bring to them the implications of social conditionings and open up a different mindset and attitude which most of the times meets with stiff resistance, disdain, shock and an entrenched feeling of what they have been taught at homes, schools and colleges as always being right. It is this entrenched thought process which is the most dangerous zone. For boys who are completely conditioned in patriarchal ideology, this zone is strengthened all the more if they find it a threat to their thinking and therefore their identity. For girls, and this is pretty frightening, this is a new way out of oppression after being told that they are oppressed. Strangely enough there are still sizeable groups who do not understand oppression and are quite oblivious of its existence. For such girls every restriction is protection. The other group, which can analyze and understand oppression, is also problematic but less compared to that group who are being introduced to this half understood topic called feminism at this stage.  This group understands only restriction and not resistance seen in different forms in our culture. And if this group is not tutored properly then there is every chance of distorting feminism and what it means and tries to propogate.

The extent of my problem is when the word is understood and translated into its regional equivalent. In Kannada, the word feminism is largely understood as Streevaada. How does one explain this? Does it mean the debate by women, the argument by women, the debate and argument on women by men, by women?  Who argues and debates?  Oppressed women or women who debate theory or men and women academics who create knowledge systems, prescribe texts and therefore create canonical texts which is classroom generated?  Or is it done by women activists?  Do you understand what I mean by this?  Each context is different and each knowledge generated cannot be universally applied to all contexts and times.

To communicate the right approach is the onus of the person who teaches this. To me it is a huge responsibility and one that I approach with caution and commitment for I have to keep my culture in mind. I do not want simplify the word culture in this context but I do not want to deeply problematise it at this juncture because my audience is not yet ready to do this. This is for me a very delicate path and I tread it with care.

Let me concentrate on that group who are being initiated into the order of feminism. I use the word initiates for this group because whatever said and done, Feminism has an agenda. Initiation into feminism has to be careful for there is this fear of shaping their mind sets differently to scar them as well as the society for life.

 I have not yet tried to define feminism.  Before that let us try to understand it as it is seen today by the man and the woman on the street who do not have an academic reading of it.

 In its most popular form, Feminism could mean a fight for equality in all walks of life. Once equality is achieved, then  the ‘ ism’ is over. And when you think of today, there seems to be a semblance of equality at least on paper, though not all prejudices have been banished. Equality however is misunderstood, because if feminism was only a fight for equality, why do we still have problems?

So either equality is not all or it has been diluted to create confusion.

 If Feminism is defined as a fight for freedom, then it would mean being free from the sociological clutches of patriarchy as well as the psychological clutches of a debilitating mindset brought about by conditioning. When one achieves this -and many have - the battle seems to have been won. But freedom/liberty seems to have brought with it another baggage of problems to deal with.

As I said, teaching this is not easy. There is this possibility of saying that which can be misunderstood and misinterpreted. And I see this happening.

The usually understood meaning of feminism as fighting for equality is taken in its literal sense. The meaning is simplified and applied to all levels. So again, the male is the norm because what is aspired for, is equality with man. The first casualty is the most difficult to be undone. It is only equality which sinks into the mind of the new initiate or even the half entrant. And so begins the journey, the clothes, the attitudes, the mannerisms, the stance, the habits etc, the list could go on. The aping begins. The need to be on par with men is indeed a dangerous trend if not understood in its spirit. The girls tread this path with all enthusiasm but when confronted with a choice or a decision to be undertaken, they are confused, take a wrong turn and most certainly do not know the repercussions nor are they

prepared for the outcome. Not to be outdone by their western counterparts, they tend to follow their paths. This might not be a problem in bigger cities but not so in small towns. They pay the price, for development in feminist understanding and ideology does not take place in men and women simultaneously. There is an inherent danger in the tenet if not taught and initiated in the right sense.

This seems to be happening to young girls for whom feminism has simply filtered down to aspects of being allowed to walk around late into the night, smoking and drinking and of course the cell which opens out a world of information which is informative  but is again wrongly utilized and understood.  It also means wearing clothes on par with men and western culture.  Not that there is something wrong in this, but is our society ready for this change? My reference is again to a society which is caught in the flux of rural traditional behavior and modernity. And when mishaps occur, are this group is   equipped with the knowledge of the steps to be taken and are they psychologically stable to go through with this?  The path to feminism begins for them with this change, but certainly not a change in mindsets.  We have rising number of  psychological disorders and then suicides which are testimony to the discrepancy in theory and practice!

It was also amusing to listen to a self professed feminist scholar way back in the 90's who had said that feminists hate men!! This, in the presence of students and the lady in question was married and a mother of two!!? The twenty year olds present were quite perplexed and what passed on in the ensuing two months was a lesson to me and to them. Believe me, the telling has not been easy and it is still is not.

Feminism most definitely should not be talking about hating men. That perhaps is a very radical ideology. I am not passing judgments but at the formative level, this is certainly not asked for. If at all there are takers it should be at a very later level and even there with complete understanding of what it means. Women who profess and  live this ideology should be compartmentalized and the understood. We as teachers, have the enormous responsibilities of educating right and knowing the culture and society to which we belong to. Our society is variegated. We need to build, not break and this where the fear resides today.

Many of you might not agree to what is professed here but that means nothing to me. I do not want appreciations and adulations. I do not look for acceptance.

Feminism should be understood as a need to know who you are and what you think. Sounds simple? Not so. When you start thinking, you will know. Do you think like others want you to think? And when you do what they ask you to do, are you comfortable? Do you feel isolated, troubled, angry, unhappy, agitated? Do you risk doing the opposite? Do you ask questions or do you agree to whatever is given to you? Do you have the insatiable need to know and find out the truth about eternal truths dished out to you? Can you think differently? Are you sensitive to people around you and relationships? Do you dare to make a difference in the

society in which you live by not disrupting violently what is thought and believed in? Can you start at home ( if there is oppression) by being responsible and knowing the reality?  If you do, then do you resist? How? and Why? If you have to resist and fight for change, are you aware of how it is to be done?

Resistance by women in India has been at various levels. They have protested differently and not all has been violent. They were aware of not disrupting the delicate balance of gendered relationships.  This might not be seen very encouraging to those who have set their lives apart fighting for empowerment for women.  Yes, we need to empower ourselves and we have to fight oppression but not at the cost of societal balance.

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We definately need to end oppression .Women are not just objects of pleasure but beings with a sensitive and intelligent mind.  This has to be highlighted. However by claiming equality on par with men, this cannot be achieved. We have to show that we are competent, think, decide and act. We need to be respected.  This is very important.  But they way things stand today, achieving this could be a challenging task.  How so?

Remember the mirror in your room?   Well, ask yourself, how much of your lives revolve around that mirror which reflects what others see you as?  Have you ever looked at yourself...as yourself?  What then is yourself?  How have you constructed your selfhood?  Does it really matter?  The flesh and blood image which stares out of that mirror is just that: flesh and blood.  The physicality of that image is all that matters, if the flesh is fine, everything is achieved.  Your goal is to look beautiful, meet stereotypical notions of feminine beauty which is most of the time physical.  There does not seem to be the need to develop that inner self because the mirror does not reflect that.  There are no creams and lotions in the market which helps enhance the beauty of that self.  So what others want to see you as, you buy and adorn yourself.  What others do not see in you, you do not see in yourself. You operate in the ocular reality and the saddest thing is that, this ocular reality is not yours, it is that of the male. When such is the situation, how does one develop the  ‘I’ in you?

When you can realize  and recognize the ‘I’ in you, it is  then that you start  treading the path of feminism.  That ‘I’ is not shown in the mirror, you have to look beyond.  To develop this ability of looking beyond, you need to readjust the vision that you see in the mirror.  You have to see beyond, the actual self and then learn to accept and respect that self. You have to reject what patriarchy sees you as: an object.  You have to create your subjectivity and then your journey begins in the true sense. Educating yourself helps you achieve this. And education is not aspiring for a degree, it is more. It is learning to respect yourself and making others respect yourself.  The task is arduous and the going tough but that should be the goal of girls who want to bring in change in the oppressive patriarchal structure.