Enough of #MeToo! What about #SheToo?
Swati Sharma
Author | Speaker | Ex- Skill India, TATA | Scholarship & National Award in Academic Excellence By Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India
This Women’s day let’s talk about authentic feminism! In an era of #MeToo, it’s time we reflect upon the stark difference between staunch feminists and feminazis who aim to bask in the glory of feminism!
Feminism in its truest sense advocates equal rights for both women and men in the economic, social, legal, political and cultural aspects despite the natural differences amongst the sexes.
However it appalls me to the hilt how feminazis misconstrue feminism making it utterly inauthentic, scrambling up the entire spirit of feminism in the process!
Whilst a feminist is pro-feminism, a feminazi is a pseudo feminist! Feminazis may call themselves to be one but in realty their worldview is tilted only towards women! And that’s the crux of the crucifixion of feminism!
Being a feminist does not mean deriving sadistic pleasure out of high-pitch male bashing in women-oriented forums! Neither is it some debate hell bent on proving how women are superior to men! In my view, both men and women are interdependent on each other. They are the yin & yang of life force. And let’s get real people, there had to be an Adam & Eve in the garden of Eden to make life happen!
If #MeToo voiced stories of women from all across the world of sexual assaults and harassment, did it even occur to us that men are harassed and assaulted by both men and women too? And if we negate this, is that authentic feminism?
Boys are raised to believe that they shouldn't feel any pain! So they become experts at numbing it. They learn to put up a strong face and inflated chest even in the wake agonizing and trying times! And if they do feel an iota of pain (because after all they are humans too), dare they show their scars!As if vulnerability is prohibited for men!
And if they’re hurt, its ‘unmanly’ to express it! And crying? Well, crying is an absolute NO if you’re a Man! This turns men stoic and stolid from very early on in their lives! But what you suppress manifests in ugly forms. In my view, #MeToo is a result of that suppression somewhere.
In order to be authentic feminists, let’s hear men as well. They too get abused in different forms and means! An abuse is an abuse. It can be sexual, physical, verbal, silent aka psychological, emotional or financial. Men are insulted, ridiculed, dejected, rejected and humiliated day in and day out by their bosses (men or women). In fact sometimes even more than women! Because in the process of making our work environments sensitive to women’s rights, safety and security, we’ve somewhere forgotten our men in this aspect!
So it becomes okay to expect a man to work for long hours and not the woman. And it becomes okay to yell at a man and not on a woman. And oh well, a man can’t have a stomach ache, after all he doesn’t get periods! After all, he is a man, he’s got no business to be hurt in this big bad world!
The recent suicide cases of men who were thrust upon with #MeToo charges sums up my stance on this disparity. This is height of ignorance and desensitized attitudes towards men at work places in the wake of #MeToo movement.
There are many men out there who have their #SheToo stories as well! Let’s lend a kind, compassionate and patient ear to their #SheToo stories as well! Men deserve an equal chance in this for that to me will be authentic feminism then!
And this brings me to the epicenter of the quakes of the feminazis! To me, whilst #SheToo stories of men is an underwater volcano, #SheToo stories of women is a sub-glacial volcano! Stories of women abused by women is being loosely tucked underneath the shallow sheets of ice! But a volcano is a volcano! And in times of global warming, the ice is melting any which ways! It’s time to stop glorifying women as God and treat them as human beings who can err too.
Because there are many women out there who have their #SheToo stories too! Even Hillary Clinton has one! 63% of white women voted for Trump in spite of him making open outlandish sexist remarks against women in his campaign. Yet they chose him! And it disgusts me to the core that the women who voted for Trump found him to be a more deserving candidate than Hillary Clinton? I thought finding bad boys alluring was just a fantasy! But this has become a dark funny reality of America today!
Enough of #MeToo! What about #SheToo? What’s wrong with women who cannot support women? Or rather what’s wrong with women who can support a man like Trump who had nothing else except money? Never in the history of United States has a woman been elected as their president! Thanks to the pseudo feminist’s aka feminazis making tall claims about celebrating womanhood in the world!
So if #MeToo is a movement against men sexually exploiting women, #SheToo needs to be a movement against women who are misogynistic towards women!
When enough women are not supporting their own fellow women, it is unfair to blame men in its entirety. Ladies, #MeToo’s will keep happening unless we set our own house in order! If he abused her sexually, she abused her mentally.
Half of the issue around #MeToo movement will dissipate if women begin to protect women's dignity and respect with all their might. Our strength weakens the predator but our own rifts strength him. So if we want to stop being preyed upon, we need to first fence it by having each other’s back. Because the predator would then stay away knowing his prey is surrounded by fellow spartan women who will no longer suck their saliva and turn a blind eye to any woman being abused in any form.
It’s time we cease to play this futile blame game with men in the name #MeToo. Let us as women take this mantle in our own hands and empower each other to voice our voice. And from where I see it, men will take a cue and follow suit.
Being the realist that I am, is it wise to celebrate women’s day today whilst debilitating men’s rights to voice their #SheToo stories? And if men have their #SheToo stories, women have their #SheToo stories too of NOT being abused by a Man but by a Woman! Is it wise to glorify women as God who cannot err? I don’t think so! Women are just as human as men are! And if men can make mistakes, women can make some too!
This women’s day let us acknowledge this sub-glacial volcano before the water level rises above the dangerous levels! (Before another Hillary Clinton loses to a cocky guy like Trump or someone like Trump! Thanks to our feminazis aka pseudo feminists!)Because the solution to any problem is to first acknowledge it. I have done my Karma by voicing it today by coining #SheToo! Over to you now to share this further because a problem shared is a problem halved! We have to begin somewhere.
This is to all the women out there:
Next time you spot a bright young flame doing great for herself, let’s support her to step up in her ladder of success. When a smart woman of your age is doing well for herself or even better than you, let’s pat her back and encourage her, ‘Good Going Girl!’. And when we see a rising star elder to us going great guns in her life, let’s look up to her and be inspired and learn from her!
That’s my take on authentic feminism! What do you think?
Head hunters looking for new roles in shipping mainstream,open to relocation if required.No Notice period.
4 年Well written Swati Sharma
Chairman Peopleist India Pvt Ltd Mentoring the Leaders For Greater Contribution for Nation Building
4 年Very balanced article Swati . A great write up.
Seeking Part-Time opportunities
5 年Very well penned...what a great read...
VP-HR | Certified Emotional Intelligence Coach | Business Mentor | Startup Advisor |Strategic Planner | Panel Speaker
5 年#MenToo?. So well articulated https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6511142031568531456
Senior Director @ Renard Int'l | Hospitality Administration/Management/Operations and Service Excellence
5 年Keep it Real......Always and you will progress in this amazing world of opportunities. Truth begins with you n purity follows..??