I’ve been thinking about it for years. Am I more of a humanist than a feminist?
There is so much resistance to feminism. We speak of different waves of feminism and of different types of feminism. The more I tried to justify and define the feminism I stand for, the more corrupted the arguments I was hearing back.
People are clearly wounded. Women, men, and everyone in-between. Many men complain about radical feminists or feminists in general, many women use feminism as a weapon and many people on the spectrum of gender and sex feel left out.
I always stand for the well-being of everyone across-board. I want to see human beings thrive. I’ve made it my life purpose to bring my contribution to the well-being of the people and the planet. This is beyond the binary world we currently live in.
Has feminism become as corrupted as religion?
In that sense, I am more of a humanist. However, women are still discriminated against (in their career, education, home environment, etc), honour killing is still a practice, rape is still justified, female genital mutilation is still a practice, gender-based violence is still widely spread, so much shame and bullying are still widespread and affecting the lives of women around the world, and so on. The list is long.
As a human being, a soul living in a female body, I cannot stay silent against the atrocities against the female body and wellbeing. If I’ve lived a privileged life, today may be a stranger going through one of these many problems. But tomorrow it can be me. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been silenced or bullied for speaking up for my well-being or for simply thinking that speaking up as a fellow human being having the right to have a say in a room full of men. The statistics out there regarding any form of violence against women is beyond heart-wrenching.
Yes, men and other fellow human beings do go through various forms of discrimination too, honour killing, rape, shaming, domestic violence and no one. From this perspective, I’m more of a humanist. I believe that every single person on earth is worth being safe, seen, loved and heard.
In short, I am forging myself to be a human being capable of distinguishing right from wrong irrespective of the gender, “race”, colour, sexual orientation or creed of a person.