The feminist movement in America is provocative and disgusting. It comprises white, privileged women who push their own agenda and hide behind the definition of feminism.
Feminism is defined as the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of equality of the sexes. American feminism does not follow this definition because the movement fights for the rights of white women in America, ignoring other ethnicities and classes.
In 2017, the American feminist movement wasted resources to march for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. This rally was a waste of time and money from the movement to reject politicians when there are issues in the world far greater than this instance. There were “sister rallies” following pushing for the same agenda across America in 2018. These marches could have been spent actually pushing the feminist beliefs by helping women in need.
James Bliss, an author and scholar of Black feminism, describes the conflicts of feminism in America stating, “Black women in Black feminism only fought back against white-washed feminism, but women in Intersectionality are fighting for multiple causes simultaneously and the cause gets lost in the process.”
It’s obvious women of color face more hardship than white women do in America. Yet, a movement that is supposed to stand for all women focuses on a group already receives privilege. Besides ostracizing women in America the movement also ignores international women’s suffrage.
In a UNICEF report in 2016, at least 200 million girls and women living in 30 foreign countries have undergone female genital mutilation. These facts are not talked about or fought for by the American Feminist Movement. They focus on irrelevant issues about white women in the upper or middle class when there are women who are receivingphysical abuse.
In the Arab world, 48 percent of women don’t have phones. This disconnects them from news, resources and development in technology. This region is ranked higher than any other region in the world for women’s depression. Women’s employment rate is 25 percent, while women’s employment in the world is 50 percent. Despite their prevalence, women’s issues in the Middle East are rarely discussed by American feminists.
Dressing up as genital parts, marching for the impeachment of political figures and pushing classist and racist agendas is what the feminist movement in America supports. Their focus is faulty and their methodology is subpar. There are women being mutilated, mistreated and oppressed throughout America and throughout the world, yet the feminist movement is focused on their own privileged selves.
Britany Diefenderfer is a 20-year-old English literature junior from Thibodaux, Louisiana.