Today: Mar 29, 2024

The truth about feminism: A reply to Steven DeCesare

Vivian Englund – Copy Editor 

Truth be told, Steven DeCesare’s skewed stance on feminism is telltale of many ill informed members of society. Feminists are just here to defile every ounce of what is left of masculinity and gender identity, right? No.

For the record—feminism can be simply put as: the belief that men and women should have both equal rights and opportunities.

DeCesare argues that women would allegedly much rather be housewives that have college degrees just for fun, this was thought of after eavesdropping on a conversation between two female classmates.

“…the two young women might have been better off marrying each other and taking turns playing housewife, as finding a college-educated husband capable of providing for them might prove more difficult now,” said DeCesare.

This condescending, oblivious statement was made after DeCesare discovered the fact that more women attend college than men, in more recent years.

If you recall the early American education system, women were discouraged from receiving any sort of education higher than middle school. It was bizarre for women to be educated further than or equal to a man.

Luckily, women started to attend college more frequently in the 1800s, even though this was still considered unethical.

With that said, women shockingly do not attend college just to look for a partner that can provide for them, contrary to DeCesare’s claims.

“So I ask myself, what has feminism done to improve the quality of my life as a young man?” said DeCesare.

Well you are in luck, actually. Feminism has done more for all men than DeCesare alludes to in his article.

Without feminism, it is questionable whether “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would still be in effect.

Without feminism, the federal definition of “rape” would have remained the same. Prior to 2012, the federal definition of rape did not include victims that were men. In 2003, the Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed meaning that there is funding for prevention of rape in prison.

Without feminism, men would not be allowed to be nurses or elementary school educators. This includes the fact that Title IX legislation prohibits gender discrimination in schools funded by the government. Without this, boys and girls would not have equal opportunities for education. Title IX also forbids sexual harassment and assault of any student, including boys.

This list is endless, as women continue to fight for rights for both men and women.

However, there is one thing that baffles me continuously.

“Let me ask you: how much feminist ink has been spilt on fighting the stigma associated with a man’s choosing to become a stay-at-home father or ‘househusband?’” said DeCesare. “Is it none? It’s none, right?”

The implications of male-based oppression here are out of line. I am not sure where this fantastical source is coming from, but let me explain why this notion is entirely incorrect.

When it comes to gender roles, heterosexual men have next to no built in oppression (bold, I know). Feeling an artificial source of being held down, is not actually being held down. Men have never been systematically deemed less than by an entire group of people for thousands of years as women have.

For sexism to continue, there will need to be a source of oppression. That is why sexist heterosexual men and anti-feminist women are so great at being so sexist.

That being said, a woman saying, “men are what makes women oppressed” is not sexist. It is in fact the opposite. Men and women trying to make significant issues lesser is the problem.

That is part of the issue here, sexist heterosexual men and anti-feminist women have no regard about the harsh truth about feminism. It is not just a “dirty word” or complex for women to get ahead, but for equality in every respect.

Read the post that sparked the debate by Natalie Barletta

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