Thread by @fayee_kanem

I hope to clear the "Mysterious air" surrounding the "feminist" tags. I have heard men avoid women who have "feminist" on their bio. Hopefully this thread enlightens us.
It will interest you that along the line, I will talk about Qasim Amin, the FATHER of arab feminism, who

argued for legal and social reforms for the Arab woman. So, Yes, there are Male Feminists too.
I give kudos to my gender studies lecturer Dr Irene Osemeka of University of Lagos, for introducing us to the beauty of coexistence, guiding discusions on the delicate topic, while

helping clear the hostile air brought as a result of the topic.
The quote "what a man can do, a woman can do better"
This statement has become the "defense statement" used by women to prove their strength, but the undertone depicts the fear and uncertainty pushed on the self

esteem of women, hence, a person from my own type of feminism stance will say "what a man can do, (if a woman is willing and able to achieve it) a woman can do too.
This is not to attack e-feminists, or defend men, it's to help us know what we are talking about, so as to

understand in-depth what's being said, when defending our beliefs.
To clear the air, it's possible to become a feminist as a result of ones hatred towards men as a result of past experiences. Each "feministic" belief has a group they fall under.

Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.
According to Britannica, Feminism, is the belief in social, economic, and political equality of the sexes. 
According to Wikipedia (not a valid source for academic and educational documents)

Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the genders.This includes fighting gender stereotypes and seeking to establish

educational and professional opportunities for women that are equal to those for men.
In my explanation, I like to say, it's the fight for freedom that allows a female, rights equal to a male, in every field and on every ground, to explore the wings of their creative spirit,

without the limitations of gender.

HISTORY OF FEMINISM
The history of the modern western feminist movements is divided into three "waves". Each wave dealt with different aspects of the same feminist issues. The first wave comprised women's suffrage movements of the nineteenth

and early twentieth centuries, promoting women's right to vote. The second wave was associated with the ideas and actions of the women's liberation movement beginning in the 1960s. The second wave campaigned for legal and social equality for women. The third wave is a

continuation of, and a reaction to, the perceived failures of second-wave feminism, which began in the 1990's.
The likes of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Emmeline Pankhurst, Wilhelmina Drucker, Simone Veil, and Louise Weiss,Qasim Amin, signify feminists who have risen between the

First and third waves. These women and their achievements can be googled, but I will be talking about Qasim Amin, who argued for Legal and Social reforms for the Arab woman. Qasim Amin, who argued for Legal and Social reforms for the Arab woman.

Amin was an Egyptian philosopher, reformer, judge, member of Egypt's aristocratic class, and central figure of the Nahda Movement. His advocacy of greater rights for women catalyzed debate over women's issues in the Arab world. He criticized veiling, seclusion, early marriage,

and lack of education of Muslim women.
He was greatly influenced by the works of Darwin, Herbert Spencer and John Stuart Mill who argued for equality of the sexes, and believed was analogous to the "evolution of societies from despotism to democracy, Amin believed that

heightening women's status in society would greatly improve the nation. His friendships with Muhammad Abduh, a religious scholar and liberal reformer, and Saad Zaghloul, Egyptian prime Minister between 26th January and 24th November, 1924, also influenced this thinking.

Amin blamed traditional Moslems for Egyptian women's oppression saying that the Quran did not teach this subjugation but rather supported women's rights. His beliefs were often supported by Quranic verses.
Though some of Amin's conclusions were a little faulty, it can be said

that he created a background for the freedom of the Arab woman, A shoulder with which they could leverage on to create future reforms.
This brief study of Qasim Amin opens us some feminists' advocacy, including Gloria Jean Watkins, known by her pen name, Bell Hooks, an American

author, professor, feminist, and social activist, which although is, and has been, mainly focused on women's rights, argue for the inclusion of men's liberation within its aims because they believe that men are also harmed by traditional gender roles, knowing that patriarchy

could be a dominant outcome of subjectivity to reasoning, as a result of the harms done by traditional gender roles.

TYPES OF FEMINISM
(POLITICAL MOVEMENT GROUP)
LIBERAL FEMINISM: seeks individualistic equality of men and women through political and legal reform without altering

Societal structure
RADICAL FEMINISM: considers the male-controlled capitalist hierarchy as the defining feature of women's oppression and the total uprooting and reconstruction of society as necessary.
CONSERVATIVE FEMINISM: is conservative relative to the society in which it

resides.
LIBERTARIAN FEMINISM: conceives of people as self-owners and therefore as entitled to freedom from coercive interference.
SEPARATIST FEMINISM: does not support heterosexual relationships. Lesbian feminism is thus closely related. Other feminists criticize separatist

Feminism as sexist.
ECOFEMINISTS: see men's control of land as responsible for the oppression of women and destruction of the natural environment; ecofeminism has been criticized for focusing too much on a mystical connection between women and nature.

(MATERIALIST IDEOLOGIES GROUP)
MARXIST FEMINISM: argues that capitalism is the root cause of women's oppression, and that discrimination against women in domestic life and employment is an effect of capitalist ideologies.
SOCIALIST FEMINISM: distinguishes itself from Marxist

feminism by arguing that women's liberation can only be achieved by working to end both the economic and cultural sources of women's oppression.
ANARCHA-FEMINISTS: believe that class struggle and anarchy against the state require struggling against patriarchy, which comes from

involuntary hierarchy.
(BLACK AND POST COLONIAL IDEOLOGIES)
Many of which sprang forth after
A) the realization that early feminists were white
B) colonialism, which spoke of the marginalization of "women of color and post colonial women" by colonial oppression and Western

feminists, but are determined not to turn voiceless

(SOCIAL CONSTRUCT IDEOLOGY)
Speaks of how the idea of "gender" is socially constructed, and cannot be generalized as a result of the varying nature of cultures and histories. Attention is drawn to the Postmodern Feminist who

emphasized the social construction of gender but more importantly the "discursive nature" of reality an example being Pamela Abbott et al note, a postmodern approach to feminism, which highlights "the existence of multiple truths (rather than simply men and women's standpoints).

THE TRANSGENDER Ideology:
According to Wikipedia, (not a noteworthy source for academic and educational documents) Some feminists do not view trans women as women, believing that they have male privilege due to their sex assignment at birth. Additionally, some feminists reject

"transgenderism" due to views that all behavioral differences between genders are a result of socialization, as is the case of postmodern Feminism.
In contrast, other feminists and transfeminists believe that the liberation of trans women is a necessary part of feminist goals.

Third-wave feminists are overall more supportive of trans rights. A key concept in transfeminism is of transmisogyny, which is the irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against transgender women or feminine gender non conformers.

THE CULTURAL MOVEMENT: Riot grrrls a 1990's musical band, took an anti-corporate stance of self-sufficiency and self-reliance. They emphasised on universal female identity and separatism, which often appears more closely allied with the third wave Feminism. The movement

Encouraged and made "adolescent girls' standpoints central", allowing them to express themselves fully just as Lipstick feminism, a cultural feminist movement that attempted to respond to the backlash of second-wave radical feminism of the 1960s and 1970s

In my opinion the most radical of all movements is not that which forces females to neglect their in built beauty to prove Superiority, but that which encourages females to channel their inner anger towards ensuring that every female is allowed to be Superior and Beautiful

in every way she has chosen to.
Of all waves, I'm inspired by third wave, traced to the emergence of the Riot grrrl feminist punk subculture in Olympia, Washington, in the early 1990s, and to Anita Hill's televised testimony in 1991, to an all-male, all-white Senate Judiciary

Committee, that Clarence Thomas, nominated for the Supreme Court of the United States, had sexually harassed her. The term third wave is credited to Rebecca Walker, who responded to Thomas's appointment to the Supreme Court with an article in Ms. magazine,

"Becoming the Third Wave" in 1992 where She wrote
"So I write this as a plea to all women, especially women of my generation: Let Thomas' confirmation serve to remind you, as it did me, that the fight is far from over. Let this dismissal of a woman's experience move you to anger.

Turn that outrage into political power. Do not vote for them unless they work for us. Do not have sex with them, do not break bread with them, do not nurture them if they don't prioritize our freedom to control our bodies and our lives. I am not a post-feminism feminist. I am the

Third wave."
Walker didn't seek to abandon her feminine power and beauty in a bid to prove superiority, but decided to use her feminine beauty/power to fight for the cause she holds dear.
Soile Oluwabamise Victoria
Historian/Strategist/Caterer

Was it enlightening?