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Marissa Collier

Professor Garrett

ENG.1201.K13

April 11, 2021

How Does Feminism Misrepresent Women?

Merriam Webster defines feminism as "[The] belief in and advocacy of the political,

economic, and social equality of the sexes" (Merriam-Webster). Society believes that feminists

are no longer seeking equality but are attempting to push men down to make women superior.

Although there are feminists that are guilty of this, women are still fighting for their equal rights.

Currently, feminists are working to protect women's right to have control over their bodies with

the option of an abortion. Although this is an important fight, there are groups of women,

specifically women of color who are still fighting inequalities and feminism has failed to help

them. They are neglecting women who are still dealing with a massive pay gap, experiencing

hate crimes, and women who do not fit the stereotype. Women are still not getting an equal

opportunity in Hollywood and continue to be set up for failure, but feminists have never spoken

about that either. Feminism supports causes that help the majority, but do not speak against

deeper issues that are harmful to specific groups of women. Feminism misrepresents women by

only fighting for surface-level concerns that apply to white women and neglecting women of any

other race, also merely fighting surface-level issues.

Feminist movements have been occurring for centuries. The first identifiable feminist

movement took place in the late nineteenth century, according to Martha Rampton in her article

“The Four Waves of Feminism”. In this wave, women aimed to push back against the domestic
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life that society reserved to gain more

opportunities. Women engaged in

behaviors that were “un-ladylike”, such as

public speaking and demonstrating

(Rampton). The second wave in the 1960s

targeted sexuality, reproductive rights, and

passing the Equal Rights Amendment, which guaranteed equality regardless of sex. The second

wave became much more diverse than the first wave that middle-class, cisgender, white women

led. The third wave began in the 90s and women worked to deconstruct the idea of “'universal

womanhood'" which only accepted women who fit society's standards (Rampton). Third-wave

feminists realized that feminism meant supporting all women, not just the women seen in

magazines. Most women in this wave decided not to identify as feminists. They believed that it

was limiting and failed to represent the entire population of women. Although each wave of

feminism was different, it had the same results of granting women freedom.

Feminism is not always pushing to get a law passed. Sometimes it is simply accepting

women. Women have more emotions than happiness; they experience anger, depression, and

every other emotion, but the media fails to show this. Due to the stereotype of women always

being happy, they feel forced to put on a fake smile and pretend that everything is great. An

instance of this is the pro-life, pro-choice debate. In both arguments, abortions are oversimplified

and fail to show the true impact of the procedure. Erin Sagen argues in the article “Even

Feminism Misrepresents Women” that conservatives label women who have an abortion as the

villain and the baby as a victim. Liberals may support women having abortions, but they see

abortions as a simple procedure that will provide women with a sense of relief (Sagen). Neither
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of these views acknowledges the complex emotional components of having an abortion, which

leaves women feeling the need to hide their emotions after having an abortion. They may feel

some sense of relief after having an abortion, but there are complicated emotions that occur after

an abortion, despite the reason for it. According to “Abortion: Emotional Recovery”, the natural

hormone changes that occur during pregnancy are disrupted by having an abortion. The

disruption of hormones causes women to become more emotional, which can potentially evolve

into depressive symptoms. These emotions can last anywhere from days to years, depending on

the woman (Healthwise Staff). The natural grieving period that results from an abortion goes

unnoticed by anyone uneducated about the reality of the procedure. Feminists may work to

protect women’s rights to have an abortion, but they fail to inform people of the aftereffects,

which can be worse than the procedure itself. Women may be able to have an abortion, but it will

only cause more pain if women must deal with these effects alone. Women need some support

after having an abortion, but that can only happen if people are informed. There is no way to

connect these feelings to the abortion if people are uneducated about it. Feminists cannot only

fight to give women the right to an abortion. They must also educate others about the truth of

having one to provide women the support they need.

Women’s feelings are disregarded a lot in everyday life. In culture, people see women as

kind and joyful humans, so any other emotion might be seen as odd. Society only seems to

celebrate women who embrace these positive emotions. In Sanger’s article, she claims that only

celebrating strong women enables the patriarchy despite thinking that it may promote gender

equality (Sagen). Only celebrating strong women generates a struggle for women to show their

emotions. Only celebrating strong women may feel like they are invalid if they do not just push

through their struggles instead of allowing themselves to feel their emotions. Mark Greene
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explains in the article “Women Are Better at Expressing Emotions, Right? Why It’s Not That

Simple” that when women express their deeper emotions, they are declared irrational (Greene).

Women will begin to suppress their feelings if they are regularly overlooked, which is harmful to

them. Feminists must work towards normalizing all emotions and empowering women who

express them, not just the women that push through. They must create an environment for

women where they are allowed to grieve and experience more difficult emotions like anger and

sadness. This would break that fear in women to not show their struggle. Celebrating only strong

women does not empower women. It makes women feel like they are not valid if they are not

strong. Women deserve the right to show when they are not okay and still feel validated. But by

celebrating only the strong women, women are stripped of that right. Feminists are not

representing women by having these labels, but they are dividing women.

Feminism has seemed to evolve from supporting women; it has become a marketing

technique. Feminists previously used newspapers and other media outlets to raise awareness of

their movements and beliefs. But recently, the media has promoted feminism to profit or to

withdraw attention from real systemic issues. In the Time article, “Modern Feminism Should

Stop Selling Out”, Andi Zeisler argues that these ads inspire women to fight gender norms

instead of pushing corporations to make a change is more harmful than it is helpful (Ziesler).

Urging women to make the change only encourages corporations and puts the responsibility of

change on women, even though it is not their responsibility. Women are still facing a challenge

with corporations and their unwillingness to hire more women. Feminists encouraging women to

take a stand against this issue is problematic because feminists are blaming women when they

should be supporting them and helping them. People may argue that there is no inequality

happening because women are simply not applying for specific jobs. But “If Women Don’t
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Apply to Your Company, This Is Probably Why”, authors Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, Alison

Wynn, and Shelley J. Correll prove that this is not the case. In a study from Harvard, researchers

attended 84 information sessions and took note of the presentations. They discovered that women

were typically disinterested when they were not represented well in the company. On the other

hand, it seemed as though women participated more when a woman speaker was present and the

company did not seem biased towards men (Mackenzie et al., 2019). Women are applying for

these jobs, but the companies are not actively trying to diversify the workplace. Companies must

be held accountable for not trying to engage women to diversify their companies. Women should

not be blamed for this issue, nor should it be disregarded. This must be talked about. Women are

not being represented correctly in companies and they are being told that it is their fault. It is

women’s responsibility to recognize when this inequality is taking place, but it is not their duty

to fix it. The focus must be put on the corporations.

Women have hidden their gender identity to see success in Hollywood, specifically

female directors. With the bad reputation that female directors have, it may be their only route to

success. An example of this is Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman in eighty years to win the

Academy Award for Best Director. Bigelow creates movies that are more masculine than the

content that most female directors create. Although she has been a feminist for her entire life, she

does not identify with it in her work. Gaye Williams Ortiz explains that Bigelow wishes to

identify as a director rather than a female director (Ortiz). Bigelow is working to dismantle the

sexist beliefs regarding women directors by not identifying as one. By not giving the stereotype

any attention, it will eventually become the norm. Some people may wonder why she refuses to

classify as a female director, but, in Ian Kunsey’s paper, “Representations of Women in Popular

Film: A Study of Gender Inequality in 2018”, he shows the massive difference between male-
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directed movies and female-directed movies. The top-grossing movie directed by a female in

2018, A Wrinkle in Time, only made $100,478,608, whereas Black Panther, the top-grossing

male-directed movie in 2018, made $77,059,566 (Kunsey). All the movies directed by women

fall in the bottom half of the top 100 grossing movies. This proves that there is a stereotype when

it comes to female directors. It could be a coincidence, but the budgets for Black Panther and A

Wrinkle in Time differed by $100,000,000. The average budget between the top five movies

directed by a man or a woman deviates by approximately 1.5 billion dollars (Kunsey). Women

are not receiving equal treatment in Hollywood. They are not even receiving the same

opportunities as men. Feminism must work to get these equal resources and decrease the budget

gap. Women are still fighting a battle in Hollywood to be fully recognized without any support.

Feminists are supposed to support women and help them gain these equal opportunities, but they

are not. Feminists can help women in Hollywood by supporting female-produced movies.

Supporting female directors would give female directors more recognition and eventually lead to

closing the budget gap. Feminists can help women get these opportunities, but they are not.

Some people feel that modern-day feminism is striving to steal the spotlight from men,

but women are still working to be recognized. In the article “Feminism Sets Young Women Up

for Failure and Disappointment”, author Suzanne Venker argues that feminism did not save

women. It was the technology and inventions created by men that granted them freedom. She

claims that women should acknowledge the part that men played in that process (Venker).

Although men do deserve to receive credit where credit is due, men are still receiving credit that

belongs to women. Although men need to receive credit for their accomplishments, men did not

actively work to grant women freedom. Women have never received the praise that men have,

specifically women of color. For example, according to “Black Women & the Pay Gap”,
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although the overall pay gap between men and women has almost closed, black women are

receiving 63% of what white men make in a year (Black Women & the Pay Gap). This pay gap

represents a lack of recognition for women. Although men and women are performing the same

tasks, women are not receiving the same amount of credit as men. Feminism should still be

working to grant women full recognition. There are some cases when women are looking to

overpower men, but for the most part, women are focused on seeking equal opportunity. Instead

of working towards stealing men’s power, feminists should be focused on dealing with the

inequalities that some women are facing.

All fights against inequality intertwine. Some people only face one type of inequality, but

some experience a multitude of them. With the pay gap between white men and Black women,

“Racism and Sexism Combine to Shortchange Working Black Women”, Jocelyn Frye explains

that it would take about eight months for a Black woman working full-time year-round to make

the same amount that a white male did in the same year (Frye). This is due to Black women

fighting against both sexism and racism. Feminism is not fighting for black women in the United

States, and no one is even talking about these issues. Luckily, intersectional feminism represents

women of every kind, especially those battling more than one type of inequality. According to

“What is Intersectional Feminism? A Look at the Term You May be Hearing A Lot”, Alia E.

Dastagir explains that intersectional feminism is the understanding of how these identities of

women impact their experience with oppression and discrimination (Dastagir). Intersectional

feminism is important to society because it raises awareness to all of women’s struggles with

inequality rather than just gender inequality. No one’s experiences are the same and

intersectional feminism recognizes that. Intersectional feminism would have a positive impact on

everyone, including Asian women. With ongoing COVID-19 that originated in China, Asian
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Americans have been a huge target for hate crimes. For example, on March 16, 2021, a man

went to multiple spas and killed a total of eight women, six of them being of Asian descent.

According to The New York Times, the shooter, Robert Long claims that this attack was not

racially inclined. Long explained to police that he has a sexual addiction and was looking to kill

the “temptation” (“8 Dead in Atlanta Spa Shootings, With Fears of Anti-Asian Bias”). Although

the shooter may claim that the shooting was not racially inclined, the tragedy did raise a lot of

questions about the stereotypes of Asian women.

The shooter may have not explicitly claimed that the shooting was racially inclined, but

statistics still prove that the amount of hate crimes against Asian Americans have significantly

increased in 2021. According to an analysis by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism

CSUSB, the percent of overall hate crimes has decreased by 7%, but the percent of Anti-Asian

hate crimes has increased by almost 150% (Anti-Asian Prejudice March 2020). This specific

shooting may not have been racially inclined, but there were other crimes that were. The media is

failing to cover any of these hate crimes. Even #stopasianhate is not being properly represented

in the media. Feminists can help to raise awareness of this topic, though. Even if the six Asian

women that were killed in this shooting were not targeted for their race, they were targeted due

to their gender. Asian American Women experience a multitude of stereotypes, one of them

being the idea that they are submissive and essentially sex objects. According to a 2018 study

from Asian American Journal of Psychology, only four out of 107 participants claimed to have

never experienced discrimination of some kind (Asian American Womens’ Experiences of

Discrimination). If the Atlanta shooting had nothing to do with race, it had something to do with

these sexist stereotypes. The man told the police that he has an addiction, which means when he

saw these Asian Women, he was fetishizing them. When he looked at them, he saw these
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stereotypes. Intersectional feminism can work to represent these Asian women and all women

who are facing other types of inequalities. Women are living in fear and are fighting to dismantle

racist and sexist ideas. Intersectional feminism can give these women support in their fight and

help them with all forms of inequality.

Women might be lacking in representation, but that does not mean that they should not be

held accountable. In 2006, the #metoo movement was created to raise awareness of women who

had been sexually assaulted. The movement was not widely known until actress, Alyssa Milano

tweeted about it after accusing Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault

(Gurbinder, Imran). The #metoo movement has had a lot of positive impacts on women. It has

allowed them women to feel safe enough to tell their story of sexual assault and has also

encouraged people and businesses to take sexual assault more seriously. But unfortunately, there

is a problematic side of #metoo. There are women who have taken advantage of the support of

this movement and falsely accuse men of raping them. False allegations can completely change

the accuser's life. According to the article “What Can You Do if Someone Falsely Accuses You

of Rape?” by hg.org, the very accusation of sexual assault can cause someone to lose their job,

ruin their reputation, and cause dangerous emotional effects (What to Do if Someone Accuses

You of Rape?). Women who are taking advantage of this movement are simply ruining men’s

lives. They are losing their jobs and being forced to take responsibility for something they did

not even do. The same article explains that men who are proven to be falsely accused do not

even receive justice. Authority figures do not want real rape victims to be afraid of receiving

criminal charges in case the case is impossible to prove. Therefore, these cases of false

allegations mostly do not end up in court (What to Do if Someone Accuses You of Rape?).

Feminists are failing to address this problem and are allowing women to ruin men’s lives.
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Women are not being held accountable for their actions and have been given the power to ruin a

man’s life.

Feminism has done wonders for women over the past few decades, and it’s not done yet.

Feminism still has a place in society, but it is not what people may believe it is. The problem

with modern-day feminism is that it is focusing on the wrong issues. There are many women that

are suffering in silence due to this. Feminism is failing represent women and only seems to fight

for the issues that are explained in media. Current feminism is failing to represent women in their

time of need. There may not be a dire law to pass to protect women’s rights now, but women are

still being misrepresented in the world. Women are still not equal in society. Only specific

women are being respected and supported while others are continuing to fight for their rights.

Feminism must change to support all women, not just specific groups of women. Feminists must

work to normalize all women and hold companies accountable for not including women. Modern

feminism must mutate into a version that supports all women. Otherwise, feminism is pointless.
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