From my understanding, feminism is about empowering women’s choice, championing female autonomy, and fore-fronting women’s experiences. And yet, when a woman exercises such freedoms in ways outside of the accepted way of thinking, our so-called advocates for ‘women’s autonomy’, so often deny her choice, gaslight, and shout her dissenting opinion down. ‘Pick me!’ She’s called. ‘She just wants male attention!’ I hear. ‘Brainwashed!’ or ‘Her brain has been poisoned’! ‘Internally misogynistic!’ And so on, and so forth. It’s bizarre, misogynstic even, to suggest a woman cannot make up her own mind, when she chooses something different to you. And yet, I see it all the time. Last week, so called ‘pick me’ actress Gemma Arterton, became the latest to be rounded upon and lectured; stamped down for exercising the very autonomy and choice that the baying mob claims to advocate for. The same happened just a few years ago, when nuclear scientist Kára McCullough said she preferred the term ‘equalism’ when she won Miss America; a powerful, independent, and successful woman of colour, whose lived experience and personal preferences are politically unpopular, and therefore discarded. It makes little sense to me. Women’s autonomy is autonomous, and should care little about the opinions of others. And no doubt, with such a large group of women following this page, many of you will have found the same - yelled at, patronised, and insulted, even having your mental health questioned, for simply wanting to practice gender equality, without the label of ‘feminist’. So why does ‘women’s autonomy’ only seem to accept the decisions we like? And why can we not be advocates for equality, or women’s rights, without the label ‘feminist’ at all? What do you think? ~ IWD Poll

2024-09-18