Gender Equality is For Everyone

HyperOrphic


It comes as no surprise for most that there has been an up rise in the public awareness of the issues regarding gender inequality that manifests itself in the forms of discrimination, harassment, social double standards, etc. However, with this has come a deeper issue that I feel we are failing to properly address, and as a result, we are forming stigmas about the people who are trying to fight for gender equality.


Notice that I haven’t once brought up feminism – until now. That’s because gender inequality isn’t exclusive to the feminist issue; it’s an issue that exists for all genders. Now while the legal and political battle is improving, the social war continues to rage on, with light coming to issues of victim blaming in regards to rape, harassment and sexual, body shaming and things of such nature. Where I strike issue with in all of this is that men have all but been pushed to the wayside when it comes to these very same problems. As a female (and a feminist) willing to discuss these issues, I have been met with a lot of controversy as well as animosity: I have been labeled an anti-feminist, I have been threatened, cursed at, and shamed all because I feel there is an imbalance of awareness of the gender equality issue, by people who wrongfully label themselves as feminists. I say wrongfully because the feminist movement is to fight for women to have equal rights to men. This means that men and women should have the same rights: if a woman is raped, there should be no question of how she may have instigated it (e.g. her clothing, her behavior/reputation, etc). If a man is raped, there should be no question that the situation would be handled with the same sense of severity and compassion … but is there?


Gender Equality is For Everyone


In my search I have read many articles, posts, and so forth basically attempting to “debunk” the idea that a man can be raped by a woman, on the grounds that he must be erect (and by default, aroused) which insinuates that there is sexual desire involved and the act is no longer rape. Why do I focus on this issue? Because I have been an avid member of fighting against rape culture and victim blaming, and I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t consider both genders in that fight. 80% of all sexual assaults tend to be directed towards women, but in a recent newspaper article (which I was unable to find and link) a male journalist made an extremely valid point: can we rely on the statistics even if it is unlikely that female on male rape is reported?

Just like most sexual assault cases, there is a large amount of them that go unreported. In fact, in the US, 68% of all rapes will go unreported. Some victims refuse to come forward due to shame, fear of repercussion and judgement, and so on. This is tenfold for men due to the stigmas and lack of support there is for the male victims of assault. There is little to no support for men who suffer these issues, as most specialized support is aimed towards the female demographic; Trent University in Oshawa Ontario offers a program to support the victims of rape or to those who know someone who has been raped, to help them deal with trauma and find further assistance. However, it is actually said in the program’s description that it does not offer this assistance to males, but that they will help redirect them to other resources. While there is still a minimal amount of support available, it deters those who are looking for close, private assistance. Why would these programs no offer the same help to men? It doesn’t stop there however: most domestic violence shelters will remove or turn men away in the place of a woman who needs that space. The gender inequality issue is easy enough to see for itself.


Gender Equality is For Everyone


There are many more resources made available to women under the basis that they are the primary suffers to most of the issues that I mentioned above. I fully support every single one of the programs offered to women and will not deny that they are greatly affected by these issues, I don’t feel that the volume of the occurrences means that we should cut (or simply not supply) resources to people who are simply considered to be in the realm of the “minority.” If we continued with the mentality that we need only to assist the majority, many of the more obscure issues that exist in our world would never, ever be realized. Take ALS for example: before it became a viral video campaign, ALS was nowhere near as publically recognized as something such as breast cancer. If no one had stepped up to make this clearly devastating issue known, suffers of the disease would have never been given a voice, and there would have been no change. We need to fight for this same change in regards to gender equality.


As I have said, I am a feminist and I support the feminist message, but all too often do I see people using the title to assign blame to the entirety of a gender all while neglecting the fact that they are also affected by the same issues. It’s time that we make a new movement that works towards fighting for the rights of all genders: men, women, transgendered, and so on. Gender equalism is a better way to move our world in the direction of true equality, where no one is left feeling that their trials are unimportant, that they have reason to feel fear or shame for what happened to them, and we all but abolish social stigmas towards men or women simply because they will no longer be true. Am I saying that we need to get rid of gender specific groups? Not at all, but I do feel that we all need to band together and use our combined strength to create a fairer, more equal world.

Gender Equality is For Everyone
14 Opinion