We are feminists, yes, but there is no one definition of
what feminism means, so we sometimes refer to it as
"feminisms" in the plural. This is part of the reason
why we wanted to come together and create this space: so
we could debate how we, as women and feminists, identify
ourselves and our concerns. Because when we come
together, we find out that we sometimes have
contradictory views about what constitutes sexism, what
we should do to end it, and how we should do it. This
diversity, however, is not a liability at all; we
strongly believe that it enriches our community.
The one thing
all feminists agree on is that sexism is indeed a
well-established problem in our societies (so
well-established, in fact, that we say or do things
sometimes that demean women without knowing it) and it
affects us at every level of our lives -- inside our
homes, on our TV screens, in the workplace, our schools,
on the streets, etc…
Very
important to feminism is that we use the term "gender"
as opposed to "sex". While the latter term classifies
people into two distinct sexes, man and woman, with
inherent biological traits and differences, the word
"gender" implies that we believe it is culture and
society that mandates what "feminine" and "masculine"
traits are: it is society that teaches women all their
lives to think and behave in a "feminine" way, and men
to think and act in a "masculine" way.
And though
people tell us that women in Lebanon have been given all
their rights, that we should be grateful that we are
allowed (allowed?!) to drive and wear what we want (or
what we think we want!), here are a few reasons why we
believe many things still need to change:
- We
are supposed to be smart and educated, but only to a
certain extent.
- We
are supposed to go out into the world, but only if
we are chaperoned by a male family member.
-
Throughout our lives, we have to prove that we are
good daughters and then good wives and then mothers.
- We
are supposed to want to be wives and mothers.
- We
are all supposed to be strictly heterosexual.
- We
are expected to look desirable but not act on our
desires.
- We
are expected to look good but not too good because
then we'd be looking for attention, harassment, and
even rape.
- Our
family is supposed to be our protector, but a huge
number of us are abused, physically and/or orally,
inside our homes, by members of our families, and
there are no laws to protect us from familial
violence.
- In a
country where more than half of the population are
women, we have only 6 women parliament members, and
only one minister is a woman.
- We
are required to go from our parents' house straight
to our husband's house.
- We're
not really Lebanese citizens, we're just the
daughters of Lebanese men. Because if we really did
possess a Lebanese citizenship, we'd be able to pass
our nationality to our husbands and children; but we
can't.
- And
even though we are supposed to be equal in the eyes
of the law, we are far, very far from being equal to men.
All that
and more needs to change.
Feminism
is not an imported idea. Every time a woman stands up
and refuses to be abused and exploited, every time she
speaks up against her abusers, every time a woman
believes in her capabilities and pursues her needs and
ambitions, every time she resists being a victim or an
object or an inferior being, she is being a feminist.
And we don't need any Western movement to teach us that
-- we've been doing it all along! And even though some
of you may not call yourself a feminist, we're sure
you've been doing it too.
And as a
last note, feminism does not have the slightest
intention of turning women against men, or of acting
like men are the evil beings and women are the
victimized saints, as some -- for whatever reasons &
intentions -- like to portray us. We believe that men as
well as women are victims of patriarchy, but it is women
(especially, but not exclusively, women with low or no
income, low or no education, women in abusive homes,
immigrant domestic workers, non-heterosexual women, and
children) who remain most vulnerable to patriarchy
because they do not have the advantages that men -- just
for being men -- have.
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