I haven’t written anything feminist-based in a while but I’ve been wanting too, and today I was thinking about the #NotAllMen line of argument and how it really is quite ridiculous; I thought of an excellent comparison, but first, I’ll explain the #NotAllMen argument to any readers who may not be familiar with it. Basically, when somebody raises a point regarding a problem with our society like “it’s awful that men think it’s okay to shout sexual things at women on the streets” they’ll often get replies which say something like “well, actually, not all men think that’s okay” and that’s the #NotAllMen arguement.
Now, let’s make a comparison: say someone says “I hate it when people leave rubbish in their seat when they get off the bus” they aren’t then met with “well, actually not all people do that” are they? Yet it’s pretty much the exact same thing. Of course not all men do these things, of course nobody thinks that and anybody who has a basic understanding of feminist arguments should know this, and, if they don’t have a basic understanding of feminism, they probably shouldn’t be publicly voicing their opinions on a feminist subject. Now, I’m sure there are times when people have just used this argument rather naively without a degree of sexism and may have been sadly met with criticism rather than education and I don’t want to sound rude, but the argument really is rather unhelpful… Or, as I’ve just realised, that last sentence could be summarised as #NotAllNotAllMenMen (sorry, just a bit of silliness at the end of a serious entry!)
(Don’t miss my latest article for SmartDating UK.)
Now, let’s make a comparison: say someone says “I hate it when people leave rubbish in their seat when they get off the bus” they aren’t then met with “well, actually not all people do that” are they? Yet it’s pretty much the exact same thing. Of course not all men do these things, of course nobody thinks that and anybody who has a basic understanding of feminist arguments should know this, and, if they don’t have a basic understanding of feminism, they probably shouldn’t be publicly voicing their opinions on a feminist subject. Now, I’m sure there are times when people have just used this argument rather naively without a degree of sexism and may have been sadly met with criticism rather than education and I don’t want to sound rude, but the argument really is rather unhelpful… Or, as I’ve just realised, that last sentence could be summarised as #NotAllNotAllMenMen (sorry, just a bit of silliness at the end of a serious entry!)
(Don’t miss my latest article for SmartDating UK.)
(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)
