The Angelic Feminism: A new look to the decaying concept

Unlike most of my blogs, I want to construct this one around creating a conscious model for positive change. It will not be far from the truth to say this title come from my anathema towards the modern feminist movement.  However, I will try my best to go back to the first principles instead of the fundamentalist and reactionary form of feminism that is seen today. For the sake of this discussion I reducing the variability of discrimination to just one parameter. I am also assuming a dichotomy of genders here for the ease of argument. Using principles of Induction, I can then extend it an increasing number of parameters.

Principles

• Women have the same rights as the men (Liberty, Equality and Fraternity)
• Women have the same duty to the society as their male counterparts
• Physiological and psychological differences are not parameters which can make one group superior over another across all vocations.

Facts

• Irrespective of what individual communities and religions say, women have been discriminated against in the past.
• Today, some communities are better and treating their women than others.
• There are levels of mistreatment and their impact has to be differentiated. A perceived sexist remark is completely different from a rape.

Rules

• Religion has formed the rules of the dominance hierarchy. I will not use either the religious rules or my prediction to define the current
• I will avoid ad hominem attacks on any individuals
• Someone taking offence is nobody’s problem

Constructing Women’s Rights from the principles

I now want to construct a set of rights from these principles, facts and rules. According to me, there are three critical women’s rights. While these three might look like something applicable to everyone, there are specific tenets in it which make it specific to this issue.

1. Right to control reproduction
2. Right to work
3. Right to defend

Right to control reproduction

Women have the right to control their reproductive cycle. This includes contraception and termination under due considerations. Any movement to prevent contraception or short term pills is just plain unscientific, immoral, stupid and authoritarian.

However, the two movements in this space have created a false dichotomy. They have hijacked the discussion. This is not a pro-life or a pro-choice debate. While the pro-life team is completely evil, they do have a point do you consider the being to have a life. Based on the view of the biologists, I see that as the early stage of the foetal development, which is 9 weeks after fertilisation. Prior to that, it is an embryo. The other reason I think this is right is that after this stage, the termination of pregnancy also poses a risk to the mother. This is not to say I do not think pregnancy should be terminated after. I believe we should show extreme caution after that. Some of the reasons for the termination of pregnancy should be.

1. Improper development of the foetus.
2. A risk to the mother’s life
3. Other untoward reasons like rape etc

There is also a reason for being careful post foetal development begins.  It risks people checking gender before termination. Again, I want to reiterate, I say we have show restraint and caution after 9 weeks. I didn’t say we should never do it.

Right to work

For me, the right to work includes the following tenets.

1. Equitable pay and allowances
2. Right to respectful treatment (which should cover everyone, not just women)
3. Fair policies compensation for women’s contribution to the society. I consider women bearing a child as something that is critical for the survival of our species. In that instance, the society (Government or otherwise) should compensate the women adequately for the process.

I do not mean the below items.

1. Special privileges which cannot be shared with anyone else. For example, flexible work arrangements if possible should be available to all employees.
2. Unilateral policies which convict people before an investigation, even if they are in favour of women.

Right to defend

Everyone has the right to defend themselves, especially from physical attacks. However, women need additional privileges to be able to do this effectively. Here are the main reasons.

1. Women are attacked more often when any relationship breaks.
2. Women, especially single moms are more vulnerable to physical abuses
3. Women on the average are physically less strong than their male counterparts, so they need to have enough armour to defend themselves.

This right will encompass the below points.

1. Pre-emptive strike to defend their honour against an intruder or a prospective molester.
2. Train to use self-defence arms like handguns.
3. Ability to get licenced arms without hassles.

Why is a reset of this topic important

I plan to write another blog on the arguments around privilege which we need to avoid. However, there are the reasons why resetting has become very critical.

1. The term misogyny is used indiscriminately. It has become a smear attack now.
2. Feminism has gotten stereotyped and has become the monster it hated. A mother who wants to stay home for a few years to take care of her child is not an old-fashioned submissive woman. That is her wish. To force our wish on a woman is what brought about this issue in the first place.
3. Defending anti-woman practices cannot be feminism. I am seeing women defending practices like female genital mutilation, dowry, submitting to the wishes of the male partner under the name of feminism.
4. Neither has every male lived a privileged life nor has every woman lived a subjugated life. Historically different cultures had different forms of subjugation and discrimination. There is no effective mechanism to come up with a weighted average of the impact of intergenerational subjugation and discrimination on individuals. So, an open statement on privilege by the looks of a person is not going to help. The war against class-based discrimination in medieval Europe had only people of one race. Most of it was not gender specific as well.

I deliberately called the new version of feminism ‘angelic’. It should respect feminity, individual preference, responsibility while continuing to oppose the anti-woman practices in the society.