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Not only fake news, there’s also fake feminist opinion

June 30, 2017 By MsAfropolitan 3 Comments

It is not only news that is increasingly “fake”, a similar trend is emerging in feminism with commentators writing what I refer to as “fake feminist opinion”. Here’s my latest column for the Nigeria Guardian where I expand on this troubling development.


For much of feminist history, the majority of people have distanced themselves from the ideology because it was considered radical. Now, it seems everyone, men and women alike, call themselves a feminist without necessarily actually believing in equal rights because it is considered radical.

The internet is largely to thank, or curse, for the flip. It has enabled the sharing of feminism in unprecedented ways, which is good. But it has also made it possible for sexist commentators to write any amount of patriarchal commentary and label it feminist, which is bad. It is a trend that feminists urgently need to counter. The internet is the primary source of information for many people today, and it is worrying how much lies is peddled as feminist with no semblance of accuracy. Nowhere is this as prevalent as in African media, which seems delighted to publish what we can refer to as “fake feminist” opinion articles, where authors are either themselves horrendously misinformed or they take deliberate care to misinform others.

For example, in a recent article in The Nigerian Tribune, “On Feminism and African Culture,” the author writes on the one hand that feminists rightly “believe they can have the same rights as men” while arguing on the other hand that since women were created from the rib of man, “A woman should reach her potential but it still does not make her equal to a man.” This is NOT feminism. And nor is it African culture, just to make the record clear. It is Judeo-Christian culture.

 Similarly, in a recent clip from an interview with Jumoke Adenowo from the hit series, “King Women,” Adenowo says that, “To be a submissive woman, first be powerful.” Although the message is coming from an admirable source, it is nevertheless a faulty one, akin to saying; to be unhappy first be happy; or to be poor first be rich; or to be unhealthy first be healthy. Adenowo does not to my knowledge refer to herself as a feminist so this isn’t about her per se. I mention the clip simply as it points to how easily a disempowering message can come across as powerful.

The examples are plenty. In a simultaneously staunchly anti-feminist culture, it is ironic that patriarchal messages are being dressed up as feminist. Were it not so misleading, it would almost be satirical that feminism has become so popular in certain circles that people are using it as a label to reinforce sexist biases.

Feminists themselves must take some of the blame for this. They have been pandering to “choice feminism,” where anything a woman does is considered feminist so long as it is her so-called choice. Here’s the thing worth remembering though: Women gaining freedom to choose their lifestyle is indeed a feminist victory, but not every lifestyle is feminist because it was chosen by a woman.

Filed Under: feminism, Social Criticism Tagged With: fake feminist opinion, Fake news

Comments

  1. Mar says

    July 1, 2017 at 10:36 am

    Hi: this is not even Judeo-Christian culture, just a bad interpretation. If you go to Genesis (which I did), Eve was apparently created twice ;-). The Bible first says: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (in 1:27). In the previous story, those people who talk about that “rib” forget the one who was created like that and just read the second one….

    Reply
  2. Leila MY says

    January 3, 2018 at 4:38 pm

    Ce que je retiens “les femmes qui gagnent la liberté de choisir leur style de vie sont en effet une victoire féministe, mais tous les styles de vie ne sont pas féministes parce qu’elles ont été choisies par une femme.” C’est encore si difficile de vivre par soi-même, choisir par soi-même que celles qui le font sont étiquetées . Pourtant on attendra toujours d’un homme qu’il prenne les bonnes décisions pour lui. Même ou il s’agit simplement de bon sens, on essaye de parler de féminisme. Pour dire à quel point même le recours au bon sens est souvent refusé aux femmes et il faut une lutte encore pour y avoir accès. Glory be to God, le féminisme existe.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. How African Feminism and Afropolitanism Shaped the Cultural Agenda of the Decade and How They Might Influence the Next One says:
    September 14, 2020 at 9:24 am

    […] Two cultural stories that had a key impact on Africa’s cultural and literary sphere in the past decade are African feminism and afropolitanism. Through the 2010s, Afropolitanism catalyzed critical discussions to do with Africa and diaspora heritage, belonging, the arts, capitalism, elitism, and globalization at museums, conferences and exhibitions. It framed commercial magazines and academic books alike and outlined passionate debate both online and offline. African feminism too influenced cultural life in undeniable ways. The 2010s saw seminal books by writers like Chimamanda Adichie, Bernardine Evaristo, Chika Unigwe, Maaza Mengiste and Sisonke Msimang to name only a few African feminist writers who changed the face of the African literary scene. African feminist discourse shaped the global mainstream too, most explicitly in pop icon Beyoncé’s video for Flawless, which featured Adichie, but African feminist themes were visible also in blockbusters such as Black Panther. Elsewhere, panels, articles, Twitter debates, you name it, drove conversations. If it was unfashionable even for progressive-minded Africans to be feminist at the beginning of the 2010s, at the end of the decade it was so fashionable to be feminist that even sexist commentators wrote patriarchal commentary and labelled it feminist. […]

    Reply

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Feminism. African Studies. Social Criticism.

Hi! I'm Minna Salami, I'm a Nigerian-Finnish and Swedish writer and social critic, and the founder of this blog. Read my full bio here

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