Are You a Feminist Or an Equalist?

As one may put it, it is more like a war of terms than war of sexes. And the world is visibly split into two halves – one who perceives feminism as feminism and one who is confused between equalism vs. feminism. The new-age girls do not tag them as feminists, rather they prefer to be called equalist. Difference between feminism and equalism:

FORMAL DEFINITIONS AVAILABLE

So what is the difference? Going by the Wikipedia’s definition “Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women.” Therefore, feminism precisely preaches equality; hence this is one kind of an equalism itself. Then where is the confusion?

Here are some situations which most of us have faced at least once till date:

You work in a company. Whenever we make a mistake or fail to deliver a project right on time, comments like “women are best at cooking and doing dishes!” “Be merciful on them; she must be thinking of what to prepare for dinner!” come flying at you. You give them a piece of your mind and the next day, you are the uncrowned feminist of the floor.

One of your friends has recently got separated. All the other close acquaintances are pressurising her to reconsider her decision as it’s a woman’s duty to save the marriage from separation. You try to reason out the vagueness of such thoughts as you believe it’s the responsibility of both husband and wife to not let anything damage the relationship. After all, it’s ‘their’ relationship, not ‘his’ or ‘her’.

HOW STRONG IS THE HYPOCRISY?

So whenever you say anything against any common social rule (which is of course, pro-men) and you are tagged as feminist or, better say, man-haters. From the common perceptions and people’s thoughts I have come across, a feminist is a girl or woman happens to:

Believe every next man on earth is a rapist or an aspiring one;
Believe every man is a controlling, annoying, misbehaving misogynist whose only purpose of life is to disrespect all the women on earth;
Believe men should play the role that women have been donning since time immemorial like cooking, baby-sitting, taking care of home and family etc;
Support the wrongful exercise of 498A;
Talk about equality but never fail to shout if a man occupies a ladies seat;
Blame men for exploiting women; but, if situation demands can use the same sexuality to get advances;
Hate male-chauvinism like anything, but hates it even more if a man does not show chivalry.

SHOULD WE REPLACE FEMINISM WITH EQUALISM?

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Thus, to avoid such preconceived accuses, the world felt the need for a new term. And ‘equalism’ is here to replace feminism. An equalist:

Pays her own bills, does not make a face for not being treated with chivalry, does not fight for a ladies seat in public transports;
Independent in its true sense, does not expect a man to fulfill all her dreams and desires;
Believes in true equality in every aspect of life;
Does not generalize views about men and give men the respect that they deserve;
Does not believe or use sexuality or the ‘fairer or weaker sex’ status as a fierce weapon;
Does not misuse any kind of social or legal provisions made for women against men;
But if anything hurts her self-respect, never fails to voice her opinion.

So what are you? A feminist or an equalist?