Björn recenserade We should all be feminists av Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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4 stjärnor
It's an adapted 30-minute TED talk so it's all very basic, but then it's a pretty basic question, isn't it? Yet it's funny how controversial it's (once again) become...
She sticks the word "feminist" right there in the title, then begins with a story about how when she was 14, a boy she knew called her "feminist" - "the same tone with which a person would say, 'You're a supporter of terrorism.'" So she goes back to the very simple (and very current-whatever-wave) question: Just how are gender roles formed, anyway? Why do we feel this need to protect them as if they were natural laws without which reality itself might break apart? Why do we pretend not to notice that the current situation hurts women and men? Why do we think "feminism" is a threat to "masculinity", when it's the current situation that's led to this brittle, desperate definition …
It's an adapted 30-minute TED talk so it's all very basic, but then it's a pretty basic question, isn't it? Yet it's funny how controversial it's (once again) become...
She sticks the word "feminist" right there in the title, then begins with a story about how when she was 14, a boy she knew called her "feminist" - "the same tone with which a person would say, 'You're a supporter of terrorism.'" So she goes back to the very simple (and very current-whatever-wave) question: Just how are gender roles formed, anyway? Why do we feel this need to protect them as if they were natural laws without which reality itself might break apart? Why do we pretend not to notice that the current situation hurts women and men? Why do we think "feminism" is a threat to "masculinity", when it's the current situation that's led to this brittle, desperate definition of a man as "Well, at least he's stronger than his woman"?
Not long ago, I wrote an article about being young and female in Lagos. And an acquaintance told me that it was an angry article, and I should not have made it so angry. But I was unapologetic. Of course it was angry. Gender as it functions today is a grave injustice. I am angry. We should all be angry. Anger has a long history of bringing about positive change. In addition to anger, I am also hopeful, because I believe deeply in the ability of human beings to remake themselves for the better.
It is scary that such a simple concept needs to be reclaimed again and again and again. But it's nice to, now and then, see it spelled out this simply.