Rape jokes are a problem, and they’ve become far too commonly used among high school students despite the fact that there is nothing funny about violating someone. Beyond this, a complaint about these frankly disturbing jokes can be seen as overly sensitive, and not as a reasonable argument.
The critique of rape humor and other similarly sexist ideas is a part of feminism, which has come to have a bad name. Specifically, that name is “feminazi”, a slur Rush Limbaugh originally popularized by using it in his book The Way Things Ought to Be. This term, which eloquently equates feminism to the propaganda of the Holocaust, is used by those who disagree with feminists.
Feminism is seen as an extremely radical idea due to organizations like FEMEN, an activist group based in France. In 2012, their members held an offensive protest against burqas by wearing them and stripping in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods. The point was to protest the supposed lack of freedom in clothing choices that Muslim women face by choosing to practice their own religion.
This bigoted, misinformed protest just shows that FEMEN members do not understand one of the most basic principles of feminism, which is freedom of choice. Muslim women made their disapproval of the organization’s attempts to be progressive known by creating a Facebook group, Muslim Women Against Femen, which states that they “have had enough of Western feminists imposing their values on us”. The group was created in early 2013, has 14,500 likes, and is a clear representation of the fact that different cultures call for vastly different types of feminism.
Unfortunately, feminists with similar views to FEMEN have become a stereotype. In reality, various types of feminism do not only apply to different cultures and religions, but also to every individual. Woman of color, gay women, transsexual woman, and an unlimited array of human beings have to fit into this one apparently novel concept that everyone deserves equal rights. Radicals like FEMEN members dilute the idea of equality in feminism by pushing their personal values and ideas to a point where they oppress other women.
While extreme organizations and activists have misinterpreted the idea by trying to make one definition fit everyone, there aren’t enough handy little boxes to fit people into, and there never will be. Feminism is an effort to address how our problematic society treats women and girls, and it cannot be defined as one specific ideal for every individual women to ascribe to.
Feminism is not a radical idea. It’s common sense, and is not an idea that can be universalized.