On a very pleasant summmer evening, as I was playing hostess to friends from my hometown, the topic of feminism cropped up. It started off as a harmless discussion where two people (because the other two were only audience) were sharing their views on this rather delicate and sensitive issue but it very soon snowballed into an ugly argument between one drunk person and the bound-by-duty and hence (reluctantly) polite hostess. I realized that I might be feminist. During the discussion/argument, my guest kept repeating that it was God's will and hence man and woman are made differently and we must accept it. He wanted me to accept (among a lot of other unacceptable things) that women are "designed" to take care of household and kids and men are just "meant" to earn the bread. As I was defending my stance, I realised that I am indeed banging my head against a wall. Because my conversation partner was a regressive man with extremely prehistoric views about women and the roles they should play.
Following this debate, several days later I kept pondering how wrongly Feminism is understood by the majority of people I know. I call it "Convenient Feminism". We might be people working in offices and fields but truth be told, there are women who love being the victims. Simple examples like complete denial in operating simple machines like the printer and computer. As soon as the red light flashes, they call for "help". They don't realise that the red light will NOT eat them up. It is just the machine trying to communicate. And 80% of the times it is something as stupid as "A4 Tray is empty. Please load the paper". Another instance of these fake damsels in distress is when the computer flashes a notification. They get so scared that even before reading what the notification says my colleagues click "OK" or "Cancel", whichever is closer to the mouse pointer. Then keep saying "I don't understand this computer thing baba". I mean....how daft!! Women behave like complete hapless victims unnecessarily whenever they find it convenient. Calling a guy to “fix” a non existing problem is easier than to take a moment and try and solve it themselves. Booking cabs, fetching your own lunch, opening doors or holding them open are such simple tasks that your own two hands and legs are perfectly capable enough to perform them. It is absolutely not about "not needing" men. It is really about "do I need to call and/or disturb someone for this task?" Feminism needs to be understood in the correct light and honestly, I am myself not too sure what it entails. I just feel sad for men who have been at the receiving end of the negativity of this “Convenient Feminism”. My message to such women is "Open the damn door yourself"!!