Throughout my two year stay in India, I have come to realize that the ideology of feminism is seldom critiqued by the mainstream or even by comedians. The usual shtick consists of its critics being brushed off as “misogynists who are too ignorant to understand what feminism means.”
Unlike places such as the US ,UK or Canada, India does not have any vocal intellectual contrarians like Milo Yiannopoulos, Ben Shapiro or Jordan Peterson to challenge the status quo. As a result of this, India has produced some of the most odious feminists figures in recent history who have gotten away with defending their flawed and fallacious positions through anecdotes masquerading as rationalism.
How can one claim to be oppressed by the patriarchy when they are mollycoddled by the mainstream media? I believe that their ideas should be scrutinized and refuted in the free marketplace of ideas.
Here are three rebuttals to the most common feminist talking points:
Rebuttal #1: Equality for everyone
Feminists often use false comparisons to create support for their position where none exists. For example: feminists state that if a person believes in equal rights, then by definition, they’re also a feminist. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Feminists advocate gynocentrism, not gender equality as shown by the definition which says “the advocacy of women’s rights”. This is a logical fallacy known as the Appeal to Definition. This is a flawed argument because it uses a dictionary’s limited definition of a term as evidence rather than statistical polls which show that the vast majority of women do not consider feminism as a movement for equality.
In Britain, only 7% of people choose to label themselves as feminist. According to The Telegraph: “More than two thirds of Britons support gender equality – but just seven per cent would call themselves feminists.”
In America, the number is only slightly higher. According to The Huffington Post: “Only one-fifth of Americans identify as feminists, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll.”
According to Vox: The poll, conducted by research and communications firm PerryUndem, shows that a strong majority of Americans agree on gender equality. Eighty-five percent, for example, say they believe in “equality for women.”
But many fewer want to put the feminist label on their beliefs. Eighteen percent of poll respondents said they consider themselves feminist.
Another rebuttal to this argument would be to point out that individuals can be pro-equality and for women’s rights without being a feminist. In other words, feminism does not own the monopoly on equality since you can be an egalitarian or a humanist and still be a supporter of equal rights.
Rebuttal #2 : Delhi is a Rape Culture City
According to India Today: “The number of rape cases has doubled in Delhi in 2013 compared to the previous year. A total of 1,636 rape cases were reported in the city last year, while 706 such cases were reported in the year 2012. On an average, four rape cases were reported in Delhi everyday in 2013.”
According to the Delhi Commission of Women (DCW): “A disturbing trend of filing of false rape cases has come to the fore, mocking stringent laws adopted by the parliament last year to prevent crime against women. The Delhi Commission of Women (DCW) has come out with startling statistics showing that 53.2% of the rape cases filed between April 2013 and July 2014 in the capital were found ‘false’.”
Furthermore, according to the Daily Mail: “In 2013, 1,559 rape and 3,347 molestation cases were registered as compared to 680 rape and 653 incidents of molestation in 2012. However, the acquittal rate in rape cases was 46 per cent in 2012, while it shot up to 78 per cent in 2013.”
In conclusion, the rape capital argument is nothing but hysteria which also has the power to incite hatred against law enforcers. Rapists are not celebrated in society, we put them in prison.
Rebuttal #3 : Patriarchy
The dreaded patriarchy, the all time boogieman of the entire feminist movement.
Merriam Webster defines the patriarchy as: “A social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line; broadly : control by men of a disproportionately large share of power”
This has been used as a scapegoat by feminists to explain disparities such workplace demographics, CEOs etc. In other words, if an institution is majority male, it has everything to do with sexism in a male dominated society. These are a few examples which refute the idea that the system is in favor of men:
- There is a huge gap in research funding. Prostate cancer sufferers are approximately 10% more likely to survive the disease than those with breast cancer
- Males are disproportionately the victims of suicides
- Indian women can’t be arrested after 6pm
- Only men can be charged for sexual harassment
- Only men can be charged for stalking
- Men cannot get raped
Talking about the patriarchy is a very lengthy process which I will write about in future articles. Also keep in mind that these are only three of their points debunked. There are still many moronic claims which still have to be refuted.
