Dagny Express

In a U.K poll over two thirds of women declared their support for gender equality, but only nine percent identified as a feminist. The younger age bracket of women (18 to 24 year olds), contained the highest number of self-identified feminists, and yet, also the highest number of women that opposed feminism. Even the term feminist evoked a negative reaction from over a quarter of the respondents. It was as though feminism had a desirable product but a severe PR problem.

Pauline Hanson has emerged from her political time out with a vengeance. Due to the votes of some 600,000 Australians, her one nation party managed to score four seats in the senate and become Australia’s fourth largest party. She has already used her newfound power to rile many feathers, so while we still do not know what she will actually accomplish, it is safe to assume that for the next four years she will remain a central and polarizing figure in Australian politics.

I sometimes feel like the women who are the loudest and most famous for their outrage against perceived sexism, are terribly inaccurate in their portrayals. They use words like sexism, misogyny, and rape, so liberally, that it makes those words hold less power. This is not doing women worldwide any favours. In language, we have a limited amount of strong words, and we have to be careful how we apply them. After all, when we use these words, we want them to be taken seriously. This does not mean we should avoid these words. It simply means we should make sure that we do not misuse these words to the point that they become uninformative.

Before the start of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, I chanced upon an article on the guardian that gave tips to those who wish to comment on female athletes. The author was very concerned about the disproportionate amount of attention the attire of female competitors receive, in comparison to men. This is a demonstrably true observation, so there was nothing to dispute. Her remedy to this, was to discourage people from talking about the attire of women, and encourage people to talk about their physical prowess instead. In essence, stop treating women like they are centre fold models on vogue, rather than Olympians (which is actuallly what they are).

For women who have never experienced an abusive relationship it is very hard to understand why a woman would stay in one. This is especially true in Western societies where domestic violence is culturally condemned and the government does so much to support women fleeing such situations. Therefore the difficulty to leave quite often does not lie in the materialistic concerns of the victim, but rather in the victim’s refusal to confront the truth about her situation. It is within this psychological prison that the victim tries to rationalize or defend the behaviour of her violent partner. Most people are aware of this type of sick relationship, but I believe it is not just limited to battered women and their violent partners, it also extends to battered infidels and their Islamic terrorists.

“I love him and once he sees how much I care for him, he will change”