Choice Feminism: Is It Hindering Our Path To Equality?

To acknowledge patriarchy as a system that both men and women support equally, even though males benefit more from it, we must draw attention to the part that women play in maintaining and advancing patriarchal society. We are seeing previously unheard-of restrictions on reproductive freedom while also encouraging a return to antiquated gender stereotypes. The idea of choice feminism, or "my choice is my choice, and because it's my choice, it has to be feminist because I'm a woman," has been the driving force behind a lot of it. Being amiable is central to choice feminism. Sure, you value the ability to vote and own land, but you also think some women go too far asking males to account for the choices they enact daily. There is no postmodern utopia in which every woman makes personal choices that have no political relevance; we do not live in Lala land. So what is choice feminism, and how is it standing in the way of feminism's advancement?

Exploring the Complexities of Choice Feminism: A Deep Dive

Being nice is essential to choice feminism. Yes, you like the idea that you can vote and own property, but you also think that other women are overreaching by suggesting that males should be responsible for their daily decisions and actions. There isn't a postmodern utopia in which every woman is entitled to make her personal choices and not have them politicised; we are not living in Lala land. Like the movement itself, the definition of feminism is not and never has been discrete; it is always changing in response to how misogyny impacts women, transgender people and non-binary people. Since feminism is everywhere, individuals define it differently depending on their understanding of the movement, its intentions, and their perspective on the possibility of those intentions coming to fruition. Nevertheless, their definitions must remain related. After all, feminism is necessary to include collectivity. Choice feminism's definition not only deviates from but also runs against feminism's core principles.

Unlike most other varieties of feminism, feminism is distinguished by its approach to personal choices. Though choice feminists have twisted the idea of empowerment to mean individual success rather than collective liberty, feminism as a social movement should be fundamentally collective. It has been emphasised to them that individual contextless decisions are empowering, even when they do not benefit the agent or the wider public, subject to misogyny. The logic of feminist empowerment cannot be true until it applies to every person subject to misogyny, and no one person can fully realise it alone. Feminism's anti-capitalist principles mean it contains an inherent collectivity that encourages each participant to give what they can and benefit what they need.

The patriarchal roots of choice feminism in modern trends

It is hard to face the reality that the patriarchy oppresses all women and misogynized people; that it is discouraging to consider that the material conditions of those impacted by misogyny are not likely to change anytime soon, possibly not until several oppressive systems have been dismantled. The traditional wife/stay-at-home mom attitude has skyrocketed, utterly disregarding the fact that women worked fiercely for the right to work because they understood how important financial independence was. 

The invention of birth control pills, which gave women the power to manage their fertility and broaden their options for education and employment, strengthened that freedom to work. They understood that the ability to support oneself was a prerequisite for achieving freedom. We are now romanticising reliance on male romantic partners as a revolutionary, never-before-used strategy for emancipation. As the ideal way of being, we are romanticising behaviours that open doors to abuse and harm.

Being in a position of authority is a way of being, but this is rarely the case for women. Making decisions for our bodies while also encouraging economic marginalisation is illegal. This is intentional. You might have the option now, but tomorrow you won't have it. They will all come for us, and we won't even have a chance.

Also, this piece does not point fingers at women for being the worst enemy of women (patriarchy, not us). I am simply analysing how we perpetuate a system that forces us to think that we are to be made livable. We have never had and will never have real influence in the global system as a result of our complicity with the patriarchy. Not when you have the power to make "choices" that do nothing except make it more difficult for those who are less fortunate to abandon the values you insist on upholding. Choosing discomfort and agitation over complacency is one of the ways we may leave this place better than how we found it, for the sake of the next generation. You don't have to accept continuing to continue hurting.

To call each other in, we sometimes have to call each other out as well, and have to give ourselves some time to think about exactly what we do and why. It is not too late for us to make the hard decisions that will move us forward; at least a few of you are not claiming your mental space. It's only a soft pull toward the light. It is possible to love men and have fulfilling relationships without making them the centre of attention or predating your love on the idea that they are the object of desire. 

These interactions are not love and communion, but rather foster damage. To do so, we must interrogate and dismantle the assumed internalised superiority of men of all genders - we are not there yet. Choice feminism does not advocate for the liberation of everyone impacted by misogyny, so it is not, and never will be, a form of feminism. People who are impacted by misogyny do not have the privilege of choice feminism. If there ever comes a day when choice feminism is being called out, I hope we realise it is not us who are the problem, it is the patriarchy that exists and will continue to exist. Only if one removes their blindness to stereotypical mentality can one embrace the true sense of feminism

Views expressed by the author are their own.