So while taking a break from my painstaking essay on Arendt and Foucault’s conceptions of power, I came across Banksy’s new post on Instagram and I had to stop everything I was doing to respond to the ignorance behind his erroneous statement. He posted a picture of a wall graffitied with the words “Feminism is a weapon: weapons are for war. Make love not war!”. For those of you who live under a rock and have never heard of Banksy, he’s a pseudonymous graffiti artist based in the U.K. Whether or not Banksy was being ‘ironic’ (or if it wasn’t even officially posted by him since i’m hoping for his sake that he was hacked) he must have known that a statement like this one will be taken literally by many a people and, thus continue the already existent demonisation of the feminist movement. Feminism really doesn’t need any more flack than it already recieves and feminists in general are tired of having to explain why we even need feminism in the first place.
Instead of making moronic statements about how feminism is ostensibly a “weapon”, Banksy should take the time to educate himself on our goals, purposes and maybe just clue himself up on what the fuck feminism is. Yes, i’m mad. No, it’s not just graffiti. People will eat his statement up and we really don’t need any more ignorance surrounding the aims of feminism. Instead of going into detail on the most common myths about feminism that I plan to do in a different post (keep a look out) I have decided to address some of the worst comments from Banksy’s provocative Instagram account in the reasonably aggressive and humorous manner that you’ve come to appreciate me for. I’ve also posted some of my favourite comments. Hopefully this post will shed some light on just some of the myths about what feminism is and how it operates.
Disclaimer: I know that Banksy likes to spark controversy, and I know that a lot of people tend to be oblivious to what feminism is really about, but i don’t excuse ignorance. Smart the fuck up about important shit or keep your silence. It’s very simple.
Dear Pennyleex,
Women are raped more than anyone else in the world, with 1 in 3 being victims of sexual abuse and that figure is around 1 in 5 for rape. Globally, over 90% of rapes happen to women. These are facts. They are non-negotiable. How about dealing with the fact that patriarchy is still alive and kicking, limiting women worldwide even in 2014 instead of scapegoating the issue by claiming that “women rape too, women kill too”?. Feminism does not deny the reality of men who suffer as a result of violence or sexual abuse, actually feminism is one of the only movements in the world that recognises this and works towards alleviating the suffering of both sexes. Feminism is not only about women. Eliminating patriarchy and sexism liberates us all since men suffer too as a result of it.
In fact, you don’t need to bring up the fact that women are also capable of violence and rape at all since it is common knowledge that everyone has the capacity to practice cruelty. What you should be dealing with is the acute oppression that women are subjected to both in the developing and non-developing world, not making excuses for feminist-haters who use the same arguments as you. Recognise that even if women are capable of violence, murder or rape, this does not make it okay that we suffer disproportionately to men. And that there has not nearly been enough damage done to humanity by women that has been done by men. Don’t absolve rapists and abusers by irrelevantly bringing up the fact that women also abuse and rape because if that’s an issue you feel passionate about- i recommend that you express it at another time and not as a scapegoating tactic that gives the semblance that you actually care about those men who are raped and abused by women- because if you did, you wouldn’t use them as a debate tactic, instead you’d actually be out there championing their cause.
Sincerly, Mohadesa.
Dear Rhabibix,
Sounds about right,
Sincerely, Mohadesa.
Dear Wileyaus and Notwrong,
Feminism is inherently humanist. The only difference is that humanism suggests that both sexes start off on an equal footing and we all know that this is untrue. Women are still paid less for the same jobs as men, women are the smallest minorities in almost every government or parliament, women are still treated as emotional beings who are incapable of rational decision-making, women are still sold off as child brides, women are still stoned to death for adultery, women are still sold into sexual slavery, women are still the biggest population of those in extreme poverty and the list goes on and on.
Ask yourself; does humanism deal with a single one of these issues? Does it delineate how we are to transcend such obvious injustices against women? Does humanism offer a plan/manifesto/methodology of eliminating such issues in our global society? The answers: No. No. No. Therefore, humanism is convenient for those who don’t want to admit that we even need feminism in the first place and ditching feminism would probably be the worst thing that could happen to half the world’s population.
Treating one another equally is not enough because equality in an unfree world is not equality; it’s an illusion. We need full liberation, not excuses and idealistic ideations.
Sincerely, Mohadesa.
Dear Brandonarts and Notwrong,
Again, women and men cannot be united as long as women suffer disproportionately to men. It’s really, really not difficult logic to understand. Humanism fails to deal with specific issues that women face and it is not enough- you can be a humanist feminist, but being just a humanist and believing that it’s enough to achieve full equality is frankly delusional.
Sincerely, Mohadesa.
Dear Johny,
Woohoo. Some sense.
Sincerely, Mohadesa.
Dear Sanssvw,
I love that you brought some sense into this discussion by highlighting how feminists are not about bashing all men (we have a lot more pressing things to do than that, really) and that we are only interested in fighting “harmful, violent men” who try to subvert our innate powers. You’re wonderful.
Sincerely, Mohadesa.
Dear Amir Fresh,
………
Sincerely, Mohadesa.
Dear Surfxsun,
Exactly! By definition, a movement geared towards alleviating the injustice and inequality of any persons cannot be a weapon.
Sincerely, Mohadesa.
Dear Kcinickcinick,
This is the kind of pseudo-science that justifies patriarchy and sexism. There is no irrefutable evidence to suggest that men and women are wired differently, not in neuroscience, not in biology, and not anywhere on this planet. Please do enlighten me on the “biological purpose” of women because i’m pretty sure that it’s some kind of subservient, passive role where all we’re expected to do is carry kids in our wombs. Get outta’ here.
Sincerely Mohadesa.
Dear Kunniko,
Precisely. Feminism is only perceived to be a weapon by those who either don’t understand what it means or are nervous about breaking the status quo. Every man i’ve known who disrespects feminism and its goals has coincidently been threatened a strong woman who knows her rights.
It’s a common myth that feminism is unpopular because of feminists- it’s unpopular because it challenges perennial traditions and patriarchy that is so seeped into our culture.
Sincerely, Mohadesa.
Dear Anneleise Marie,
Good fucking question. I doubt Banksy considered this. Sexism and misogyny harm millions of women worldwide every-mother-fucking-day, and yet feminists are considered the warmongers? Ha Ha.
Sincerely, Mohadesa.
And lastly.. My personal favourite..
Amen!
I really appreciated this piece. It’s important people step up and speak out. Thank you.
Y’know, I believe that everyone has a right to an opinion along with having different views. I mean, we’re all trying to go for equality right? Not a feminist by any chance (you can be disappointed on my views or whatever) but being a humanist/egalitarian goes for all human rights (men, women, transsexual, cis gender, etc.). Men’s Rights Activists focuses almost entirely on men’s issues (yet feminists call them “terrorists” or “hate group”), feminism focuses almost entirely on women’s issues and I can’t support something that doesn’t equally focus on one gender’s issue (and the radicals in both sections….yeesh. MRA, masculinism, feminism, just not for me. We all have issues, and yes, we DO have different functions in our bodies individually, so we’re not the same at all (some men are strong, some men aren’t. Some women are strong, some women aren’t).
And for the record, I do support women’s rights, just without a label.
Um… Did you actually read this whole article?
Yes, have you?
This isn’t by Banksy, nor is it from his official instagram. His official instagram is @banksyny. It’s from a project called Pictures of Walls, which compiles photographs of “the best worst graffiti in the world.” This photograph is of graffiti in Sweden, and anybody who bothered to check the website of Pictures of Walls (which is linked in the caption) would have known. The unofficial social media pages likely chose that one out of several hundred images to share because they knew it would rile people up, but it’s supposed to exist in the context of other examples of bad graffiti from all over the world.
I DO think calling out sexism is important, but doing so in the context of Banksy is irrelevant and muddles the discourse.
That isn’t Banksy’s instagram account. This is: http://instagram.com/banksyny
I have though a lot about the first couple of letters to the commenters. You stated that: Feminism is not only about women. Eliminating patriarchy and sexism liberates us all since men suffer too as a result of it.
I think more people should see this definitely. I am really open-minded to any idea about anything and I remember drawing something in about “Why should only girls be elevated, why can’t everyone be elevated. I’m not a feminist, I’m a humanist.” Then, as I spent sometime alone with myself, I think of the struggles that men and other people who aren’t women go through are because of these gender boxes, especially when it comes to their bodies. Things like men should always want women and shouldn’t have their virginity under 18. No one talks about men’s consent because the only reason why he wouldn’t want to bang a girl is either she’s ugly or he’s gay. They can’t show emotion because then they would be effeminate, weak, vulnerable, like girl. Like a girl. The reason why men are going though this I just realized is because of the patriarchy. Everyone is effected by it (I think it has a lot to do with religion and its influence on culture. The patriarchy is strong in that one)
Then you stated: In fact, you don’t need to bring up the fact that women are also capable of violence and rape at all since it is common knowledge that everyone has the capacity to practice cruelty.
I don’t think that everyone knows that women can hurt people, but that doesn’t make me any less of a feminist. Feminism is a label and we define labels. If that commenter thinks that that’s what feminism is… What I’m trying to say is I don’t blame her that she thinks that way. It is only recently that culture realized that women were capable of be attracted to anything. They can fight and abuse, too? It didn’t even cross my mind until about a month ago. Because it’s ingrained in me to think that men hurt. Men are tough and dangerous. There are more men in jail. Be careful when you see one of them. But a woman? She hits like a girl, she’s weak. She probably hurts people like a girl, too.
I do think that we should all wipe away what we thought of women. however, we all have different ideas about how to do that. I’m saying “like a girl” because I saw that Always commercial, the one that talks about doing things “like a girl”.
Oh and the Kcinickcinick comment really pissed me off. People aren’t biological purposes, u you Kcinickcinick-dick. I hate it when other are like this and say that shouldn’t happen because we need to repopulate. Are we frickin monkeys or dogs? Honestly, whether its “women should go topless because men need to have some more sex appeal in the bedroom” or “two women falling in love? That won’t make a baby, those idiots.” I like to pretend comments like that are full of sarcasm so I can move on with my life. I don’t want to stay and smell the bullshit. But I should probably smell the coffee because it’s reality that there are people out there that think that our only purpose in life is to frickin repopulate.
Bumper stickers and graffiti are rarely sources of wisdom.