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Question: What comes to mind when you hear the word "feminism"? Is it a word that brings up positive or negative feelings? Would you consider yourself or anyone you know a feminist? For many of us, feminist is often seen as a loaded term, a word that carries with it a lot of meaning that we might not want to be associated with, a dreaded F-Word. Get expert-level assignment help in any subject.

Let's take a look at some questions about why feminism has come to be considered such a controversial f-word. Can only women be feminists? Is the need for a feminist movement irrelevant now that women can vote and have jobs? Do feminists hate men? Are they all angry and against anything considered stereotypically "feminine"? Do they burn their bras and dance naked in moonlight? Hopefully, if you have done the reading Download done the reading, you will have already realized that the answer to all of these questions is "no". As bell hooks helpfully explains, feminism isn't about the hatred or destruction of any group, but rather the recognition of systems of power and the movement to undo those systems and the harm they cause to people of every gender.

Developing an understanding of the role of systems in shaping our lives is critical to studying gender. Because while it is true that any individual may act in ways that promote sexism (discrimination based on sex or gender), individual and even group behavior does not explain the pattern of gender oppression impacting nearly every aspect of society. Instead, it is the systems we all live within that create our reality and both the written and unspoken rules we live by. This system we live within and are ultimately shaped by, regardless of our sex or our gender, is patriarchy.

Patriarchy makes it seem that feminism is a movement against men because as Allan G. Johnson points out Download Allan G. Johnson points outpatriarchy's defining elements are "male-dominated, male-identified, and male-centered" (p 29). In fact, the goal is to address the system of male dominance rather than individuals or men in general. In another work he explains, "Patriarchy is not simply another way of saying 'men.' Patriarchy is a kind of society, and a society is more than a collection of people".