Women against getting the vote actually existed out there. What? This topic may get a little deep, so bring your shovel and let's get started! *Please note anything in this blog is research, not personal beliefs.*
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| Anti-Suffragette Propaganda |
First, we define feminism and the women's suffrage movement. Feminism is a movement that wants equality for women and men, in its most basic definition. Women's Suffrage was the movement that fought for the female right to vote. Now that we have that straight, we'll start with the oldest one.
Women's Suffrage Movement
The women against voting did not want into politics, at all. Also, the belief that women and men had different roles was strong. Something known as "The Anti's Alphabet" explained some of why these women opposed the freedom we love so much. To sum this up, they had a duty to the home and children. Voting women challenged that, and challenged men who believed politics was no subject for women to speak of. Women were domestic, but men were public when it came to influence. Women cared for the community and the home. The Antis didn't see time for a new task. They suggested women couldn't do it all, at least not without neglecting a few tasks here and there. They feared divorce would result.
The feminine sphere was not to be involved in politics through voting, to be clear. The women who did want the vote were not the most popular, which explains why it did not come easily. The argument that certain sexes did certain duties was not going away, and most that fought for suffrage didn't contradict it, but the anti-suffragists depicted them as trying to be men. They made them look like a threat to men. While some may have felt they were just that without the influence of the Anti-suffragists, these Antis didn't help the cause.
She who wanted the vote, who wanted into an "unnatural" role was considered manly or a hybrid, according to the article "Elimination of Sex", written in 1912. They were not talking about the physical act of sex, but instead the roles of each sex being mixed up and messed up in society. If you read it now, it sounds ridiculous and laughable, but then? It made sense (if raised in that period of time). We live in a far more free society than ever before, as women, and so, we would be seen as hybrids, which is what Antis were trying to avoid. They stated the influence of women could do many things without the vote.
The idea of family balance is at play. The roles women and men play are embedded into that, and thus women wanting to step anywhere near the sphere of men were seen in a bad light, especially because politics and military were connected. Men were military, not women, so Antis were keenly aware that social balance was being upset. Men being the head of the home was in danger, allegedly.
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| British Anti-Suffragette Badge |
Also, most of these women were of the privileged class and, most likely, liked their cushy, simple lives. The benefits of those doing well under the current system outweighed any urge they had to vote. They wanted to stay in the lines society had drawn in the sand and continue their philanthropy. Not to put these ladies in too bad of a light, but they had status and wanted to keep it, especially the influence that came with it. They liked their feminine sphere. These women got comfortable there.
Feminism
Where do I begin? Feminism gets complicated, quickly, and the Webster definition I referenced isn't anywhere close to what people consider it. The connotation of it is that these women hate men, but it isn't true in most cases. Yes, there are extreme groups out there that say one sex is inferior to the other (men or women). I won't deny that. I took a gender class in college and we dove into this topic with lots of research. Put simply, this blog is not long enough to go into the history of feminism, so I'm sticking with the dictionary definition today. It is a heated subject, so I'm going to repeat the disclaimer from the top. *This is research, not my personal opinion.* This is about the perspective of those against feminism.
Women against sexual equality do exist, undeniably. It has to do with reproduction and control of lady parts, along with equal responsibility for sexual actions. There have been points made about men using condoms (not guaranteed to work) and women having the pill, and then men being made responsible when the condom wasn't good enough (assuming the woman didn't take her pill). It was then pointed out that women bear the consequences, and if a man is forced into responsibility or willing to take the responsibility, risks his life working. This, oddly enough, puts women in the driver's seat because she can opt to not take birth control, then blame the man. Then the whole abortion vs prolife issue comes up.
We can't talk about reproduction without the "Me Too" movement and rape. These women highlight that there are also male victims of rape, but that feminist movements bury any mention of these, thus making it a female problem, and men are almost always the culprits. Men are then considered animalistic and predatory when it isn't true of all men. They say that male perspectives are overlooked, so they don't report their rapes because it can't be proven or they won't be believed. I will also add that male suicide rates are higher, but ignored. This leaves opening for women to abuse men, much like the case of Johnny Depp. The claim that female abusers create rapists comes from one of my sources, a blog of an Antifeminist. This perspective makes women the monster, not men.
It seems to me that the perspective I read puts women as the monsters of society for blaming and abusing men, and puts no responsibility on men. She claims women are silencing men using the claim women are victims, and she is claiming "mansplaining" is a way to shame men for talking about issues. Men, in her perspective, are treated like animals who always have sex on the brain because women threw the label on them and silenced them. She presents her own sex as the enemy.
Conclusions and My personal Opinion
All of the above is research, but this paragraph is not. Reading the blog of an anti-feminist woman was not the most fun thing I've done this week. It blew my mind to read the tone of the blogs, the tone that declared women were the enemy and men were the victims-coming from a woman. I don't think our society needs to be The Battle of the Sexes. We all have equal responsibility to treat people well and listen to their perspectives. The only thing that I agreed with on the blogs I referenced was that men are overlooked on suicide rates and as rape victims. That is true and can be proven. However, I think that no matter your sex you should treat everyone you meet with kindness and God's grace. We, as humans, have the incredible potential to be evil or good. Be kind.
Pictures:
Bored Panda
The British Suffragette Movement - Wordpress
BBC
Sources:
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