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Maya Kumar

Western Feminism's Achilles’ Heel

The story of Achilles is a Greek tale which shows Achilles, a powerful, unstoppable, strong Greek warrior who has only one weakness. His heel. Achilles' ultimate demise stemmed from an unfortunate arrow shot aimed at this point. An otherwise invulnerable man was destroyed in one swift movement as a result of his weak spot.


The tale of Achilles is becoming more and more relevant in this modern feminist movement. The overturn of Roe V. Wade has highlighted the lack of cohesion the Western feminist in the US movement has, as inequalities that have always been present, have quickly begun to become more apparent. The feminist movement, a once liberating campaign, has quickly become a pissing contest between social groups through a grappling struggle for dominance. It does not need ‘leaders’ who view themselves as morally superior to others, it needs unity to ensure that women's rights in the United States do not regress any more than they already have. Feminism has an Achilles’ heel, and it’s time we address it.


I first noticed the exclusion within the mainstream feminist movement when I read about women in Mauritius who work for more than twenty hours per day in the fast fashion industry. What struck me as odd, however, was a photo of some sweatshop workers holding a t-shirt that read, “this is what a feminist looks like.” It begged the question, who was advocating for them? Who was ensuring that they understood their rights? Who was giving them the support they needed to leave such a dire situation?


Well, it sure wasn’t the so-called feminists who were buying and wearing this shirt. While this isn’t to say that everybody must be informed and advocate for every single person in the world, it does seem to highlight the profile of who is deemed worthy enough by mainstream feminists to protect.


The Western feminist movement is often exclusionary towards minority groups, especially people of colour, lower-income people and the LGBTQ+ community. Trans-exclusionairy radical feminists (often stylised as TERFs) are simply transphobic bigots hiding behind the guise of female activism and liberation. We can see this with public figures such as J.K Rowling, an acclaimed author, who destroyed her credibility as a woman’s rights activist through her treatment of trans-women.


We cannot allow people to use the feminist movement as a means to excuse their hatred any longer. Western feminism does a stand-up job at excluding people, and this cycle will continue if we do not stop it now.


(Image of women in a Mauritian sweatshop)


Intersectionality, which is often ignored within gender politics, is the theory that takes into account the different aspects of one’s identity and how that affects their day-to-day life. A white, wealthy, cis-gendered, straight woman would live an immensely different life and face far fewer systemic struggles than a brown, low-income, LGBTQ+ woman. By refusing to address intersectionality within the feminist movement, we foster a cycle of exclusion that ensures that disadvantaged people are continuously left out.


For example, Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva came under fire for a doping scandal during the Winter Olympics (year?). The general public and media’s reaction to her was generally sympathetic due to the immense pressure she would have been under as a child athlete. This is in stark contrast to Sha’Carri Richardson, a black runner fit to participate in the Olympics, who was kicked out due to her consumption of weed (a non-performance-enhancing drug); ​​She was viciously attacked by those around the world with hateful insults spewed at her, forever tarnishing her running career. Kamila Valieva was allowed to participate in the winter Olympics and ended up placing fourth overall. The disparity in the treatment of the two women is glaring, and yet there has not been any significant effort toward patching this gap.


Looking at the overturn of Roe V. Wade, it is clear who abortion bans affect the most—those who do not have the funds to travel to another state to receive an abortion, those who cannot take time off to raise a child, and those who are not in the right frame of mind where they can properly care for a baby. The marginalised continue to be even more marginalised, while the rich are able to make quick escapes to states where abortion is legalised. It is a scary time for women in the US, but it’s even scarier for those who know that they do not have the means to escape such a reality.


Western feminism’s Achilles’ heel is the exclusion that exists within the movement, and with one swift movement, women’s rights in the United States can quickly revert back to their archaic structures. We need to protect marginalised groups that exist within the feminist movement, as that is the only way we can enact real grassroots change that ensures the safety and protection of everyone. All in all, the feminist movement needs cohesion, with people willing and able to understand other points of view and express empathy to those from different backgrounds and social groups.


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