With all the shit JKR has risen about feminism and what it means to be a woman, Iâm always reminded of a metaphor I was taught by the amazing feminist philosophy lecturer back in university. This was back in 2017 (quoted from lecture notes I saved) way before terfs started getting traction, but it rings true today more than ever.Â
âIn feminism philosophies there are three types of philosopher: the individualist, the radical, and the socialist.Â
Hereâs a metaphor for how they work, called âThe Wall, The Lion, the Sheepâ.Â
The wall represents society, particularly capitalist patriarchal society. The lion represents men, the sheep represents women.Â
The wall cages both the lion and the sheep, which makes the lion angry because he wants to be free, but with no one else to attack, he attacks the sheep, the sheep dealing with both the caging of the wall and the force of the lion.Â
The individualist feminist sees that the issue is the sheep and suggests âItâs the sheepâs fault for getting in the way of the lionâ most them saying âThatâs just nature/life!â or at âbestâ suggesting âMove the sheep out of the wayâ. That may work in the short term, but the lion is still there, and he can move more freely; he will just attack the sheep again. The individual feminist says that any women suffering the abuse of men or the patriarchy should make their way out on their own, doing minimal effort to help, even blaming the woman for âdoing this to herselfâ, falling into the easy solution of solving a problem by victim blaming.Â
The radical feminist sees that the issue is the lion and suggests âDeclaw the lion and take out his teeth.â That may stop the sheep being harmed in the short and long term, but now the lion is suffering. Radical feminists say that men are the issue and seek their punishment, âan eye for an eyeâ, not realising that they are âotheringâ men in the same way women have been âotheredâ. Radical feminists see anything related to men as evil; they donât see a trans woman as a woman, only as a lion in sheepâs clothing, nor do they see a trans man as a man, only as a misled sheep. They overlook the truth that not all men hate women; lions donât eat everything that crosses their path.Â
The socialist feminist sees that the problem is the wall and suggests âBreak the wall down.â The lion is free and runs away to be free, as does the sheep. The problem is solved for both the sheep and the lion. A socialist feminist recognises that the harshest societies have moulded us to be the oppressed ways we all are, and the most effective way to help women is to help everyone; tear it up from the roots. With the oppressive system broken, not only will women have more freedom from patriarchal tyranny, but men will be freed from the toxic masculinity that comes with those systems. Everyone is happy. To be a true feminist is working to destroy an oppressive system to truly help women and all those who are othered by capitalist patriarchy, and anything that allows men to escape the enforced repression of the patriarchy is a great bonus.Â
The biggest issue that holds back true feminists is this: walls are harder to break when they keep getting rebuilt by the ones who are so stubborn that the problem is the lion or the sheep. To them, using the oppressive forces of a closed wall gets them what they want, which is to be right, rather than to actually solve the problem.â
JKR is now using the transphobic tory party, currently in charge of the UK government, so further restrict trans voices; a radical feminist that seeks to use the bricks of this current Wall to make sure she is heard, oblivious and probably careless to the fact sheâs deafening the voices of other feminists who will now probably feel ashamed to say theyâre feministsâŚÂ
Feminism is not just helping women, itâs helping those marginalised, those oppressed for who they are, those othered by a system that wishes to box the un-boxable. Feminism is just the name of another movement to help as many people as possible.Â
I am non-binary, and Iâm a feminist, and the opinion of one close-minded author isnât going to change that.Â
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