Women in the U.S. have grown accustomed to the freedoms granted to them throughout the years. With this new sense of security, many women have taken the liberty of sitting on pedestals and abandoning the front lines of the feminist movement. The liberties women are fortunate enough to practice today hold no meaning if there’s no incentive and drive to push forward. As a collective unit we’ve strived for women’s suffrage and reproductive rights, but we’re still dropping the ball. I don’t know about you, but I’m still waiting on the fourth wave of feminism. A common issue in our community is the recurring theme that we should be satisfied with our current status in society. This is an indoctrinated myth that needs to be eradicated from people’s minds, for these voices of oppression are leading women to believe in a false paradise.
It’s a shame that we’re a direct reflection of the misogynistic doctrines of our society. These roots of oppression run deep in American culture. Western cultural beliefs and traditions run our daily lives. It’s important to note that one of the most problematic dilemmas of the feminist movement is the creation of a false sense of security and peace. We’re in a state of war, and many women are imitating the acts of Switzerland by remaining neutral. College women need to familiarize themselves with the ins and outs of women’s history and prepare for war in cyberspace. The transition to Web 2.0 in the 21st century has digitized internalized sexism and the anti-women mentality. Here is where the plot thickens. If you were to Google search the phrase “women need to” it might surprise you to see that “women need to be put in their place” is an option with Google Autocomplete. This is a blatant result of how society views women’s roles and characteristics.
“Google is a technology for access, but it doesn’t tell you anything about content,” Department of Women’s Studies associate professor Doreen Mattingly said. “I don’t think technology has much to do with it. However, it is now a vehicle where we are able to count it (anti-feminism).”
This came to light through the United Nations’ Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women campaign that’s meant to showcase the filth of anti-women sentiments online. These search results were made visible by the popularity of such search terms among users. Social search oppression is a relevant form of hatred in our world. The culprit here is not Google, but our current social structure. If the feminist movement isn’t carefully executed it’ll be viewed as nothing more than a populist fad. It’s shocking to know one’s perception of women can be changed in a second based on a single search. Women need to learn how to spot these forms of sexism and oppression that are prevalent in our technology and society.
“What the U.N. is doing, I think, is very creative in terms of using technology to point out the underlined sexism that people have,” Mattingly said.
We have a vast history of movements that have tried to empower women. They shouldn’t lose their purpose and cease to function in this century. There is still plenty to work toward in this new age of technology and ever-expanding social networks. Campaigns such as this that are brought to our attention serve as valuable fish-out-of-water moments when women can see there is still much to fight for.
“I think that if you don’t know your history you don’t have any defense against it repeating itself,” Mattingly said.
We can’t let the feminist movement die. There is always something we can improve upon. What we have to learn to do is look for the underlying factors in our struggle and find a way to infiltrate that problem and crush it. Antifeminist ideologies will never cease to exist, and neither should feminists.
