o Week Five Feminist Paradox and Male Identity Crisis Video Response o

           The Feminist Paradox - Thisaru Randunu

            In The Feminist Paradox with Thisaru Randunu, she says that feminism is the belief that women and men should be treated as equals. She also states that contradiction goes hand in hand with feminism. She also stated that you're only human or you're sexist. I feel conflicted with this statement because of its finality. I believe that everyone is allowed mistakes when misjudging someone. Now, the examples that Randunu provided are not included in this. 

           Randunu says, "Why to be equal to man, be better." I don't agree with this. I feel that women can be better than men, but I don't believe the phrase "being equal to a man" doesn't equate to us saying we're not better than men. It is because women are treated as less than a man. This is why we see major wage gaps and we are seeing the gap close slightly due to women in higher positions of power in the coming years, but it is still apparent. 

           She also calls the makeup industry a part of this paradox because it tells you to use it when you should think you are perfect as you are. I also had conflicting feelings about this because of the stigma that women use makeup for others. I use makeup to make myself more beautiful. I understand where she is coming from, but I think that this is an outdated concept in terms of how makeup is viewed. This is totally acceptable for this video though. This video is 5 years old,  this was a young feminist movement that didn't have all the answers for everything just yet. I think the feminist movement understands that women use makeup as a source of power and women are reclaiming the makeup industry as our own instead of the one that was made for us by men all those years ago. 

          The Male Identity Crisis - Fraser Crisis

        Now, we are talking about the male side of this sexist idealism coin. Fraser explains that he has a fear of how women view him as a man. He knows of the horrible men who have done horrible things all over social media and in the news. He asks the audience, what do you expect of the men in your life? I actually thought about this and I do think I somewhat expect the men in my life to have goals and that's pretty much it. I understand that people are all different, but that doesn't neglect that there are women who expect men to be strong, to be tall, to be packing... so I understand why these men feel belittled by women's thoughts of men. 

        Typically, men are viewed as powerful, so they feel therapy would be below that which leads many men to suicide. He shared that he would do pushups in middle school to manage bullying of being skinny from kids at school. I asked my own partner if he had any thoughts or actions like this when he was growing up, and he admitted to me that he had the same experience in middle school because he grew up skinny and was bullied for it. Something he and Fraser both shared is that, for men, any emotion is embarrassing.

        Men are not one socially constructed entity who don't have any emotions and are strong and perfect. Not all men are the same, I agree with this concept. I also agree that women should be cautious of men because of the power difference some may have over a woman. Being cautious is a survival tactic, most times it's not directed towards a specific man, it's just the possibility of the kind of man he could be. 

        I do believe that men should seek therapy if they need and can. I want men to stop commiting suicide, and I feel that dethrowning this hard emotionless man notion is the start of this change.