Feminism, in short, is about fighting for gender equality for both sexes. As the name might suggest, the movement focuses primarily on gaining rights for women in particular as they are usually the main victims of existing gender inequalities. While the movement has received much advocacy throughout the years, controversy still found its way. “Females are asking for superiority.”, “They just hate men.”, “Why do they insistently ask for such privileges?” are what can be heard from anti-feminists. Some believe that feminism gives women too much power, surpassing that of men. Many men are afraid of feminism turning into another type of sexual discrimination. Feminism is badly portrayed as a movement against men and male values.
However, one needs to understand that the privileges and special treatments given to women are to make them on par with men, not to give superiority to any gender. Females face many obstacles at school, workplace, home, etc. Gender gaps exist for real, and feminism aims to eliminate them, not to overtake the other gender. Feminism is, in fact, beneficial to men as it seeks for equality for both genders, not leaving males behind. While sometimes feminism can become ridiculously extreme, it should be noticed that they do not reflect the whole movement, but instead a small minority. One bad apple can spoil the bunch but a few bad apples do not represent the whole bunch. That would be a totally different story. The core value is about equality, not superiority. This misinterpretation ought to be clarified for further spread and acceptance for feminism from a larger population.
I would like to cite a wonderful phrase from Suboi, a female rapper and a coach in “Rap Viet”, a popular TV show in Vietnam: “Choosing her because of her gender would be an insult to her ability”. This was her response when MC Tran Thanh asked whether she chose Tlinh, one of the few female participants in the show, simply because she was female. Tlinh had the chance to perform at a rap show, which is mainly the playground for men. She was treated the same way as a male competitor and got chosen by 3 out of 4 coaches thanks to her excellent performance. Believe it or not, that perfectly sums up what feminism is all about:
"Women don’t want to receive the privileges just because they are women. Women instead just want to not be put at a disadvantage simply because they are women."