Sunday 9 November 2014

Salma Hayek on Feminism

Via Salma Hayek



Despite her passionate support for women, Hayek told PEOPLE that she does not consider herself to be a feminist. 

"I am not a feminist," she said. "If men were going through the things women are going through today, I would be fighting for them with just as much passion. I believe in equality." 

This is an important distinction. Feminism isn't about fighting for equal rights. It's about fighting for women's rights.

OK, women didn't have the same rights as men some decades ago. Some people might argue they still don't have the same rights as men, although I'm really not sure.

But the point is that feminists will cry "equality", but only when women are at a disadvantage. They weren't crying out for pension age equality, or for an investigation into why men get longer prison sentences like they cry about the women's pay gap.

If you want equal rights, you're an egalitarian, not a feminist.

6 comments:

Ian Hills said...

Nice pic.

Curmudgeon said...

Apparently men are 11 times more likely than women to die in a work-related accident. You don't hear much about that from feminists.

Mark Wadsworth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mark Wadsworth said...

Aha, good point.

I've always pointed out that in some respects, women get a worse deal*, but in other respects, men get a worse deal**. If in doubt, treat everybody equally.

* i.e. mothers tend to earn less than non-mothers, which doesn't just affect them, it affects their husbands as well, assuming households pool their income. This can be sorted out mathematically by paying women sufficient child benefit to make up the gap.

** i.e. men have a later retirement age, but don't live as long. So at a minimum, the state pension age should be the same for both. You could even argue for an earlier retirement age for men. Don't get me started on divorce laws.

Lola said...

And then there's 'woman' hour'.

Tim Almond said...

Ian,
Ta.

Curmudgeon,
Indeed.

Mark,
Yup. Like I said, women did get a poor deal in the past in terms of rights, although I'm not so sure today.

Lola,
I wouldn't mind if all my TV every night didn't seem to be aimed at women.