Terrific speech, and truly, the first time Ive ever been able to tolerate the word feminism :) If not me, who? If not now, when? ------------------- Abridged transcript: The more I’ve spoken about feminism, the more I have realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. “For the record, feminism, by definition, is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. I decided that I was a feminist. And this seems uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word.” “Women are choosing not to identify as feminists. Apparently, I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as ... unattractive, even. [there] are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today. We need more of those, and if you still hate the word, it is not the word that is important. It’s the idea and the ambition behind it. “In 1997, Hillary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women’s rights. ….What stood out for me the most was that less than 30 per cent of the audience were male. How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation?” “Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue too. Because to date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society despite my needing his presence, as a child, as much as my mother’s. I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness, unable to ask for help, for fear it would make them less of a man. In fact, in the U.K., suicide is the biggest killer of men, between 20 to 49, eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease. I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality, either.” “We don’t want to talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes but I can see that they are. …. If men don’t have to be aggressive, women won’t be compelled to be submissive. If men don’t need to control, women won’t have to be controlled.” “It is time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals. We should stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by who we are. We can all be free and this is what HeForShe is about. It’s about freedom. I want men to take up this mantle so their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human, too and in doing so, be a more true and complete version of themselves.” Statesman Edmund Burke said all that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing.” “In my nervousness for this speech and my moments of doubt, I’ve told myself firmly, ‘If not me, who? If not now, when?’ If you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you, I hope that those words will be helpful “If you believe in equality, you might be one of those inadvertent feminists that I spoke of earlier and for this, I applaud you. We are struggling for a uniting word but the good news is that we have a uniting movement. It is called HeForShe. I am inviting you to step forward to be seen and to ask yourself, ‘If not me, who? If not now, when?’
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 12:22:34 +0000