Daphna Levy
When will you join us?
Daphna Levy urges men to join feminist struggle for sake of creating better society for everyone
Imagine a person who voluntarily ties one hand behind his back, places weights around one of his legs, and covers one eye with a patch? What kind of accomplishments can such person achieve? How happy can he be with his life when the odd restrictions he forced upon himself not only stifle his creativity, but also make every step he makes agonizing and excruciating?
This, just like that odd person, is what our society looks like; large parts of it still do not allow women to fully express themselves. Religion, tradition, and our security machismo are of course mere excuses that hide the anxiety over the possibility that women, should they be able to display their full abilities, will heaven forbid overshadow men, who today are in charge of most issues, money, and power.
The result is a limping, semi-blind society that is not too creative and that barely utilizes half of its human potential, without seeing the kind of immense benefit we shall all gain once things change. The right eye is scared that the left eye will take over, and the left leg prefers to cut off the right leg so it doesn’t step ahead of it. The feminist struggle is perceived as a matter for women alone, as if the whole of society is not an organic body whose proper functioning hinges on the full and equal functioning of all its parts.
On International Women’s Day, we have quite a few reasons to celebrate. After all, we have come a long way from the days where women were locked up in a cage, waiting for their master to return from his hunting duties. The Supreme Court is headed by a woman, another woman won wide support in the premiership race, and more women than ever serve at the Knesset; we write, cover the news, talk, interview, lead public protests, and hold positions of power.
Shared dream
Yet nonetheless, this struggle is perceived as some sort of strange hobby of ours; some kind of lavish pursuit that we can and should cast aside because of the “current situation”; some sort of demand by a separatist group that still insists on complaining for some inexplicable reason.
Yet this utopian equality should be the shared dream of all of us, because only in a society that does not make an effort to weaken extensive parts of its population can a person fully utilize his or her potential, regardless of their gender. In a society that does not repress women, does not trade in them, does not discriminate against them at rabbinical courts, or meekly and embarrassingly accepts countless acts of violence against them, men too will not find themselves trapped in gender-based images and expectations and in a race to acquire more power and be more macho. We burned bras, so you can burn your virtual and mental protective cups.
The feminist struggle, or in its archaic yet still relevant name, “the struggle for women’s liberation,” ultimately aims to create a society that boasts much greater vitality than what it has today. We, women, already started marching towards this goal. We established women’s groups and created support networks. We even learned to laugh at ourselves, and as it turns out this is the true antibiotic of life. We are already taking responsibility, yet we make up only half of our fabric of life. When are you, men, planning to join us?
