I have a confession.
While strolling through Walmart a couple days ago, a friend and I noticed a gigantic pile of T-shirts bearing the message, “Cool story babe, now go make a sandwich.” Motivated by our natural feminist dislike of such demeaning language, we engaged in an unusual act of rebellion and hid all the shirts all over the men’s clothing section.
It was our feminist deed of the day, and we were proud. We thought we were fighting the patriarchy, one T-shirt at a time. Later, however, I realized our act was nothing to be proud of. It was immature and inconsequential.
Yes, we made some sort of statement about our disagreement with the message on the T-shirts, but it is a statement no one will ever see. Sure, it was a funny manner of displaying our views, but it was one that might be perceived as radical and will not succeed in convincing anyone that equality is worth the fight. Our actions, while not harming anybody, did not have a real positive effect either.
But most of all, we engaged in a practice which is a nightmare for journalists, activists and all those who seek the truth and advocate for noble causes: censorship.
To be clear, I think and I believe most feminists will have a similar opinion, the message displayed in those T-shirts was offensive. It implies that women’s sole purpose is to please others and that our words do not deserve to be taken seriously. Yet, the fact that such idea makes me cringe does not constitute free license for me, or for anyone, to actively place obstacles on someone else’s freedom of expression. Hiding the T-shirts, without triggering real change, is equivalent to hiding the problem.
Let’s think about it this way: We may not hear it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Banning all T-shirts, symbols and behaviors we might find offensive does not constitute an epiphany from the part of those who truly believe women are worthless or inferior. It’s simply a desperate act to protect our values from opinions that threaten them. Censorship does not elevate our ideals to a point of worthiness. Rather, it portrays them as indefensible rants that would cease to exist in the face of opposing views.
If feminists — or any activist, for that matter — want to bring about real social transformation, we must let other opinions run free until we find the occasion to confront them with well-thought-out, substantiated arguments. Hiding them under the carpet (or behind a shelf) will only heighten tensions and create social discomfort, not spark the constructive dialogue we so urgently need.
Furthermore, censorship, even of the most innocent type, furthers the stereotype that feminists are nothing but radical man-haters who want to “dismantle” the patriarchy at any cost, even if it implies silencing others with whom we disagree. This notion is exactly what modern feminists are peaceably and vigorously fighting, and it is not wise to reverse progress with ill-planned acts of social defiance.
At a point in history when feminists are reclaiming the movement and giving it a new, heightened meaning, it is essential to realize that open dialogue is not our enemy but rather our biggest ally in the quest for equality and fairness.
Being at an open, diverse institution such as MU, it is all too easy to forget that all over the country and the world, feminists are often the targets of censorship.
Sometimes, it is the “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people” T-shirts that some people would like to see disappear, and it is feminist symbols, pins and words that some would like to do away with. Instead of discouraging us, this situation should make us fiercer advocates for freedom of expression — _everybody’s_ freedom of expression. Feminists can’t put some ideals on a pedestal and actively obstruct others; that goes against the inclusive nature of the movement itself.
The goal of feminism is to promote a society that respects women and other groups out of real conviction, not because it is the only acceptable line of thought. At the end of the day, in order for feminism to stop being a “dirty word,” open dialogue needs to occur. Censorship simply won’t do the trick.
