Critical Thinking: Are Women Portrayed As Victims In The Western World?

Although it would be easy to believe that the mainstream media exists to tell people what is actually taking place in the world, this is rarely what happens. Instead, this source of information has their own narrative that they impose upon others

Now, this is not to say that there is only one narrative in existence, as there are a number of different stories that are being told. What can play a part here is what side of the political spectrum a news organisation gravitates to.

An Important Area

One thing that the mainstream media likes to give a lot of attention to are the problems that women face in today’s world. They often talk about the so-called gender pay gap, the abuse that they receive offline and online, and how they are held back by men, amongst others things.

What this then does is make some people to believe that all women have it hard and all men have it easy. Men can then be seen as perpetrators and women can be seen as victims; nothing more, nothing less.

A Big Distraction

This then keeps some people’s attention away from other issues and it divides a lot of men and women. If these men and women were to work together and stopped fighting each other, a lot more would be achieved.

The trouble with this is that if men and women as a whole got on, it would be a lot harder to control them. If this was to happen, the people who are pulling the strings at the top would lose a lot of power – power that so many people unknowingly given to them.

One Part of the World

This source of information tends to ignore what is taking place in other parts of the world, and perhaps this is due to how badly women are treated in certain countries; focusing on what happens in these countries would show how trivial a lot of the problems are that some women experience in the west. Some of the things that have taken place in these countries for many, many years are now taking place in the west, and this is partly due to people bringing their way of life to the west and partly due to the west being too tolerant.

For example, female genital mutilation (FGM) is something that is illegal in the UK, yet that hasn’t stopped this practice from taking place there. This is clearly something that violates women and girls, and is far worse than being whistled at in the street, for instance.

Different Problems

In England recently, one thing that was being spoken about was the abuse what women experience when they are whistled at or cat called. This was seen as something that men do when they hate women, meaning that is a ‘hate crime’.

These issues, as well as others, have been seen as a reflection of how feminism has lost its way. Going from a movement that was about women’s rights, to morphing into a movement that is all about power and special treatment for women.

Holding On

Deep down, these types of feminists probably realise that they need to find new problems in order to justly their own existence. Their sense of who they are will be based on them being a victim - someone who has no control over their life.

Therefore, if they were to let go of this identity and to see how well women have it in the western world, they might experience an existential crises. For someone like this to face reality and to see how well they have it, they would need to have a certain level of self-awareness.

Self-Absorbed

The challenge here is that the women who talk about how oppressed they are, along with other women, appear to lack self-awareness. Also, they are often so caught up with their own needs that they are not willing to empathise with others.

It is then as though they should be working with a therapist as opposed to trying to change the world. As a result of this, not only do they create a bad impression, they also paint women in a bad light.

Black and White

A woman like this is happy to support the narrative that women are oppressed and men are oppressors, and it could be said that this shows how out of touch they are with reality. Maybe, what plays a part in their delusion is their position in society and how ‘privileged’ they are.

The problems that men experience are often overlooked, and it can then seem as though women are the ones who are actually privileged in the western world. Women are given a platform to talk about their problems; whereas men are rarely given the same opportunity.

A Clear Sign

The fact that women are often seen as the only gender that has problems could be seen as a sign of how much control women have had for a number of decades. Their issues have dominated public discourse for so long that men’s issues have largely been swept under the carpet.

It has been said that if you want to find out who is in control, you need to find out who you are not allowed to criticise. If a man criticises a woman, for instance, he can end up being called a misogynist, but if a woman criticises a man, it is highly unlikely that she will be called a misandrist.

Conclusion

There are plenty of women who are repelled by these kinds of feminists and it this is likely to show that they don’t see themselves as a victim. They might see what while women have problems, so do men.

Ultimately, having problems is part of being human; it is not something that only one gender has to deal with. To believe that men have it easy and women don’t is a very childlike way of looking at the world, and this can take place when someone is mentally and emotionally undeveloped.