Okuhira 1

Liana Okuhira

Dr. Paul J. Rabago

English 12 Honors

03 May 2019

Feminism VS LGBTQ

Feminism in this day and age has been expanding since the

1950s. It started out with the female movement to what is called

today as the feminist movement. Not only did feminism start

expanding, but also the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender

Questioning (LGBTQ) community.

In today’s society, there are women who think they are not

being treated with the same amount of respect as men are. Who

can say that is true with factual evidence? They proclaimed that

the LGBTQ community gets more respect than they do. If they were

getting the number of respect feminists to proclaim they are,

then the hate crimes they experience are just pranks being

played on them. Feminists say that they are being treated less,

but in reality, they have more respect than the LGBTQ.

It is understandable why these feminists compare themselves

to the community. Both do have those hated comments or death

stares, but both are treated differently. Young feminists

believe that they are being attacked all time, and that is the

same with the LGBTQ community. However, they are proclaiming

themselves as better than men, rather than being equal to man.

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Which makes their points seem hypocritical and unjustified. The

LGBTQ community fights for equal rights and just to live in

peace with their sexual choice. Feminists proclaim that they are

better than men who work much harder than they do.

This brings attention to the community as a whole.

Feminists demand the same respect that the LGBTQ community

worked very hard for. If they do side by them, they will still

be shouting out hate messages to men. Rather than changing the

feminist label, they continue to stay strong with their

“activist” speeches about men. Some parts of society are all for

it, other parts are against it. The ones who are against these

movements spue hate messages as well. This is because of what

some feminist says. If the female activists just want equality,

then they should start deciding on what to shout as arguments.

Because in this society, what people say can be used for or

against them. In this society, feminist believe that the LGBTQ

community should side by them, as well as be treated with the

same amount of respect that the LGBTQ group receives.

To begin, feminists believe that communities like the LGBTQ

should side by them in their movement. But what is it to say

that the community does side by feminists in their movements.

Since the community consists of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals,

Transgenders, and Queer, there is a lot of opinions that go

along with this decision. Just because they are being attacked,
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does not mean that others who are being attacked will side by

them too. In this online article, the author Shawn Donnelly

states that;

“I am a gay man, and I identify as a feminist. I believe

being an ally to women and being aware of the struggles

many women face is important. But as a man, regardless of

my sexual orientation, I recognize that I have the

potential to be a part of the problem rather than the

solution. Beyond that, I recognize that feminism doesn’t

only benefit women, but gay men as well.”

With that being said, there are people just like Donnelly

who agree that the feminist has the same struggle as they do in

being part of the LGBTQ community. This makes the feminist feel

more empowered as women. The goal of these feminists is to

change the historical view of women in the past. This is one of

the many reasons why they believe that LGBTQ communities and

more should side by them in movements such as theirs.

However, Donnelly also said;

“It shouldn’t be news to any of us that gay male culture is

often not very welcoming to women. From the gay nightlife

scene making women feel less than welcome to gay men

consistently claiming terms rooted in misogyny, gay male

culture has seemingly forgotten the subtle yet crucial

difference between straight-privilege and male-privilege.”

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This statement made by Donnelly clearly states that feminists do

have some flaws in the movement. It is understandable that women

would feel that way though. Not every female activist is a male-

hating activist. Some do feel like the gay community does have

an effect on the women population in regards to sexual

orientation.

Furthermore, feminists still would have to remember this in

regards to their movement. “We still live in a society where men

have power over women. This power is male privilege. Access to

this privilege is available as long as we are perceived by

others to be male.” (Donnelly). It is still hard, even till this

day to really make a huge change historically. At least since

the first movement in July 19-20 1848, the movement has grown

and expanded within nations around the world.

Continuing on, both the LGBTQ community and the feminists

share something in common. The author states;

“The modern Feminist Movement and the Gay Rights Movement

share a common enemy – hegemonic patriarchy. It is not men

that feminism fights against, but rather the system that

places men before and above women. The same system places

straight men before gay men.”

This contradicts with the feminists who only spew out the hate

messages towards men. For this reason, a lot of men think that

the movement is just to “freely spread false accusations of all

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men.” That is obviously not the case. Hegemonic patriarchy has

been around ever since the 1800s and is still here to this day.

Both the LGBTQ and feminists do fight for this movement, but

today’s society is still male dominant.

Moreover, Leah Fessler interviewed Bisi Alimi who believes

that men who label themselves as gay should not be identified as

feminists. A little bit to know about Alimi is “In 2004, after

living with untreated HIV for three years, Alimi, who underwent

gay exorcism as a teenager in his native Lagos, became the first

Nigerian to come out on public television, in a country that’s

socially conservative, especially when it comes to sexuality.”

(Fessler). One question that Fessler asked Alimi was his

thoughts about gender inequality in the workplace. He tells the

interviewer;

“The issue of gender inequality has also been part of my

advocacy. I guess it is because as a man who is black and

gay, I know what it means to be shortchanged, though this

experience of mine is in no way equitable to the aggressive

suppression of women. At least I can never deny the

privilege I have as a man, though I ended up losing that

for being black and gay. So this experience has always

shaped my understanding of gender inequality. The issue of

gender inequality has also been part of my advocacy. I

guess it is because as a man who is black and gay, I know

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what it means to be shortchanged, though this experience of

mine is in no way equitable to the aggressive suppression

of women. At least I can never deny the privilege I have as

a man, though I ended up losing that for being black and

gay. So this experience has always shaped my understanding

of gender inequality.”

He explains how even though he is a man, he still does not have

the same amount of power as other men around since he is black

and gay.

Another question that Fessler asked Alimi is if he is a

feminist. His response was;

“No, I am not a feminist, I am a fem-ally. I don’t

think men should be feminists and I have written about

this. I find it a micro-aggression for men to call

themselves feminist. I mean, we represent everything

that led to the feminist movement in the first place

and I don’t see the reason why we want to still occupy

that space.”

This brings a good point that feminists should know. Since these

men are still men, they did lead the movement forward, but

still, wonder why they should be apart of it. “I strongly

believe in being a responsible ally to women’s struggles, and as

far as I am concerned, I don’t think there is a better way to be

a feminist. I am a man, I have no idea how a woman defines her

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feminism and I think it will be completely disrespectful and

patronizing for me to have an opinion when I’m not asked,” said

Alimi himself.

To continue on with the matter, feminists believe that they

should get the same amount of respect as the LGBTQ community

does. To what has happened in the past, there are some good

reasons why they should get it. However, what makes them deserve

the amount of respect? Or did they lose it to feminazis who

shout harsh and unhelpful things? To clarify what a feminazi is,

they are “the imaginary feminist who is outraged by imaginary

men opening imaginary doors for her.“ (Goulet P.1) So, with this

being said, there are two types of feminist in today’s society.

It is either the good or bad, like good cop - bad cop. According

to this article, author Sayde Scarlett said;

“Feminist should be kinder to positive masculine role

models. Feminists should champion male feminist allies. I’m

sure other feminists will argue that women should not have

to articulate what being a good man is, but unfortunately,

this is not an ideal world.”

She points out that they should be kinder to those who are

positive, even if they have the masculine side. This ties with

the community very well. Some do fall under the positive

masculine side, but this shows that some of these feminists are

not kind to these role models.

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Continuing on, even if the LGBTQ community were to side

with them, there is some toxicity that lies with it. There are

some feminists that will not call a transgender the gender that

they changed to be. In this article, the author quotes keynote

speaker Robin Morgan;

“I will not call a male “she”; thirty-two years of

suffering in this androcentric society, and of surviving,

have earned me the title “woman”; one walk down the street

by a male transvestite, five minutes of his being hassled

(which he may enjoy), and then he dares, he dares to think

he understands our pain? No, in our mothers’ names and in

our own, we must not call him sister.”

This puts some thoughts in the community because of the

transgender mistreatment. Even though they are not transgender

themselves, they still feel as if it is their problem as well.

Aside from all the toxicity, some do wonder what is

happening with the movements. Article writer Connor Kelly

explains his points on transgender women and men in his

perspective as a “non-gender conforming” advocate. Connor Kelly

states;

“I don’t believe trans women are women, and I never have. I

don’t believe it because it isn’t true. Neither do I

believe trans men are men. It doesn’t matter how many times
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you ask me to repeat after you  —  I’m not gonna believe it.

Sorry. “

As a gay male, this is somewhat contradicting to the whole

situation. When a feminist advocate hears this, of course, this

will put questioning thoughts in their head. However, this does

not mean that they are not with them. Some are on their side no

matter what, but there are many opinions with this.

To contradict, some feminists, like Kate Millett, think

that homosexuality is a fault line in feminism. In this article

that mentions Millett, it states;

“The next step was the idea that transgender could subvert

the binary and asymmetrical gender system: when people

cannot be clearly designated as women or men does it not

automatically mean the end of male dominance?”

Clearly, it makes sense of why people might have this thought.

Though, transgenders change their original gender because they

feel as if they were born the wrong gender. But as the quote

states, it does conflict with the gender system.

At the end of it all, there are still many LGBTQ

communities that are hand in hand with these feminists. Not only

do they have actual role models or well-known names, but there

are also those who are just advocates of the community who

support them with all they can. So whether it be supportive or

not, the continuation of both movements will continue on.

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To conclude this paper, it shows how much time and effort

has been put to have one movement support the other. In this

society, feminist believe that the LGBTQ community should side

by them, as well as be treated with the same amount of respect

that the LGBTQ group receives. Most do get the support and help,

but there will always be those who will not support the

movements, and that is okay.

In my opinion on this, I believe that both movements have a

lot of flaws, but a lot of benefits as well. There are some

people who would think otherwise, but everyone has their own

opinion. Personally, I am an advocate for LGBTQ movement and

some of the feminist movement. However, I do hate the fact that

some feel as if their opinions are facts. At the end of it all,

let's hope the future is more diverse.

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Work Cited

Donnelly Shawn, Men will be Men: Feminism and LGBTQ Rights,

Hivequal, 22 April 2019 (www.hivequal.org/homepage/men-

will-be-men-feminism-and-lgbt-rights)

Fessler Leah, Why Nigeria’s most-prominent LGBTQ activist

doesn’t identify as a feminist, 30 October, 2018, Quartz at

Work, 22 April 2019, (qz.com/work/1413171/why-nigerias-

most-prominent-lgbtq-activist-doesnt-identify-as-a-

feminist/)

Fitzsimons Tim, Prominent transgender advocate harassed by anti-

trans feminists, video shows, 2 February 2019, NBC News, 30

April 2019 (www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/prominent-

transgender-activist-harassed-anti-trans-feminists-video-

shows-n966061)

Gebhard Miriam, The right to be different, 08 January 2017,

Goethe Institute, 02 May 2019,

(www.goethe.de/en/kul/ges/20876203.html)

Goldberg Michelle, What is a Women?, 28 July 2014, The New

Yorker, 02 May 2019,

(www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/woman-2)
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Kelly Connor, What Happened To Our Movement?, 25 August 2018, A

Medium Corporation, 02 May 2019,

(medium.com/@connorskellymusic/what-happened-to-our-

movement-a1239d7a11d5)

Scarlett Sayde, Good Feminist, Bad Feminist, 2 February 2019, A

Medium Corporation, 01 Mat 2019

(medium.com/@sayde.scarlett/good-feminist-bad-feminist-

dd5c9118948c)

Smith Leslie, Goulet Nichole, What is a feminazi? 20 April,2017

Culture on the Edge, 30u April, 2019,

(edge.ua.edu/chp2/what-is-a-feminazi/)