Page 58 - Expressions '24 - Digital Release
P. 58
Rethinking Gender : Unravelling
The Clash of Narratives
Salma El-Wardany, a Huffington have found it hard to get people
Post writer, describes herself as a on their side. However, a century
"half Egyptian, half Irish Muslim later, it appeared to have become
writer travelling the world eating normal, if not acceptable, for
cake and dismantling the women born with all the rights
patriarchy. "As part of this their forefathers had fought for to
dismantling, El-Wardany has react with more harsh words than
particular affinity for the phrase had been used when the stakes
‘all men are trash’. El-Wardany were much higher.
endorses this discourse by
arguing it translates to a critique This campaign is not confined to
of masculinity's glacial growth, Twitter hashtaggery. Over the
claiming it contains women's last decade, we've seen a variety
wrath, frustration, hurt, and of buzzwords, such as "male
suffering. This phrase, she privilege," enter regular public
claims, serves as a rallying cry, a discourse. Like most slogans, it's
key to the "cross with men" club. easy to say but difficult to pin
This sentiment, however, is not down.
confined to El-Wardany's
expressions. Journalist Ezra Klein
attempts to decode this
seemingly extreme expression,
suggesting it is a way of
conveying frustration with
pervasive sexism rather than a
literal call for harm.
Saying 'Kill All Men' may have
been an overly enthusiastic tactic
to advocate for female suffrage at
a time when women did not have The idea of 'the patriarchy,'
the right to vote. First-wave which suggests that modern
feminists pushing for equality by Western cultures are constructed
following such strategies would to favour men over women, has
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