Feminism, Jawi and Bersih walk into a bar…

“Aren’t we all at some level feminists?”

So asked a friend of mine rhetorically during a conversation lately.

She opined that everyone, regardless of gender, religion, race, etc. would have to be feminists at some points in our lives, be it because we are women, or men who have sisters, mothers, daughters, wives and so on.

As much as I would love to agree with her, I simply disagreed.

Having gone through my personal journey with feminism, I find it hard to accept that everyone at some points in their lives are feminists.

Why do I think so? Other than meeting many a folk almost every day exhibiting some form of misogyny and sexism, internalised or perpetuated, here is a roundup of two examples I find in equal amounts fascinating and appalling.

1. Women = food

“Let us think, what will happen if a dish is not covered? Surely flies will go to the dish, subsequently making those who love the dish lose their appetite,” Jawi’s authorities were reported to have said in a Friday sermon.

If they had stopped there and kept it to the health risks of leaving food unattended, it would have been a welcomed message, especially looking at how we Malaysians flock to nasi kandar and economy rice shops where the dishes are kept open for all sorts of air-borne germs and dirt to land on.

Alas it did not. Of course food would be the perfect comparison for another product of consumption – women.

“Looking at today’s social ills, it is worrying. When women fail to cover their aurat perfectly, it will open the door to vices,” expounded said authorities.

Apparently women who do not cover their aurat would encourage exploitation of women, which would then lead to sex, and then the world will end because women engage in sex.

How this works, I wonder, because within the narrow confines of Malaysian laws and equal rights, only heterosexual sex between cismen and ciswomen is legitimate.

So would calamities abound when men engage in illicit sex or is it a curse of the vagina-uterus-blessed folk?

Or is it because women are products for (righteous male) consumption, should they be used for any other sanctified purposes, life would cease to be peaceful?

2. Bersih Girl vs. Maria Chin

Apparently days before the Bersih 4 rally, a statement issued by Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah had ruffled some feathers.

Sure the statement could be read as sexist, but that does not validate an equally sexist response as seen in the letter by “Bersih Girl”.

“Please, before you march, could you do us a favour? Go to the hairdresser. Get a new hairdo. Add a bit of mascara as well. It helps the cause; maybe even the police boys might think again about being rough with us,” reads the response.

Now, how does one call out the misogyny in another by blatantly displaying their own internalised misogynistic views?

If you accuse a woman of not taking pretty girls seriously and then go on to advice said woman to do “us” (I am assuming Malaysians who participate in Bersih 4) a favour by conforming to societal expectations of accepted beauty (hairdo, mascara, etc.), are you not doing the same to her?

Are you saying that women who do not look pretty invite brutality and violence?

How then does set you apart from people who blame the victims for the violence committed to them or those who believe that certain women because of the way they look, act or behave, deserve to be violated?

Looking at these two scenarios, we do get a pretty clear picture of the state of Malaysia in terms of how we regard women.

The first one is an institutionalised belief of how women should be women, and the second is an insight into the mind of a woman, whom on the surface we would most likely peg as a progressive social liberal.

So should feminism, Jawi and Bersih walk into a bar, whom do you think will be subjected to harassment and violence? – September 13, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.