Here’s Why Reverse Objectification Is Not The Solution To Fighting Patriarchy

When I say the word ‘patriarchy’, the first thought that probably comes to your mind is that of our society. India is a country where patriarchy is actively practiced, and though we’ve been trying to do away with this vicious male-dominant setup, time and again, we are failing as a society to uproot it.

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Before anything else, we need to understand what patriarchy is. To put it in simple words, it’s a system of society in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded. The opposite of patriarchy is matriarchy. Matriarchy is a system of society where females dominate and hold the power over men. Patriarchy and matriarchy, both are extreme systems and neither of them are appropriate.

Feminism Is Not The Opposite Of Patriarchy

What’s important to understand here is that feminism is not the opposite of patriarchy, rather it’s a situation that bridges the gap between patriarchy and matriarchy. Feminism, to put it in simple words, is equal rights for both men and women. A situation where we don’t differentiate people based on gender.

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Coming back to reverse objectification, what we as a society are failing to understand is that we’ll lose the war of equal rights if we objectify men. Objectifying men is just as wrong as objectifying women. The feminist fight is not shallow. The feminists of this world don’t want to put men down, but lift up women to a level where both genders have equal rights and respect in this world.

The Difference Between A Man’s vs A Woman’s Upbringing In India

Ever since a girl is born, she is told to compromise and adjust. She’s told to look after other people’s wellbeing. She’s told to be giving and caring. While all this happens at home, the same girl learns about being independent and strong. And so, she’s taking the best of both worlds and becoming a person who is strong headed yet compassionate.

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The same doesn’t happen for men because the explicit pressure on them to become successful is so much, that it overpowers their emotional being. No one teaches them to be givers or caretakers. It only happens when they grow up and realise that, “Hey, I need to be emotionally available for my family and my partner and not just be financially available.” By then, it’s tough for men to inculcate those emotions because they already have an understanding of this world that society has been feeding them. Hell, some men don’t even realise that. The biggest problem is that men themselves don’t know about this problem. They are not self-aware. They don’t even know they have a war they need to fight.

The Problem And Its Solution

The fight for equal rights is gradually becoming about who will win the battle of patriarchy – women or men. They are competing against each other and to be honest, it’s not going to work out because neither of them is going to win. If women objectify men, the situations will turn into matriarchy, which again means a society without any balance.

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The solution is quite simple to be honest. We need to understand that the feminist movement is not a competition between genders, or to put each other down. We need to understand that repeating what women have been facing for years on men will not serve the purpose, rather it’ll push men further away from the concept of feminism. Half of them already don’t care about it. We need to understand that we have to build a society that is just as fair to men as it is to women.