Feminism remains one of the most talked-about and controversial topics we face as a society. It is a word that has generated multiple meanings but the most common meaning according to Forbes is “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.” Society has viewed this topic from many angles; but to narrow this broad scenario down, I’m going to relate to two controversial videos about feminism. The first video is a TEDtalk presented by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian writer. She claims herself as a ‘feminist’ and throughout the video, she lists the reasons why the topic of feminism should stay relevant within our society. She goes on to list some detailed data to back up her claims. Opposing this decision is Robert Jensen, a professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas in Austin and an author. In his TEDtalk, he believes that feminism is a real threat to men and that we should look at the topic radically. Throughout his presentation, he proceeds to break down the number of ways we can look at ‘radical feminism’ as a society, how it threatens the male species and how we must solve it. 

Relating to the TEDtalk hosted by Chimamanda, she discusses her personal beliefs as a feminist and debunks any negative takeaways from the subject. Society often tend to frame the definition of feminism as “women should be better than men” but Chimamanda’s effort to debunk this claim states that, “Feminism does not mean that women should be better than men, but in fact, it means that men and women should have equal rights no matter what.” Taking a look at her statement logically, I believe that feminism is the intent to establish equal rights between men and women. There are multiple recorded data to prove that there is a lot of inequality within our society. Take for instance that the most prestigious occupations such as doctors, lawyers, presidents – are mostly held by men. This should definitely raise a question as to why is the employment hierarchy structured the way it is. There are institutions in America where both a male and a female doctor would have the same qualifications, have the same tasks at the job but the male doctor is paid more for no apparent reason. Another instance is that America has never had a female president since the first presidential election in 1789. Why? Logically, this is wrong at all costs. Although the Equal Pay Act (passed in 1963) was implemented into the law system, it appears as if businesses aren’t taking heed to the law and should inevitably be punished.

According to Wangari Maathai, “The higher you go, the fewer women there are,” and this becoming easier to see every day. The easiest example is there has never been a female US president. Many female candidates have run for President of the United States in recent years but they have been looked over by the media, society and the government itself.

On the contrary, the other video I reviewed was a TEDtalk hosted by Robert Jensen. At the beginning of the video, he implicated that feminism is a threat to men and we, as a society, should look at the topic of feminism in a ‘radical perspective.’ According to Robert, “Radical feminism is a critique of institutionalized male dominance.” I believe what he attempted to say was that the government is in full control of our society, so whatever happens within our society should be looked at as a governmental issue and not an issue of feminism. Robert proceeded to claim that feminism is a justice issue and it will remain inevitable until change is made within the justice system. 

There are multiple ways that Robert Jensen looked at the topic of feminism. In the video, he attacks the sexual exploitation industries by saying, “ – men are usually the ones buying women or girls for sex.” He then challenged the statement, claiming, “if we want to have equality of freedom, then we should challenge the sex exploitation industries which is a threat to the bodily integrity of women.” To properly understand this concept, you would have to look at it from a moral perspective. Jensen continued by saying the pornography also plays a role in what society calls feminism; it is sexist and racist and if we need justice, then we must challenge the pornography industry. Pornography gives an instruction book to the man when it’s time to please a woman and that in itself takes away from the real feeling of intimacy. 

I think that both speakers presented their ideas very well. They both had factual and proven points to back up their opinions but, Chimamanda’s idea of feminism seems to stand out more. Her obvious points about feminism stood out to the audience in contrary to Robert, where most of his presentation was shared on a personal perspective. His idea of feminism was locked into one perspective of it whereas Chimamanda’s view on the topic was more general and adhering to. Robert’s point of view could’ve been represented in a better way if he had more data then personal experiences.