One day i realised...i was part of a movement of angry and unhappy feminists.

So one day i realised, that i was part of a movement of angry and unhappy feminists. 

“If any female feels she need anything beyond herself to legitimate and validate her existence, she is already giving away her power to be self-defining, her agency.” ― bell hooks, Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics

Being angry and unhappy are not Negatives in my books. I think they are very healthy to feel as such. What we do and how we respond to these feelings are quite important and crucial.

I identify as a Feminist. I am a Feminist. 

15 years ago i used to be one of those young women who identified with the principles and values of feminism but was uncomfortable to identify as one- I was not confident in myself to say, " I am a Feminist". I had my own unsettling thoughts on being a feminist and i had to really dissect these thoughts to fully understand my position. Once i did that, i realised that calling myself a feminist was not a bad thing, it was empowering, it was about me claiming who i already was. The 'system' was the enemy. The patriarchal and sexist structures that continues to make feminism 'the enemy' is what we need to fight.

Back to being part of a movement of angry and unhappy feminists.
I do not write this lightly. I have given this much thought.
At one point, within the movement, there was a lot of coalescing and acknowledgment of the inter-generational and intersectional gaps/divide that existed within the movement. We (to a certain extent) continue to do this.

We have now reached a pinnacle whereby most of us are asking, "where is the movement?", "who makes up the movement?", "who can be part of the movement?".

And then we then have our average Janes/Joes, bystanders, people who specialise in having opinions on anything and everything, who would just say outright that the "movement is made up of either men hating women or elite & privileged women. I will not get into this discussion but the point being- that i feel that overtime we have continued to benchmark the defining of a 'women's movement' based on the 70s/80s concept and goals based on the priorities back then.
I think that's the problem.
Alot has changed since then, the way we work and strategies have evolved and redesigned to accommodate and to tackle our 21st century man-made issues, challenges , digital rubbish,  virtual and reality pollution.

I do see the existence of a women's movement- but it has now morphed. Its no longer within the definitions or confines of what we once knew. We now have a women's movement but many of us are angry and unhappy. There is more anger and unhappiness within and with each other.
I say this with caution yet with confidence simply because my experience of this has been shared by many.
You hear of stories of how we let each other down, how we were not there for each other, how 'so and so' didn't apologise or live up to expectations. We don' support each other. We are not honest with each other. We don't tell each other how isolated we really feel. Mind you- fighting inequalities, power and injustice is and can be a lonely place. We hear of stories of how we bully each other and WE NEVER hold each other to account. Why don't we do this or do enough of this?
What are we most scared of? Do we lack self-esteem? or are we silently condoning this behaviour?


We speak of 'smashing that fucken glass ceiling' and breaking patriarchy into pieces and to its non existence, yet within our own groups, within our movement (known or not known), we have built these very structures/systems that we so often talk about fighting. We have become the oppressors.
We are the ones who continue to perpetuate the system. We have become the best versions of 'pretenders', yet we carry so much anger within us. We no longer direct our anger towards fighting patriarchy and inequalities together, we are directing our anger(s) towards ourselves and to each other. We no longer support each other. Its superficial. Relationships are forged to elevate status and recognition within echelons. Its about Power and (id)Ego ("i want therefore, i am" comes to mind).


We no longer acknowledge the hurt and pain we carry with us yet we continue 'mining' knowledge, wisdom and experiences from each other. We are all surveyed and researched out. We are in 'fatigue mode' yet we are not even doing anything about it- we have just become angry and unhappy.

I question my actions, behaviour and contributions. I question the role i play in this.
I have refrained from writing about this simply because it was too real and so often we don't like to deal with reality. We all like to pretend that all is well, but how do we expect change to happen.
I am not going to pretend that all is well.

We are living in a time and 'wave' within the women's movement where by,we are creating (knowing and not knowing) more 'angry and unhappy' feminists than the creating, influencing and 'birthing' of passionate, creative, innovative, critical and analytical feminists.

What am i doing about it?
I am writing about it because i, I would like to create a new feminist in me.
I would like to birth an angry and unhappy feminist in me that allows her emotions and feelings to fight the system, to fight patriarchy instead of being angry and unhappy with each other nor feeling the need to fight each other!

We need each other, to all be angry and unhappy with the status quo together to FIGHT the SYSTEM. To Fight together, in solidarity and in numbers!


“The soul of our politics is the commitment to ending domination.” 
― bell hooks, Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics