Recently, female pop stars have been shaking the entertainment industry with promotions of feminism. On Jan. 12, Beyoncé published an essay on feminism, stating, “We need to stop buying into the myth about gender equality. It isn’t a reality yet.” Feminism has long been a powerful movement. However, as awareness and support grows, we need to recognize the truth.

Modern feminism is wrong. A noble cause, but ultimately rooted in false assumptions and built on the wrong foundation. Merriam-Webster defines feminism as “the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes,” which sounds awfully similar to gender equality. The key difference, however, is apparent in the name of this theory—feminism. It is indeed a theory about the equality of the sexes, but it is a theory built on the basic assumption that women are disadvantaged and need to gain political, economic and social rights or privileges in order to level the playing field. Feminism is woman-centered and is primarily concerned with what women don’t have, and men are left behind.

Gender equality is wholly different, however. It simply upholds that each sex should be equal to the other and receive equal treatment. Its ultimate goal is to provide the same rights and protections for both genders and it throws away all the stereotypes and outdated traditions. Gender equality is what our society should be pursuing.

In a CHS Confessions post in November, a confessor stated, “I think that the (probably lazy ass male) senator that suggested the Sadie Hawkins dance should end up dateless. Now that would be justice.” The post referred to the Great Gatsby dance on Feb. 7, which was rumored to have originally been planned as a Sadie Hawkins event but was later changed to a regular dance. Sadie Hawkins dances are not only a fun twist on traditional dances but central to promoting gender equality. Males are traditionally expected to ask females to the dance. As girl-ask-boy dances, Sadie Hawkins are an attempt to break this tradition.

In this instance, it’s impossible to say which gender is advantaged and which isn’t. Is it worse to have  to muster the courage to ask and possibly be rejected? Or is it worse to wait and to wonder who will ask? High school dances are a good example of the virtues of gender equality and the flaws of feminism in the sense that there is no upper and lower. Feminism is applicable only in the cases where women are disadvantaged. Gender equality, however, is always applicable and is the belief system that ultimately promotes fairness for the sexes.

Modern society is too focused on a supposed “battle of the sexes.” Instead, we should seek to be conciliatory and recognize that each gender is advantaged in some areas and disadvantaged in others, and we should work to minimize these gaps for both males and females.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Alex Yu at [email protected].