Highlighting The Counter-productivity Of The Feminist Movement -By Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh

It all started many years ago with the hues and cries against societal neglect for the girl child’s right to be as educated as her male counterpart. Then, it brought in the much offensive culture of genital mutilation especially how it was inhumane to do that to the girl child and how that led to the transmission of infectious diseases.

As time went by, domestic violence against the female gender and, sister crimes like rape also came on board. While all these were on, there was a great applaud for how the now hydra-headed issues resonated with the general public. Then, things began to go haywire when what is now known as the feminist movement finally manifested as the umbrella under which the hydra-headed issues rested.

There was no doubting the fact that the feminist movement did not sit down well with the women or with the Nigerian public. In fact, at the initial stages of its manifestation, I learnt of several well-informed elderly people who warned about the counter-productiveness of this movement in other climes. Some mentioned the fact of how lonely women in the US and the UK had become over the years.

Yet, because of the combination of the initial euphoria, gross ignorance of the youths who saw the movement as a veritable platform to vent energy and make money from international donors who were searching for platforms like those to sponsor and society’s nonchalant attitude; the movement survived through the years to give society reasons why it needed to now rethink its stands.

Quite franking, to say that the movement is far more unneeded today than it was from the very start is to state the obvious and in a manner that may portray me as being economical with the truth. The damages are indeed unacceptable. But what have we really gained at the end of the day from the movement? For it is important that knew these gains so as to know what to do next.

For me, I’d like to highlight what society gained before the feminist movement came and then compared it with where we are after the movement started. First, without the feminist coloration, society frowned at rapists and men who abused their wives domestically. At some point, it became a criminal offence to either rape a woman or abuse her. This was a milestone advantage to society.

Women were protected by society while the men were not neglected; because two must agree before any interaction can commence. Second, there was an immediate throwing away of the practice of mutilating the female genitals by many ethnic groups. Third, the dangers of early marriage and clinical consequences like VVF were highlighted and jettisoned.

And the girl child now had as much right as society accorded the male to be educated. That Right also considered the mental well-being of the female gender as more and more empowerment programs were designed to increase the ease of the average woman in the Nigerian space. Fourth, it took care of the discrepancies in employability and gave more room for women to thrive.

In politics, women began to enter the arena and to showcase their potentials in leadership to the admiration of society. And lastly, without the feminist spice women were stirred onto more learning and more quest to improve themselves. This stir to self-awareness did not in any way encourage the women to underrate the men or vice versa. Rather, self-awareness meant understanding boundaries.

Needless to say that while all these were happening it was preparing the ground for what now stirs us in the face namely; (a) increased loneliness which has worsened the case of prostitution, (b) increased cases of divorce and (c) increased community of emotionally unintelligent women. These aforementioned 3 subtractions began to manifest with the entry of the gender equality movement.

With the manifestation of this movement, there has been a surge in prostitution, divorce and, I dare say; a steady reversal of the initial gains of seeking to protect the female gender. Just take a drive around town in the evening, what you see are girls walking about in panties and naked. They are either congregating in a beer parlor, standing aloof along the street or going to a club house.

If loneliness was not real, why would a young female DSS officer take her life by jumping into the lagoon in Lagos? In 2022 alone, the rate of divorce more than doubled. And what baffles me and I believe everyone else is the reasons adduced for the breakup. The feminist movement has shifted societies’ focus of protecting the women gender into a focus for gender equality and equity.

Incidentally, this has created a deep cleavage in the peaceful relationship and coexistence that once existed between the male and the female gender; resulting in incessant divorce and what this portends for the next generation who are made to live mostly with their mother by custody while their father is away and made to look like the devil himself in the minds of these kids.

Women now think it is wise to be emotionally unintelligent. For this reason, husbands are becoming endangered species to the extent that amicable solutions to marital disputes are no longer sought after because of course; there are numerous hotlines to call and nail the man. I think this is quite unfortunate and enough reason why society needed to do a rethink now.

For some of us who are conversant with the trend in the US and the UK; we believe that Nigeria won’t need another 5 years from now for women to begin to lay with dogs for sexual pleasure or visit massage houses or even call in sex partners just to have sexual pleasure. For the ignorant, sex toys like Dildo and Vibrators are invading our space from climes like the US where men are scare.

Scammers on the internet are rife today; ripping off foreign women and even using their Nigerian girlfriends for money rituals because the feminist movement has more than damaged society. The growing population of LGBTQ in Nigeria is a trend that should worry us too. If Nigeria won’t reverse its stands on this feminist thing then it risks having her future leaders come from broken homes.

Think of what it’s like for a woman to pose as though she’s with the CIA or FBI in her own marriage and all the while piling up information about a man she claimed to be married to just to have him nailed tomorrow in the courts and, to get away with his children and alimony? Even in the US, court orders are required in order to wire a house with bugs; why shouldn’t the marriage rights act be reviewed to protect men’s privacies?

Comrade Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh; a Mental Health Activist writes from Abuja. 08062577718.