A Room of One's Own

Hi Friends!!!

I am back, to try and make your day just a little bit better. I hope you all are doing well. So, today's blog is a bit different than the usual. Today, I am here to tell you about a book that made me reflect on the cruel history & missed opportunities of women.

One of my online friends messaged me out of the blue and asked me if I wanted to read ‘A Room of One’s Own’ by Virginia Woolf. As a big-time reader, I instantly said, YES!!

When I was ordering the book, I thought, ‘Well, I said yes without thinking. This book is going to be yet another book on equality or feminism or how women can climb Mount Everest.’ Honestly, I hate reading much on feminism. I feel it’s an over-hyped topic that people write and speak on just to get more views.

I was wrong. However, the fact still stands that many people write and speak about feminism only for views or to present themselves as great and modern thinkers, but this book was not another average book on feminism. 

And here is why:

How ‘A Room of One’s Own’ Is Not a Book On Feminism: Have you ever stopped to think ‘Who first told women what they can and cannot do?’ or ‘Who decided women are inferior or less intelligent than men?’ Of course, it wasn’t a woman. Because women who talked and presented their views openly were neither appreciated nor respected. Then it must be a man. Though who was that man? Why did he tell women and the world that women in general are inferior? I cannot know the first man who did so. But I know one which Virginia Woolf mentions in her book:

There was Professor Von X who wrote a popular book called, ‘The Mental, Moral, and Physical Inferiority of the Female Sex.’

It wasn’t enough though. Virginia Woolf was exploring the British library when she found the work of Napoleon who thought that ‘women are incapable’ and then there was Dr. Johnson who said:

‘‘Have they (women) souls or have they not souls? Some savages say they have none, others, on the contrary, maintain that women are half divine and worship them on that account. Some sages hold that women are shallower in the brain.’’

If you leave behind the talks of feminism or your own personal views on females, you will be able to see that in this book, Woolf argues against an idea still prevalent in the late 1920s that women had not produced as much "great" literature as men because they were intellectually inferior. She makes a compelling materialist argument that women's lack of achievement in the arts is due to economic circumstances rather than an innate lack of ability. 

As the title indicates, she develops the theme that it has been the lack of private space—the lack of "a room of one's own"—that has hampered women's achievement. Woolf shows that the devil is in the details. She begins by contrasting the wealth and ease of a men's college, where the food is good and the wine flows freely, to the poverty of a woman's college, where the diet is mutton and water, and the effect that has on a woman's ability to write. She outlines the way daughters have been routinely sacrificed to sons in terms of being kept at home while the young men are sent to school and enriching travel abroad. She posits a hypothetical Judith Shakespeare, just as talented as her brother, William, who moves to London to work in the theater only to end up impregnated by her manager and therefore disgraced. 

She discusses real-life figures like Jane Austen who had to write in dining rooms—public spaces—and hide their work when people entered. It's women's lack of socioeconomic equality that stymies their ability to produce creative work at the same level as men. They need economic independence and a room of their own to thrive and create, just as men do.

I am not going to lie, the book was written in the twentieth century, and I didn't quite understand it at first glance. I had to read it over twice or thrice and look up a summary. But, after reading the book I was reminded of the true definition of feminism and what it really stood for.

Earlier, feminists used to act against discrimination, and their true goal was to achieve equality for all. Nowadays, feminism has become more of a source for publicity that people use to present themselves as modern thinkers. 

Most feminists today, have started to convert normal statements into discriminatory ones. For example, when I say that I like Ice cream these people are going to twist it and say that I am discriminating against chocolates by saying that I like Ice cream.

Basically, they made a discriminatory version of my statement that I could never even think of because I did not mean it in that way. It's like these people are wearing glasses that have discrimination written on the lenses. So, all they see is discrimination. This is probably because this inequality exists in their head(even when it's not there). As a result, they see it even when it is non-existent.

Gandhiji had very aptly said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world". But if people(in particular certain fake feminists) are going to start believing that every statement or action that anyone (especially a male) makes is against women then they are in one way or another promoting discrimination, and that is the exact opposite of the change that we require.

Now if you will twist my normal statement or action into a discriminatory one then you just created discrimination in a place that was free of it earlier. So, if you want equality then start to see women and men as equal yourselves first.

I say this again I am not against feminism or equality of all. All I am trying to say is that in the eyes of some people, the fight is between men and women. But in reality, it is not so and it has never been so. The fight has always been between equality and discrimination, between freedom and bondage. So, please don't let the world's wrong thinkers affect you. Not all males are patriarchal and they aren't the enemy. We are here to fight discrimination, and not each other.

My only motive is to show you the mirror. Now, it is time to reflect on yourself and decide which feminist do you want to be. Is it the real one or the wrong one? 

Thank you for your time, and definitely try "A Room of One's Own", its a good read. Let me know if you agree or disagree with me, by commenting on my blog. 

Bye!!!