feminists are only out for themselves

I was in my government class today, listening to the lecture, when the topic of feminism came up. There was the basic context of worldviews and whatnot, but what I found interesting was that my professor said, "And just so you know, feminists say they are for women, but they're not. They're for themselves."

And for a moment, that seemed like a damning argument. How can you possibly be advocating for social change if you're only out for number one? But, putting aside whether or not my professor was even right in making such an assertion, that quickly raised a deeper question for me: why do we think that's such a bad thing?

Most active feminists are women, as far as I can see from a cursory glance of the political landscape. So yeah, they want equal pay, they want equal rights, general equity, and so on. And we're going to shoot them down for that? What is society's expectation? Am I supposed to take this lying down?

Here's a reality check: a lot of social justice movements were started because the leader was a victim of injustice. One of the most prominent figures of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., had felt racial prejudice himself. He stood up not only for the people around him but for his own rights too. Clifford Beers, founder of the mental hygiene movement, began creating different mental hygiene societies to promote better treatment in sanitoriums because he himself had been a patient in a sanitorium and had experienced abuse. So was it wrong for Clifford Beers to stand up for his own rights? Are we going to tell the guy who was choked to the point of unconsciousness that, because it was himself, he should have just sat down and taken it?

Now, I am one hundred percent for being selfless. But in order for us to be able to function--and, if you truly want to think in a manner that actually removes your own thoughts and feelings from the equation--in order to be a productive member of society, you need to be able to take care of yourself too. We can't follow the line of thinking that standing up for yourself is wrong, because if you don't, no one will.

Keep taking care of yourselves, dreamers.