Trends Forecasting Research Document TRENDS FINAL HAND IN FINISH | Page 4

Introduction
Feminism is the belief in the equality of males and females regarding social, political and
economic aspects (DoSomething.org, n.d). There are many different types of feminism, such as
liberal feminism, eco feminism and socialist feminism (Vivek, 2015).
Feminism is everywhere right now; magazines are filled with empowering female celebrities and
role models such as Michelle Obama and Jennifer Lawrence who both have spoken about women’s
right (Sommerville, 2016) . Social media has opened up the world of feminism to a wider
audience; it has removed the difficulties and complications of distance. Social media sites such as
Instagram, Twitter and Facebook have made being a feminism activist easier than ever, creating a
huge place for awareness and change (Chittal, 2015)

Though not everybody feels so positively about feminism, in 2014 there was an anti
feminist campaign called “women against feminism”. Women would write statements on why
they didn’t need equality and then take a picture of them holding this statement to share with
the world. (Sommerville, 2016) ). It can sometimes be easy for feminism to become distorted,
making women feel empowered does not mean undermining men. Men also suffer from gender
assumptions, they can be under pressure to live and act in a certain way that is expected of them.
In fact 700,000 people in the USA in 2015 did not feel comfortable with their gender, in which
they identified themselves as transgender (Thapoung, 2015). In spite of gender everyone should
be treated fairly and equally. This is Feminism. (Cavanagh, 2014)

With the new US president, Donald Trump, expressing an extremely worrying sexist
“boys will be boys” opinion on the matter of sexual assault, he has indeed awakened an American
feminist revolution (Hill, 2016) . Young women who have thought the war for equality was finally
over, are not quite ready to abandon their campaign just yet (Ghitis, 2016).
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