We are feminists, yes, but there is no one definition of what feminism means, so we sometimes refer to it as “feminisms” in the plural. This is part of the reason why we wanted to come together and create this space: so we could debate how we, as women and feminists, identify ourselves and our concerns. Because when we come together, we find out that we sometimes have contradictory views about what constitutes sexism, what we should do to end it, and how we should do it. This diversity, however, is not a liability at all; we strongly believe that it enriches our community.

The one thing all feminists agree on is that sexism is indeed a well-established problem in our societies (so well-established, in fact, that we say or do things sometimes that demean women without knowing it) and it affects us at every level of our lives — inside our homes, on our TV screens, in the workplace, our schools, on the streets, etc…

Very important to feminism is that we use the term “gender” as opposed to “sex”. While the latter term classifies people into two distinct sexes, man and woman, with inherent biological traits and differences, the word “gender” implies that we believe it is culture and society that mandates what “feminine” and “masculine” traits are: it is society that teaches women all their lives to think and behave in a “feminine” way, and men to think and act in a “masculine” way.

And though people tell us that women in Lebanon have been given all their rights, that we should be grateful that we are allowed (allowed?!) to drive and wear what we want (or what we think we want!), here are a few reasons why we believe many things still need to change:

• We are supposed to be smart and educated, but only to a certain extent.
• We are supposed to go out into the world, but only if we are chaperoned by a male family member.
• Throughout our lives, we have to prove that we are good daughters and then good wives and then mothers.
• We are supposed to want to be wives and mothers.
• We are all supposed to be strictly heterosexual.
• We are expected to look desirable but not act on our desires.
• We are expected to look good but not too good because then we’d be looking for attention, harassment, and even rape.
• Our family is supposed to be our protector, but a huge number of us are abused, physically and/or orally, inside our homes, by members of our families, and there are no laws to protect us from familial violence.
• In a country where more than half of the population are women, we have only 4 women parliament members, and only two ministers are women.
• We are required to go from our parents’ house straight to our husband’s house.
• We’re not really Lebanese citizens, we’re just the daughters of Lebanese men. Because if we really did possess a Lebanese citizenship, we’d be able to pass our nationality to our husbands and children; but we can’t.
• And even though we are supposed to be equal in the eyes of the law, we are far, very far from being equal to men.

All that and more needs to change.

Feminism is not an imported idea. Every time a woman stands up and refuses to be abused and exploited, every time she speaks up against her abusers, every time a woman believes in her capabilities and pursues her needs and ambitions, every time she resists being a victim or an object or an inferior being, she is being a feminist. And we don’t need any Western movement to teach us that — we’ve been doing it all along! And even though some of you may not call yourself a feminist, we’re sure you’ve been doing it too.

And as a last note, feminism does not have the slightest intention of turning women against men, or of acting like men are the evil beings and women are the victimized saints, as some — for whatever reasons & intentions — like to portray us. We believe that men as well as women are victims of patriarchy, but it is women (especially, but not exclusively, women with low or no income, low or no education, women in abusive homes, immigrant domestic workers, non-heterosexual women, and children) who remain most vulnerable to patriarchy because they do not have the advantages that men — just for being men — have.