Feminism vs humanism. I used to identify as a humanist, but in recent years have rethought that and am a confirmed feminist. Humanism felt gentler to me back then, a more inclusive way of looking at things. However, it implies that things are equally unfair to all. They are not. Being a feminist doesn’t prevent you from caring about the general plight of humanity, but it recognizes and identifies the many ways inequality still prevails.
The perspectives, needs, and preferences of men still shape many of our systems, laws, and rules. For example, look at medical research; it is primarily conducted around male averages; how AI has been trained on datasets with gender bias; how care work and other “feminine” jobs are paid less, or not at all.
Let’s consider the feminist perspective, which is an approach to an issue, any issue, that sees it through the lens of gender dynamics in play, the social, political, and economic interactions that favor men over women. How do we address those power dynamics in order to bring more equal rights and opportunities to women and girls?
The answer to that question is a process that means we must include women and girls in decision-making and empower them to lead in matters that impact them, their bodies, and their lives. We must ensure that women have influence on all related government and employment policies. A feminist approach looks at who has power and who doesn’t and why. Feminism has grown from the denial of women’s independence from the suffrage movement until today. Women still to the “taking care” work that is not valued but very necessary. That work is forth percent of the GDP in some countries. These unequal power dynamics tip the scales in favor of men and boys.
Thought history, feminist movements have fought for women’s rights, justice, and equality across the world. Decolonization and independence movements root every movement. They are not a pursuit of women’s rights in isolation, but a movement to eliminate colonialism and end racist and sexist struggles.
Over the years, we have had numerous examples of reform. Laws enacted in India during the 1800s addressed protecting widows’ rights and educating girls. The Bantu Women’s League in South Africa was the first organization to advocate for the rights of Black women, back in 1918. The Aba Women’s Riot in Nigeria secured reforms against unfair taxes in 1929. Women in New Zealand fought for and won the right to vote in national elections in 1983. During the 1960s and 1970s, the women’s liberation movements further expanded women’s choices in education, employment, and public life. During the 1990s, feminism brought attention to the impacts of sexism and how it is interwoven with and exacerbated by racism, classism, ableism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination.
Today, the feminist movement continues to address recent issues: sexual assault and body shaming, homophobia, transphobia, and digital abuse, which has introduced a whole new form of violence. Feminism is important now more than ever because, according to UN Women, no country in the world has fully achieved gender equality. Around the world, many women and girls still lack basic human rights. The numbers are jarring:
One in three women experiences physical or sexual violence in their lifetime
One in five girls is married before the age of 18
Six in ten femicides are committed by a woman or girl’s family or intimate partners
Women hold less than two-thirds of the legal rights of men
In half of all countries, consent is still not the legal standard against rape
Some of the most pressing issues of our time—peace and security, migration, extreme violence—impact women and girls differently, sometimes more directly, than men and boys. Chronic underinvestment in gender data also makes these inequalities harder to address.
All of this has come up for me because of the ugly topic. One I didn’t want to address, but it is critical that we not only know about it but take action to shut it down. I am still reeling and feel the punch physically. Our rights, Our Bodies!! We have just learned about the “Global rape academy” which is a website where women are being drugged, raped, and filmed allover the world, and the users of these depraved on line groups, channels and forums are profiting from the sexual violence of their own wives and partners. CNN reported that its investigation exposed an “online rape academy” – a network of sites and chatrooms that received approximately 62 million visits in February 2026. The investigation uncovered thousands of “sleep” videos depicting sexual abuse on porn sites and in private Telegram groups. Further reports indicated that traffic to those platforms grew to over 81 million in March 2026. While the audience is global, the primary concentration of users is in the United States. The 62 million figure refers to total visits or clicks on the platforms during that month, rather than 62 million unique individuals.
I am profoundly outraged, and I hope you are too! We need immediate and unwavering action…now. The feminist movement is alive and well and more necessary now than ever. There are ways we can work together, women and men, to change this culture of abuse and violence toward women. Several sources that support survivors offer the following actions:
1. Demand immediate legal and corporate accountability. There are laws that provide liability protection for platforms hosting user-uploaded content. AI tells me that Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act is a US law providing legal immunity to internet platforms (like social media, websites, and ISPs) for content posted by users and for good-faith moderation of offensive material.
2. Target Financial Systems. Advocacy groups like Foundation RA are calling on financial services, Visa, Mastercard, etc., to cut ties with adult platforms which host porn platforms. Foundation RA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to combating image-based sexual abuse. It supports victims, children, and men/women globally by offering free take-down services for non-consensual content, leveraging partnerships with cybersecurity experts and mental health professionals.
3. There are calls for stricter enforcement of existing laws and digital safety laws. We can support these endeavors.
4. We must mobilize and focus on public awareness and advocacy. Activists are urging the public to share the investigation, bring attention to the “Without Her Knowledge” chatrooms, and stop treating this as an isolated case. Feminists highlight that the “rape academy” demonstrates systemic patriarchy and misogyny, curating, monetizing, and normalizing sexual violence.
5. We must support survivors, all survivors, and promote safety. There are resources in every community and helplines; Rape and Crisis support lines specifically. The overarching reaction is a call for “systemic change” rather than just taking down individual websites, as the investigation found the behavior continues to resurface.
From the Rowan Center, Five Instrumental Women in the Fight to End Sexual Violence.
Recy Taylor
In 1944, Taylor was walking home from church when she was kidnapped by a gang of white men who sexually assaulted her. Although the men confessed, this was the Jim Crow South, and the police refused to investigate and press charges. As outrage mounted, the NAACP sent Rosa Parks to investigate, organize, and find justice. Parks and other Black activists were able to advocate for a grand jury.
Taylor was threatened and intimidated, but she refused to stay silent, testifying in court against her attackers. She underwent two grand juries, but neither resulted in any charges. Finally, in 2011, the Alabama Legislature issued a formal apology for failing to prosecute her attackers.
Susan Brownmiller
An author, journalist, and activist, Brownmiller wrote a book, Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, that has shaped the way our culture talks about and understands sexual violence. Published in 1975, the book chronicles the history, politics, and sociology of sexual violence. It is also the first book to use the term date rape—defined as sexual assault in which there has been some sort of romantic or potentially sexual relationship between the victim and the person who has done harm.
Brownmiller’s keen eye for detail and comprehensive analysis of history made Against Our Will a seminal text in the fight against sexual violence.
Tarana Burkę
Tarana Burke has been an activist and advocate since she was a teenager. In the early 2000s, she began working with survivors of sexual violence in Selma, Alabama—many of whom were young Black girls—eventually leading to her founding the #MeToo movement. The movement was designed to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of sexual violence in society and its impact on Black women and girls. It was also an entry point to healing for survivors and helped develop survivors into leaders in the movement.
In 2017, #MeToo went viral and Burke received national and global recognition. Her dedication to survivor-led activism and survivor-centered solutions have made a difference for countless victims and survivors of sexual violence and changed the movement for the better.
Amanda Nguyen
Amanda Nguyen is an activist and the founder of Rise, a nonprofit dedicated to codifying civil rights. In 2016, she authored the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act, which was signed into law by President Obama. She also authored and passed the Survivors’ Resolution through the United Nations General Assembly. Her work has made a difference for survivors, supported activists around the world, and ignited a wave of collective action to stop Asian hate in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mary P. Koss
Mary Koss led the first large-scale survey of rape prevalence on college campuses, leading to the 1987 study The Scope of Rape: Incidence and Prevalence of Sexual Aggression and Victimization in a National Sample of Higher Education Students. This groundbreaking study researched the prevalence and effects of sexual violence on women’s lives and informed policy and practice. A renowned psychologist, she also produced comprehensive research on the psychological consequences of sexual violence, informing early efforts to support victims and survivors.
She is also credited with developing the concept of “rape culture.”
Chanel Miller
Chanel Miller is an artist, writer, and activist who has made a significant impact on today’s movement to end sexual violence. In 2019, she shared her story of sexual violence in the powerful memoir, Know My Name, detailing her trauma, the dehumanizing experience of the court case, and her long road to healing and advocacy.
She’s spoken up about the survivor experience and shared her megaphone with many other survivors, elevating their voices to challenge our culture of sexual violence.
These are just some of the countless women who are in this fight—past and present. We hope you have someone, whether they’re on this list or not, that inspires your activism and encourages you when change feels impossible.
I feel “dirty” as I prepare to post this. I think about not posting anything today. But isn’t that contributing to the problem, and I want to be a part of the solution for? So, it is one of those “sorry, not sorry” posts. We all need to be aware, to take action (whatever that is for us individually) and we need to be a part of the change, the solution, that has to happen NOW!
Wishing you a week of peace…and action. They can go together.
