Jim Iyke is a Nigerian filmmaker and actor
Nollywood actor, Jim Iyke, has stated that modern feminism has lost its way and now borders on being a crime.
In an interview with The EchoRoom, the actor noted that feminism used to fight for women’s rights but has now turned into something harmful.
The actor said that early feminist movements were necessary because they helped address real issues women faced, such as emotional neglect, patriarchy, and the lack of equal opportunities.
However, he believes the message has now been misunderstood by newer generations and turned into a distorted ideology.
Black Wednesday: How Dr Murtala changed plans to board commercial plane for military aircraft
He suggested that modern feminism didn’t develop naturally but is instead pushed by media interests for profit.
Iyke claimed that a popular women’s magazine, though he refused to name it, played a major role in promoting the new version of feminism, not to empower women, but to increase sales.
“I call it a crime, an assault of sorts. The perpetrators of this… obviously, I would not name the magazine… came out with a brilliant campaign to push more papers. Who were their chief readers? Women. So, they devised an ideology that allowed women to challenge the status quo and compete with men in the same space,” he said.
He went on to say that although the original campaign had some good intentions, some women misunderstood the message and turned it into a way of life that teaches them to reject men entirely.
“This was a campaign that went overboard, and certain women bought into the ideology and made it their own. They decided that this whole ideology of ‘we do not need a man, anything a man can do we can do better’… escalated, and blew it out of proportion. Now it has been adopted as a way of living, as a new cultural standard,” he explained.
Meanwhile, you can watch GhanaWeb TV’s exclusive interview with the ‘queen’ of décor, making strides since Rawlings’ era
AK/AE
