From Washington to Paris to Wonder Woman: Why Feminism must learn from Ariana Grande and Be Positive

The Ariana Grande One Love Manchester concert gave us much needed positivity. And in this new mood of positivity, I realised one thing: recently, the negativity within feminist circles has had an impact on my outlook on life too. It's really hard to stay positive with all that anger, bitterness and divisiveness. But still, we must try to stay positive.

However, we must also ask this question: why can't the feminist movement just stay positive? I mean, the women's march this year was the perfect example of where feminism could be really positive. But even there, some feminists complained about feeling excluded. Shouldn't the women's march be inclusive of everyone? Why does there have to be exclusions?

More recently, this ugly divisiveness was on show again, from Paris to Wonder Woman. A black feminist festival in Paris sought to exclude white people from much of its venue, while some Wonder Women screenings sought to exclude men. Again, why does there have to be so many exclusions, and therefore so much controversy? Can't we just all live together, be inclusive, and be positive?

Nobody likes angry, bitter and divisive movements. Certainly not myself. It's time we made feminism more positive.

White feminism? Zionism? Can't we stop this madness and just enjoy Wonder Woman?

Wonder Woman has opened to the well-deserved praise of feminists around the world. After all, it isn't every day that we get a major movie about a female superhero. (By the way, I would be really happy if we can have a Supergirl movie too.)

However, some self-proclaimed feminists are trying to spoil the fun for the rest of us. Firstly, there is the predictable accusation of white feminism. The term 'white feminism' has been so overused it now means essentially nothing. I'm also worried that it is becoming a racist slur against, well, feminists who are white. Anyway, apart from the fact that Wonder Woman is white, what's so 'white feminist' about Wonder Woman? It's not like that she's racist?

The more surprising accusation about Wonder Woman is the supposed Zionism. This stems from the fact that Gal Gardot, who plays Wonder Woman, is Israeli, and has voiced support for some of her country's actions in the past. Now, as an East Asian I am firmly neutral about the Israel-Palestine issue, as I believe it is not my place to comment on this issue. Other than reaffirming my commitment to opposing both anti-semitism and Islamophobia in all forms, I have nothing else to say. However, Wonder Woman the character is not even Israeli, so how is the Wonder Woman movie Zionist? I mean, the fact that Eddie Redmayne played Lili in The Danish Girl doesn't make Lili the character a straight man, right?

It seems that some people just have to be perpetually angry, and can't enjoy anything in life. It's annoying. What I'm most concerned about is that this kind of annoying behaviour will just serve to discredit feminism.