Feminism has gone too far – Jim Iyke

Nollywood actor Jim Iyke has stirred controversy with his remarks on modern feminism, describing it as a movement that has lost its original intent and now borders on being “a crime.”

Speaking in an interview on Echo Room, Iyke acknowledged the significance of early feminist struggles against patriarchy and gender imbalance but argued that the current wave of feminism has been distorted and over-commercialized.

“I call it a crime, an assault of sorts,” he said. “The perpetrators—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.”

According to him, the campaign that may have started in the pages of a women’s magazine spiraled into an ideology that encourages gender rivalry instead of partnership.

“It blew out of proportion,” he continued.

“Certain women bought into the ideology and made it their own. They decided that this whole narrative of ‘we do not need a man, anything a man can do we can do better’ became a way of life and a new cultural standard.”

Iyke further criticised what he sees as double standards in modern feminism, arguing that instead of promoting harmony, it fuels unnecessary competition between genders.

“The double standard of it all is what makes me question the ideology in the first place,” he said.

“You can only be in your natural God-given role, and the men stay in theirs, so that when you come together, it blends and becomes one. That is what they are yet to understand.”