I've spent about a month now trying to come up with an elaborate blog exploring lots of different ideas about Feminism, and after much procrastination and decision changing, I've decided to keep it simple. Short and sweet.
I recently watched a pretty infuriating video (in my opinion anyway) on Youtube by a girl arguing the case for modern day Feminism as a response to TheAmazingAtheist's video entitled 'Feminism Sucks'.
Now, I can fully understand why Feminism existed in the past. Back in the day, women didn't have entirely equal rights. They couldn't vote and were viewed as the home-makers and child-rearers and not terribly much else. The main thing to note is that that was about a hundred years ago. Feminism was about achieving equal rights, not sh*tting all over men and calling them pigs.
So, first things first, the issue of women and porn and sex and how us girls are simply made out to be masturbation accessories. Of course, there is porn out there that does objectify women and I have no problem with that because, now this is important, the porn stars chose their career path! I certainly have never heard of any porn actresses moaning about their jobs (pun intended), and if they felt that the roles they played promoted such bad self image one would assume they would find new jobs. Wouldn't they? As pointed out in the Feminism Sucks video, women aren't the only ones who are dominated in porn.
How that girl couldn't see the similarities between the KKK and extreme Feminism, I'm not entirely sure. She seems to be quite intelligent, although I suppose that often very strongly opinionated people are blinded by their own beliefs and are unable to use their brains to argue things properly. Just because she has protested against the KKK doesn't make fundamentalist Feminists any less comparable to fundamentalist KKK members. It really bothers me that, like religious nuts, this girl is unwilling to accept any kind of opposition to her beliefs, constructive or otherwise (upon trying to ask a valid question I was told to F*CK OFF. Comments are now disabled).
Feminists are not 'activists for social justice'. Gender equality has been achieved, a long time ago. There may be instances where men treat women in a way that is unfair, but in my opinion, Feminism is now at a point that, should it be supported enough, women would become female chauvanists and men would become the persecuted. I believe that feminism is an outdated movement, which should have died a death way back in the 60s when bras were being burned. I am glad that it has become little more than a laughing stock - it seems like the kind of movement that could become very, very dangerous given the opportunity.
Strong words from me, but I feel strongly about this. Feel free to comment and share thoughts.
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Agree entirely. SHe has a nerve complaining about this when there are far worse concerns to do with social justice:
ReplyDelete-homeosexuality is still being attacked and ridiculed.
- atheism is seriously distrusted and in some countries apostacy is punishable by death.
- the minimum wage in the UK in regards to under 22s is ridiculous. Until 18 there is no set minimum wage and between 16 and 17 you can be paid as little as your employer wishes to pay you, whereas a 22 year old will be paid a minimum of £5.72 for doing the same or even a lesser job.
- if she wants to fight against oppression of women, she needs to focus on the middle east and some eastern countries where oppression is worse than it ever was in the west pre-suffrage.
She hasn't got a clue how good she has it. Her comments are ill informed, arrogant and selfish. The very fact she is able to make these comments shows how far we have advanced.
She needs to grow up.
Alex x
As someone who studies this in a fair amount of detail, your confused ideas make me whince. You clearly have no notion of history or even what feminism is. They're not all man-hating, bra burning lesbians in dungarees you know. In fact, they're not even all activists. Some just want to explore gender and identity. I fail to see how their thought provoking discussions will lead to 'danger'. What 'dangers' are you even referring to? Are you worried that women will be lynching men KKK style?
ReplyDeleteFirstly, 'The main thing to note is that that was about a hundred years ago'. I wasn't aware the 50s and 60s were a hundred years ago? Secondly, if you really believe that 'Gender equality has been achieved, a long time ago' you're very naive. You only have to look at employment statistics to see that women are still, on average, being paid less than men for the same job. Just because they're better off in society, doesn't mean there isn't a place for feminism. Furthermore, you're clearly basing your opinions on Western women. Look at feminist work in poor countries and you might feel differently. e.g. sex trafficking and migrants forced to leave their families behind to take on low paid, low skilled jobs elsewhere, particularly as maids. I don't think they'd be up for celebrating 'gender equality'
I thought this was going to be an interesting blog, questioning whether women should be rejecting gender roles as *some* feminists seem to fight for. I'd agree with you that those feminists aren't so much helping women, as forcing them to take on more work (it's known as the 'double shift' of domestic labour and paid employment but you wouldn't know that as you clearly haven't bothered to backup your arguments with intellectual publications, just wild ideas plucked from your head)but I was sadly disappointed...
lrn2feminism
I don't claim to know much about feminism (I don't) although I wanted to add my two cents worth.
ReplyDeleteI do genuinely believe that, given the chance, there are women out there who would resort to violence so that they can achieve what they believe to be correct. I also think that there are a lot of right thinking people who could easily be manipulated into agreeing with people like them. Since I'm a teenager and all, I think I'm in a fair position to say that I know a lot of people who could easily be persuaded to believe things without even realising it. They aren't stupid, they're just impressionable.
Gender inequality in the workplace is indeed still an issue, although there is also evidence showing that the "glass ceiling" is at breaking point. I went on a trip to the Scottish Parliament when I was at school and it definitely wasn't male dominated by any means. The First Minister is male, his deputy is female. In the USA a woman is the deputy president. The reason women often earn less is because at the prime age for promotion a lot of women decide to have children. That doesn't mean that they are being forced into taking on any role in society - more often than not that is their own decision. They miss out on promotion opportunities because of decisions they made of their own accord. My mother was an executive, she could probably have done even better during her life in the office had she not had me. Eventually she just wanted to do her own thing anyway. Perhaps some women just aren't interested in being high flyers?
I don't feel that the example of women working as maids is in any way a good one. I believe that to be more of a race issue. I am an immigrant, I moved to Scotland alone with my mother and she didn't work as a maid. I am pretty sure that there are plenty of gardeners and handymen as well maids. The only reason that those people are in those horrible jobs is because they're not well educated. If you were an employer, and two candidates for a new job were a barely skilled woman and a male university graduate, you would most likely take on the male candidate.
I could've sat here trying to think of more to write about women in third world countries, and the crap that they have to put up with but really I think that anyone with half a brain knows that that kind of thing goes on. I am aware that there are feminists fighting for the rights of those women and I respect that, but there really are also just PEOPLE. Men and women alike.
As far as I am concerned, feminism is outdated. There are just normal people out there who campaign for the same things that I hear about feminists moaning and groaning about.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFrom what "anon54" (0 points for originality) has said, I assume she believes that feminism reached its peak point in the 50s and 60s? Wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe suffragettes were prominent in the late 19th and early 20th century. That's when women had it bad. If you think that men are chauvinists now, you would have hated the 1890s. Back then, the issue wasn't women burning bras, it was women being oppressed to a point where they were forced to throw themselves beneath the King's horse.
Let's face it, feminism now is about women who can't accept that they are unable to accept that body image isn't propagated by women who are proud of what they have and instead bash those women (and the men for liking it) instead.
Facts, for this blog, are irrelevant. The post was ultimately about the mentioned girl's views and lack of eloquence in illustrating them.
However, as I said before - everything you believe is your own choice. If you chose to believe that feminism has its place in this world, then so be it. Us rational thinkers, in the meantime, will continue to fight against your Nazi-like propaganda.