Quote:
Originally Posted by Wasabista
Ronin and Misa,
I appreciate that you don't endorse radical feminism. I'm glad to hear that.
However these are not simply "unrepresentative voices." These are some of the best known spokeswomen for feminism in the world. You ask any educated person to name a feminist and the names Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer, Andrea Dworkin and Gloria Steinem will come up. You may not like it, I certainly don't, but they are the leading voices of the movement. Their words are taught in every "women's studies" course in every university in America. They are opinion shapers.
Have their opinions caused damage? Let's answer that question with a question:
In your view, who commits domestic violence more? Men or women?
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Whether you consider them representative voices or not... feminism is not a religion and these women do not have the same role that say Jesus does with Christians. Any recognition these women get comes from their contribution to the feminist discourse rather than what they say is what is believed. I've not studied Womens studies or Feminism to any great depth but I imagine it to be the same as it is in the field of International Relations. You have folks like Francis Fukuyama, Sam Huntington, Edward Said who are all contributers to the field even though they all completely disagree with each other on many things.