Quote:
Originally Posted by Wasabista
You're right, and that's part of the problem. "Opposed to feminism"? You mean, you want to keep women in the kitchen?
The problem is that feminism's STATED aims do not match its REAL aims, if you look at what they've actually done. And I'm talking about the opinion leaders, the ones who actually get things done.So the dictionary definition is useless if you're interested in describing the world as it really is.
If feminism is really an egalitarian movement why hasn't it advocated the following?
1. More resources for boys' education. Girls have been outperforming boys in education for 30 years.
2. A public awareness campaign to erase the widely held view that domestic violence is a MALE crime, as I explained above.
3. Extending the draft to women. ("I don't like the draft at all" is an excuse -- should the draft not have been used in WW2?)
4. Encouraging women to take dangerous jobs. Firefighters, beat cops, miners, garbage collectors and long-haul truckers are overwhelmingly men.
5. Eliminating the Duluth procedures, which deal with domestic disputes based on the assumption that the man is the culprit.
6. Elimination of hiring quotas for women in academia and the civil service.
7. Increasing the amount of money spent on prostate cancer research to match the sums spent on breast cancer research.
These are all things that an egalitarian movement should be busy doing. Do you know of feminists advocating these things? How much time have YOU spent advocating them? Only "dissident feminists," far from the mainstream, are arguing these points. These are the same feminists that are actively excluded from public dialogue.
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Wait... you mean the only one that seems to know these REAL aims is you? Yeah right.
I really can't debate you on this topic as you seem to be giving me examples that are American of which I really haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about. What I am sure of is that there are two sides to the story and you're giving me only one side expecting me to prop up the other when I'm completely oblivious to American societies domestic issues.
Feminist discussion here in New Zealand is pretty low key to be honest. The only time people are described as feminists or having a feminist position are when issues regarding gender imbalance within society are addressed. In such situations, opposing ideas aren't seen to be attacking feminism rather addressing feminist concerns (See the difference in mindset here? You can disagree with a feminist position without being "anti-feminist" if you reconcile it with the higher feminist purpose given in the dictionary.) Issues such as the pay disparity between men and women, the problem of male on female domestic violence are recent issues which spring to mind. However despite it's low key presence here in NZ, in my opinion the feminist movement here (among my peers anyway) is recognised as the reason why men and women today enjoy the relative equality they do in our society and for that reason I feel that terms like "feminism" and "feminist" haven't become the dirty words they have become in America (like say social responsibility)