There's an app for that.. feminism - Page 4

Originally posted by: --arti--

Also-
Moomin, I know you said this, but I'm really not trying to single out your response. What you said is actually something people commonly say when feminism is raised, so don't take this personally.

Every time feminism is talked about, even those who agree that feminism can be valid, feel like they need to qualify their position with a "but." It's really interesting to me that people feel the need to do that.

I agree with x, y, z, but I'm not one of those.. you know, crazy man haters.

Why is this such a common response? Something worth thinking about. I don't get why people feel the need to announce that there may be some "man haters" who identify as feminists. The stereotype comes out first and almost overtakes the substance. This may not be the best example, but we don't say, "he's a Chinese guy and I'm cool with that, but hopefully he's not one of those types who are bad drivers."

That kind of puts the onus on every feminist to first prove he/she don't hate men before she can have any kind of discussion. It's frankly tiring and kind of insulting. Nobody should have to repeatedly prove they are not anti-men before their views are taken seriously.

Also, I've noticed lately in some of my circles that if a guy declares he's a feminist, people somehow seem more receptive to it than if a woman declares herself a feminist. There's this reluctance, and sometimes even anger, towards women who actually are just comfortable identifying as feminist. It's fascinating.

Originally posted by: moomin4455

Like anything that aims to make change in society there will be good and bad connotations associated with it.

Feminism is not about man-hating at all. I think the media may have played a part in equating the two or making it seem that the betterment of women is the worst thing ever for society - this has been the case since Wollstonecraft and way before. People fight to maintain status quo; they don't want change because society runs just fine with women not having an education, or having a vote, or working thank you. 😆

It's because of this that man-haters have been labelled as feminists, I'm sure. I'm also sure that some people don't actually know what feminism is...so if they hate men they automatically think they're pro-woman. This isn't the case at all, but it's a notion that's really hard to dispel. Sometimes to achieve the goals of feminism, people may feel that some kind of positive discrimination must occur, or is occurring. Just the thought of that further denigrates the term 'feminist'.

Originally posted by: BirdieNumNum

that's a relief for guys like me who love feminists. I mean what kind of guy wouldn't love bra-burning women? I like it too how they are so artsy and passionate about things.😆

my apologies Moomin. i know you made great points but i couldn't resist.😆