The feminist will tell you that a woman should have every right as a citizen that every single male citizen enjoys. The feminist woman demands equality across the board, from dawn to dusk, in every corner, on any field, from birth to death.
The man or women who opposes feminism is opposing equality. The person who opposes equality fears -- or knows -- that he or she is not equal to the rest of us, somehow.
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Feminism is the radical notion that women are people. That all people, regardless of gender or any other attribute, deserve equal rights and equitable treatment, both under the law and in society at large.
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I'm a meninist. Hear me roar!
@William Smith
yeah, we've been hearing you and your roaring all our lives.
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I am a 55-year old white male and I am a feminist.
Unfortunately, too many people, especially young people, do not understand what that term means and the #1 reason for that is feminists themselves.
Time after time, in various social media sites, I see hostility toward feminism from young people of both sexes. What they are upset about is the militancy of "Third and Fourth Wave" feminists towards men.
... and, I have to admit, that militancy exists and I'm going to see it here in replies to this comment.
When people read words like "patriarchy" and "oppression", what they are really reading is anger and needing someone to blame.
While there are people (mostly men) who are actively doing what they can to thwart the advancement of women, men do not have a unilateral mission to oppress women. There is no organized "patriarchy". (*)
Now, before I get my head ripped-off with that last comment, I want to be clear - we do live in a world in which men are the dominant sex but also stating that there was no plan for that to occur. It is a result of "emergent behavior" which is apparent behavior that is not planned but that exists as a result of individuals acting independently and responding to conditions they are faced with. It is the same reason fish swim in schools and birds flock when they fly.
So, if militant feminists could just tone down the militancy, it would help OUR cause.
(*) For comparison, look at the eventual "matriarchy" in "The Power" by Naomi Alderman.
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@VJR
In other words, sir, you want women to accept the idea that men are the dominant sex and quit being so pushy.
Back to square one. Right?
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The use of the word feminist at this moment is linked to the rage that women feel about Trump, the Catholic church crisis, Harvey Weinstein and his media cronies, the white men who are causing mass shootings, Larry Nasser, private school abuse cover-ups, the Michelle Williams/Mark Wahlberg pay disparity...
...and the fact that their underemployed husbands still won't wash the dishes unless specifically asked to do so.
Yep, I'm a feminist, and I am voting for women today.
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Look up "feminism" in the dictionary, and it simply states it is about EQUALITY.
If you're not for that, then you're sexist or racist, etc.
What SHOULD be the dirty word?
Yes, thought so.
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If you think all people should get equal pay for equal work, women and men alike, then you are a feminist!!
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@Darren
if that were actually true many more folks would be feminists.
Here are two questions:
(1) Do you consider yourself to be a feminist, or not?
(2) A feminist is someone who believes in social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. Do you think of yourself as a feminist or not?
Two-thirds of us support the idea behind question 2 while only 20% support question 1.
Totally disagree. Except in rock ribbed liberal districts or a few cases you point out, any type of identity politics is frowned upon by Americans.
It is one of the reasons we have the ego, maniac demagogue Trump.
If Hillary paid more attention to the plight of blue collar job loss, Wall Street bankers running wild, wars she did not like, she would have been our president.
Obama ran as an American, not as a black and served two terms.
Hillary ran as a woman and not as an American and was relegated to the trash heap of history.
I don't see any democratic candidates clamoring for her support but Obama is very popular in most districts.
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@Paul
You seem to be confused about what "feminism" is. IT is NOT identity politics. It is a synonym for "freedom," and "equality." Dictionary definition: "Feminism (n)-The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes."
That there are places in the country where people oppose feminism is shameful, and un-American.
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I don't care if a person calls themselves a "Feminist" or an "Equalitist". I'll take either to state that they stand with me on Constitutional equality.
On the other hand, any politician running for any office MUST state that they are one or the other, otherwise, who needs them?
I don't. No woman or man in this country needs them.
Put simply: If you want to be a hierarchical politician or a Patriarchal Woman - then do so from that one big rung on the Ladder of The Hierarchy that all of us must occupy.
It's the Equal Rung.
Whatever: Let's make the females of this country EQUAL FIRST and then we can argue about the rest.
So far, this country gets an "F" on equality.
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Feminism: the belief that women are people, accorded the rights of people.
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I'm not sure, put in those terms, I like "erasing distinctions between women and men" OR "limiting women's work hours."
Put in those terms, BOTH things put women at a disadvantage in the competitive workplace.
Examples:
Individual women are very different from men and need individual distinctions, especially where it concerns mothering and childbearing. On the flip side, limiting work hours for women able to meet the rigors for a 80 or 100 hour week would be a travesty for an ambitious woman making it impossible for her to compete.
@Dejah
The Equal Rights Amendment was never about "individuals", it was/is about women as a CLASS of people. Should persons born with non-male genitals have equality within the Constitution of the United States?
That's a "yes" or a "no". There are no "maybes", there are no specific questions, like, "But what if she's only 5'2"?"
It is a simple "yes" or "no".
My answer is "Yes". I literally cannot think of any other answer.
Any other answer? I consider that mental illness.
And, yes, it is that simple.
Sexism is a mental illness, usually part of a bundle of mental illnesses like 'racism' or 'classism'.
I find persons with such beliefs to be untrustworthy, possibly violent in word or deed, and no one to emulate.
It is that simple.
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@Dejah
I'm a woman. And I'm an "individual" very different from many other women. Different from many men, too.
That has zero to do with the fact that I should the exact same rights as all citizens of the U.S. Equal rights every hour of the day and night, at home and in the workplace.
No distinctions. Get it?
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The core issue is the definition of feminist. From my right leaning friends, a feminist is entirely about abortion and gay rights and emasculating males. They believe women already have equal rights and no discrimination in any civil arena. They think feminists want supremacy rather than equality. From my left leaning friends, it is choice (not abortion), no discrimination in any civil right for everyone regardless of race, creed, color, gender or sexual orientation. Equal pay for equal work. They do not believe women have yet achieved equal rights.
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@tom- I like to put it a different way. To extreme right wingers, they want to keep the woman in the bed and kitchen.
To extreme left wing feminists they want women to get everything whether they deserve or want it, run on identity politics only and make men pay for eight million yrs. of existence.
The moderates in between that have valid differences of opinion don't get the wheel oiled, the extremes do.
It is amazing how similar the extremes are, albeit on different ends of the spectrum.
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@tom
The thing is that "feminism" has a definition that has long been established and unchanging, to whit: "The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes."
It has always seemed to me that those who claim "it means something else these days," and there have been such people for a century, are wriggling because, in fact, they don't really believe in it.
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@Paul
These extreme left feminists you speak of exist only in two place:
1. the most esoteric (and powerless) of the ivory towers in academia and only in very small numbers. (I could probably fit them all in my house.)
2. The fevered Freudian imaginations of Fox News and right-wing radio.
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