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OK.. I'm all about embracing women's assists and so forth and I have no issue with a bunch of women getting together and discussing what's important to them etc...
HOWEVER...I can't help but feel somewhat out of place when it comes to groups like this...( feminist)...sitting in a room full of empowered and sometime what appears to be enraged women..feel out of place..
To be frank Ive never even saw much inequalities when I was young between man and women... ( or for this matter girl and boy) ...
I get that at one point (relatively not to long ago) women didn't even have the right to vote etc...but as far as I can remember that's history before I was born......
Is it possible , somewhere down the line between 1919 and 2014 women Or some women might be sending the wrong message by going from one extreme to the next!
And even more so are more and more women becoming sexist without out even realizing it ?
But most importantly (in my eyes) there's so much beauty in the difference between how different men are women and visa versa can we not embrace that and focus on that?
I think what the issue of 'gender equality' boils down to is blatant displays of double standards. The fact is, male and female are both subject to these in some way or another, and an issue with some, but not all, feminists is the dismissal of typical troubles the average man faces as being trivial or unimportant.
Admittedly, women have it worse. As a man, I can honeslty say that trying to deny this is more or less just an attempt to validate some form of sexism. Women have to deal with things like sexual assault or other related issue, that men don't face nearly to the same extent. Women are far more likely to be victims of rape or domestic violence than men are, and this is a problem.
An example that I think beautifully illustrates an issue that is similar in nature to sexual assault, but far more low stress: school dress code. Admittedly, something that I would imagine hardly any posters on this forum actually deal with anymore, but something I'm sure many have within the last 10 or so years.
As of now, girls fashion consists of a lot of tight fitting pants and short short and revealing shirts. These are getting banned in school, not for entirely unreasonable reasons, but not usually presented in a way that is fair. When I was in high school, and I know of many others schools that also did this, the reasoning behind not allowing short shorts was because it was distracting to the boys. While probably true, who's fault is that realistically? To redirect that is an example that few could actually argue, if a young boy (or girl, it doesn't affect the example) looks out the window and becomes distracted by the bird, who's to blame when material that was being taught in class is not absorbed by the student? The student who was distracted or the dang bird? Example translates perfectly: if boys get distracted by short shorts, perhaps they should work on self control?
The sexual assault argument translates fairly well. So often in cases of sexual assault, we try and justify any actions that were taken by the victim that would have led on the assault. And while, I think there is some relevance in looking into that issue, asking things like 'what was she wearing?' really don't actually produce a point. So she wore a low cut dress... and? This doesn't invite assault. If it does, the blame is still on the assaulter for being an idiot or lacking self control (both, reasonably). I do think improvement in this area has been made. Most men can't really get away with mistreating women any more. Some football players (usually not professional, but up and coming athletes of different levels) can, however, generally because people get sad when a 'promising young man's future was jeopardized' or we lost promising athlete because Americans apparently have no ability to understand priority when it comes to football. The fact is, no matter how promising the man/boy was, if he sexually assaulted someone (and we know for sure he did; the justice system has a part in this but I won't get into that), under no circumstance does it make sense to pity anyone aside from the victim.
However, there is a double standard that men face too. An example I saw on a different website is probably the best one I've heard yet as it is truly the perfect simulation of how society reacts to treatment of different sexes. The example was of a self described 'timid man' who was in line at a coffee shop when a woman came up behind him and spanked him. He was incredibly uncomfortable but the on lookers seemed to think it was cute and playful. He got over it relatively quickly but it got him thinking. Why was no one upset. Because he knew for sure that had the roles been reversed, and he had spanked her, he would either have been punched or found himself in handcuffs, because no one was going to find that cure and playful.
I think what is boils down to that in order for sexism to not exist, we need to stop focusing so much on sex/gender of others, recognize the double standards both face, and get past any preconceived notions of different between men and women. Yes, there are some biological and even psychological differences, but these aren't extreme enough to warrant any kind of unfair treatment or special privilege for either of them.
Get a proper definition of what feminism is about and you wouldn't need this thread.
The definition of feminism and feminism in practice aren't always one and the same. To many, it's not about equality. They want to have their cake and eat it too.
The definition of feminism and feminism in practice aren't always one and the same. To many, it's not about equality. They want to have their cake and eat it too.
If a definition is "X" and you don't have the traits and qualities of "X" then it really isn't "X" is it???
I think what the issue of 'gender equality' boils down to is blatant displays of double standards. The fact is, male and female are both subject to these in some way or another, and an issue with some, but not all, feminists is the dismissal of typical troubles the average man faces as being trivial or unimportant.
Admittedly, women have it worse. As a man, I can honeslty say that trying to deny this is more or less just an attempt to validate some form of sexism. Women have to deal with things like sexual assault or other related issue, that men don't face nearly to the same extent. Women are far more likely to be victims of rape or domestic violence than men are, and this is a problem.
Not to mention being denied some better, high-paying jobs because "Oh, she'll probably just get pregnant and quit. Let's give the job to a man."
Not to mention being denied some better, high-paying jobs because "Oh, she'll probably just get pregnant and quit. Let's give the job to a man."
This happens quite often, and if the woman doesn't quit and gets pregnant she is entitled to maternity leave of about 6 weeks before and 6 weeks after delivery.
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