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[Rant] Feminism
I used to be one of those women who said, "I believe in equality between the sexes and all that stuff, but I'm not a /feminist/..." until I realized that every position I held fell exactly within the mainstream feminist movement, and most of the 'bad' things I'd heard about "feminists" were, in fact, entirely untrue. So now, I'm happily a feminist.
And listening to some women just pisses me off. "Well, we're equal now, so I don't think we need to /push/ any further. It'll just upset people. There'll be a backlash." "Oh, well, equality is good, but if a woman dresses in a certain way, you can't really blame a man for thinking she wants sex..." "Oh, I've never seen any evidence of inequality in my life. I mean, sure I work a full-time job and do all the housework and cooking, but that's just the way it is. And if he pisses me off too much, he just won't get sex, so that works."
1. Not so equal. Better. Loads and tons better, but now is the more difficult part...it's not about overt discrimination so much (except for some occupational and military restrictions), but about challenging implicit assumptions about the way men and women are 'supposed' to interact. Not to mention fighting restrictions on birth control and sex education...both of which benefit women to a great extent, since women are the ones who historically suffer more from unwanted pregnancies and the cultural assumptions of sexual indiscretion. And that's only in the broadest mainstream culture. Within the subcultures of America, there are several in which women are not equal at all, and although legal statutes may exist, the culture is oppressive and young women are unaware of their rights or abilities to choose other ways of living.
2. Fuck the backlash.
3. Women are not responsible for the sexual behavior of men, unless they're committing force upon them. Men are not responsible for the sexual behavior of women, unless they're committing force upon them. Doesn't matter is someone is walking down the street completely in the nude, any human being does possess the capacity not to leap upon them and force them into sex. If you ignore that capacity, you get no excuses, no blame anywhere but on yourself. Stop with the fucking clothes already.
4. Just because you haven't noticed any inequality doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Maybe you're one of those lucky, lucky people who lives in a truly enlightened area with no gender issues at all. Excellent. Figure out what the people around you are doing right, and bring it out to the rest of the world. I live in the state with, at last check, THE highest female mortality rate from domestic violence in the entire country. We're number 5 in the nation for total DV cases, and number 1 in dead women. Aren't we special?
5. I hate headgames. I don't want to 'make a man think he's King, as long as he knows who is Queen'. I want a friend, a partner, someone I can be honest with, and work out an arrangement of domestic chores and so forth that works for both of us, without any manipulation of passive-aggressive little plays. And I sure as hell don't want to use sex as a doggie biscuit for male good behavior...I /like/ sex, theoretically. It's supposed to be fun, and intimate, and something shared between people who at the very least like each other. Using sexual relations as a method of relationship manipulation just makes me feel sad.
*grumble* This, of course, is why I shouldn't read women's forums. A lot of sensible opinions, and then a few that are just, ARGH.
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"Feminism is unnecessary. It's trying to turn women into men."
The hell are you even smoking? One, feminism is about supporting people who don't want to buy into the female sphere of make up and shaving and whatnot-- and you know what? Most feminists also support men doing "women" things, like wearing skirts. It's just less common for men to try to do feminine things than the other way around, for two reasons:
1) women are viewed as inferior already, even if you don't rationalize it that way
2) a lot of the stuff women have to do SUCKS, especially if you haven't been raised to think of it as necessary.
I just love how "well, I don't see any overt examples of inequality" means it doesn't exist. Oh honey, it is there.
And I so agree with you on 5. =/
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People need to just be able to be people, which is, I think, the core of the mainstream feminist movement. Challenging the assumptions not just for the benefit of women, but for men, too. All those stupid myths and stereotypes are just as corruptive and restricting for men as they are for women.
And yeah, most of the people I know who say they haven't seen inequality, if you actually ask about specifics, will point out several cases where there has been. But they just don't think of it that way, because it's the status quo.
Headgames suck.
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Look at me, I am bi, like to dress "pretty" don't like sports all that much, or cars, but love to cook and do makeup etc. All of which is against things that were instilled into me, and..well it's not healthy for men at all.
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