Experiences with Feminists

[xdj220]

Modern feminism is mainly focused on breaking down the perceived differences between men and women and on eliminating genuine inequalities, not on 'man hating'. People who have actual interest in the subject might want to check out the book "The Myth of Mars and Venus" by Deborah Cameron.

 

[oktalist]

Feminists in general just want there to be equal rights and equal opportunities for men and women. Unfortunately it does sometimes come across as anti-man because it is primarily the male dominance of various spectra of society that stands in the way of achieving equal rights and equal opportunities for men and women.

Its gone from pushing for womans rights like the right to vote to pushing for laws that force companies to employ an equal number of men and women, which is just plain stupid.

Please provide a link to any source where someone advocates introducing a law forcing companies to employ an equal number of men and women. Any source at all.

 

[Suicidejim]

The issue I'm seeing is that this is a really, really broad topic. Feminism contains plenty of different movements and world views, and some even conflict with others. It's a diverse school of thought. Something like radical feminism is probably going to be a lot less palatable to most people (and depressingly, that's the kind that often gets the most publicity). A lot of feminists don't necessarily identify themselves as such, which makes it hard to make judgements based on experience, when you've probably met plenty of agreeable and sensible feminists without realizing or identifying them as such.

Also, why would you purposely go looking for man-hating feminists, if not just to anger yourself more against a normally reasonable group of people?

I will hesitantly point out that you knew you'd find feminist hating men in coming here, yet you came anyway. As well as a few other threads I recall seeing you in with the same inherent risk. Similarly, if you're looking for gamers who are accepting of both women and feminism, these threads will only serve to ruin your optimism, since they can be a magnet for anti-feminist and occasionally downright misogynistic individuals. Just a tip from a fellow Escapist who'd rather you not suffer brain damage from repeatedly banging your head against your monitor.

 

[octafish]

All reasonably minded people are feminists.


I believe in gender equality in all the important areas of life.

Holding a door open for a lady does not make me a misogynist, defending a woman from a male attacker doesn't make me a misogynist.

The people who would claim that, use feminism as a shield to spread their own ingorance and hatred.

Men and women are not the same in a lot of areas. Both genders react differently to different situations, and then individuals within those genders will act differently from others.

I don't treat everyone the same, that's silly.

What I do is treat people with respect until they give me cause to do otherwise, whether they're male, female, black, white, young, old.

Well done, I entirely agree with your first sentence. I'm a male feminist. Where is that picture of Brian Cox?

 

[Phasmal]

Also, why would you purposely go looking for man-hating feminists, if not just to anger yourself more against a normally reasonable group of people?

I will hesitantly point out that you knew you'd find feminist hating men in coming here, yet you came anyway. As well as a few other threads I recall seeing you in with the same inherent risk. Similarly, if you're looking for gamers who are accepting of both women and feminism, these threads will only serve to ruin your optimism, since they can be a magnet for anti-feminist and occasionally downright misogynistic individuals. Just a tip from a fellow Escapist who'd rather you not suffer brain damage from repeatedly banging your head against your monitor.

Sadly, I think you are probably right.

I usually come in these kind of threads hoping to find awesome and accepting gamers (and they do exsist). And also because these threads seem to talk about feminists as if they are around, but not in the gaming community, which they certainly are. And I'm not afraid to say `Feminist here, not crazy, not man hating`.
But lately these threads just serve to make me feel like I don't belong.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I have never, ever come across a "man-hating feminazi". I've come across a number of passionate and/or bad tempered feminists that don't suffer fools, but that's it. In my experience, feminists seem to be the types who wish they could stop caring but don't know how. The lack of hatred from feminists in general is rather odd, IMHO, given the absurd amount of hatred they recieve.

About the supposed pay gap, if women earn less then why don't all companies employ more women. Surely it would make financial sense?

Surely it'd make sense to allow openly gay soldiers to serve in the US military, if they are always trying to find more recruits?

They only stopped banning openly gay soldiers a few months ago. A few decades before that, they were excluding black people from many parts of the US military while still calling for recruits.

 

[hazabaza1]

Feminazis, bad.
Feminists, good.

There, summed up what needs to be said in every thread like this ever.

 

[LightspeedJack]

Only self proclaimed feminist I ever met was a ***** of a teacher who picked on the boys and let the girls get away with murder. For example my friend got kicked out of the class for texting on his phone under the table, meanwhile a girl had her phone on the table in plain sight using it whenever. I'm not saying all feminists are like that but that's just the only experience I've had.

For the record I believe in equality but I wouldn't say I'm a feminist.

 

[Hydroplatypus]

Also, why would you purposely go looking for man-hating feminists, if not just to anger yourself more against a normally reasonable group of people?

I will hesitantly point out that you knew you'd find feminist hating men in coming here, yet you came anyway. As well as a few other threads I recall seeing you in with the same inherent risk. Similarly, if you're looking for gamers who are accepting of both women and feminism, these threads will only serve to ruin your optimism, since they can be a magnet for anti-feminist and occasionally downright misogynistic individuals. Just a tip from a fellow Escapist who'd rather you not suffer brain damage from repeatedly banging your head against your monitor.

Sadly, I think you are probably right.

I usually come in these kind of threads hoping to find awesome and accepting gamers (and they do exsist). And also because these threads seem to talk about feminists as if they are around, but not in the gaming community, which they certainly are. And I'm not afraid to say `Feminist here, not crazy, not man hating`.
But lately these threads just serve to make me feel like I don't belong.

Most people are fine with feminists. It's just that they don't usually post on threads like this. I am one of these fairly accepting people, and have no problem with (most) feminists. The only reason I read these threads is to laugh at the extremists that seem drawn to these threads.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I also think that people that say we don't need feminism just don't even know much about the issues. They're most likely men who aren't affected as much, don't see it as much, and simply are speaking on something they don't know about due to not experiencing it.

Exactly. It's easy to dismiss people trying to fix problems that don't affect you.

...

For the same reasons, white feminists tend to dismiss black feminists and straight feminists tend to dismiss LBTQ feminists.

 

[Private Custard]

I think its outlived its usefulness as a movement, at least in the west. Its gone from pushing for womans rights like the right to vote to pushing for laws that force companies to employ an equal number of men and women, which is just plain stupid.

--while the ones who just want equal pay are drowned out.

Uhhhh... What?

So, there's no use for it, but you acknowledge that we are still recieving less pay for the same work?

Thay say a womans work is never done.

Maybe that's why they get paid less.

Just kidding!! Talk about jumping into a discussion whilst carrying a can of petrol and a lit match!


On topic:

I hold doors open for anyone that may be following me through it. If it one day happened to be one of those rare, mental uber-fems following me and she gets offended, fuck her!

I'm a simple creature who doesn't suffer fools easily.....no matter what sex they are. But this great thing called freedom requires that we have to put up with a few minor irritants.

 

[JSkunk22]

There are bad people on every side of every argument/position/team/whatever, same as there are good people (in most cases).

My problem is that society has been so manipulated into equating that feminist = male hatin' bra burner, when that simply is not true. Feminists want equality. That is all. They do not want to 'usurp' the throne of men, instead they want to be treated as if they were human beings. But hey, challenging the status quo barely goes well, so the media is there to pervert the masses by highlighting a few extremists and well, now there is that stigma placed upon these women (and there are men who are feminists, too).

What I don't like are the Anti-Feminists, who basically state that every man is an uncontrollable, violent, hateful, rape machine and women just need to learn how to deal with that. Now, I'm no expert, but if you ask me those are the ones who should have the large focus on their narrow minded and downright sexist views.