SuperMse said:
Alright, guys, I was just looking at this thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.270981-Poll-Do-you-consider-yourself-a-feminist], and I'm about to go Super Saiyan as a result. There are tons of people questioning the OP's definition of feminism and further perpetrating that feminists are angry, crazy women who want more rights than men.
This is contradictory to the core values of feminism. Feminism, at a basic level, is and has always been about EQUALITY between men and women. It was prompted by women feeling left out when men had more rights than them- i.e. right to vote, right to own property, right to be an individual citizen as a daughter or in marriage, etc. Just read Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women and you'll know what I'm talking about. But another aspect of feminism, especially more recently, has been the liberation of men from gender expectations as well as pushing for equal rights for any group that is departmentalized against, with the logic that if they are not helped, then women will not receive aid either. In this way, it has taken a much more humanist approach. Every single feminist I have met, and I have met a few unsavory feminists, has gone by this philosophy, and has never believed that women should have more rights than men. Do you really have so much daily interaction with feminists that you can claim otherwise, or just a few flimsy anecdotes? Have you ever actually studied feminist theory? Please stop going by a tired old stereotype perpetrated by the media and actually look at the feminist movement as a whole before you judge it. At least give it the courtesy of a Google search [http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Feminism].
Allow me, if you will, to break this down in both an educational and humorous manner.
***
Chapter one:
A common misconception amongst our humble society known only as, human society, there are individuals who stand up for female rights in a male dominated world.
One popular misconception is that these individuals, well known as feminists, jump to erratic conclusions, going on irritating rants about how the world doesn't understand them despite the laughable fact that they are very well understood with only a handful of males in the world who do not. Those males fall into the following catergories:
1. White, middle class, christian males in their 50s (see reference: Senators, statesmen, judges)
2. Rednecks (self explanatory)
3. Wise guys who know most feminists will jump on their soap box the instant they say "Make me a sandwich" and therefore do it to provoke these women knowing a comical and entertaining result WILL occur.
4. Religious Zealots who seem to think its still 1108 AD and are incapable of staying in sync with the "real world" (See reference: Islam / Catholism)
Please observe Example A, as reference to point 3.
Example A:
"Alright, guys, I was just looking at this thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.270981-Poll-Do-you-consider-yourself-a-feminist], and I'm about to go
Super Saiyan as a result."
Moving swiftly on.
***
Chapter two:
The average feminist is something many people perceive to be very self righteous and condescending but the reality is that they are just so passionate about what they believe in that everyones opinion does, in fact, cease to matter and no amount of "yes, I get it, the whole world has gotten it since the late 1800s and early 1900s, this now being 2011, I dare say close to a century, we do in fact... get it." will appease them.
See example B for more understanding:
Example B:
"This is contradictory to the core values of feminism.
Feminism, at a basic level, is and has always been about EQUALITY between men and women."
Whilst the average male, such as myself, will hear the word feminist and associate it with such powerful political and social, perhaps insurrections is the word? as the suffragette movement in 1908, the average female will hear the word and immediately start looking for a man to shout at for thinking she is a man hating lesbian because she is a feminist.
While the OP has stated her claim that apperently
most if not all men seem to fail to understand the concept of this she has not approached the most important principle for her rant:
"Where did the stigma come from?"
I am left to assume that somehow we males will be linked to the origins of the "bra burning, man hating lesbian" sterotyped feminist without any mention of the social renaissance visited upon the UK and the USA during the 60s where women literally stood on the stairs of public buildings and torched their bras in social defiance.
After all, it was a man who invented the concept of wrapping her breasts in cloth, a practise as old as the greek and egyptian civilisations...
Yeah... I couldnt prove that either.
***
Chapter three:
The modern feminist seems to think that somehow men owe them a debt to some degree.
I find it somewhat hysterical myself as a cynical, skeptical human being that the very same women who scream for the same rights as a man still expects a man to hold the door for her, surrender his seat upon her entry to a room or to simply remove his hat upon her presence crossing his in a social setting.
"But another aspect of feminism, especially more recently, has been the liberation of men from gender expectations,"
If this statement is true then I, as a well mannered man who does hold doors for women and surrender my seat, am yet to see any physical evidence of it.
On numerous occassions as a small child of no more than seven years up to my twenty fourth year this coming week, I have held doors for women only for them to brush past me without so much as a smile.
Here, let me remind you of how this works:
Man: Holds door for woman
Woman: Walks through door and says "Thank you," /Smile optional.
The key element here is remembering that we don't HAVE to hold the door open for you in the same way you dont HAVE to show the slightest appreciation or basic human respect for the courtesy. This is nothing to do with gender roles, it IS to do with manners and traditions.
I am pleased to say however in the past when I have stood back and let a mother with a pram get onto a bus before me they have typically shown gratitude, not that I do such things for the gratitude, it was just engrained into me from childhood but as a human being it is nice to know my actions were appreciated.
***
Appendix:
"Do you really have so much daily interaction with feminists that you can claim otherwise, or just a few flimsy anecdotes?"
Yes, my mom, kid sister (20yrs) and one of my uncles (not joking) are all pro feminism and have a fondness for spending time explaining to me why women were not put on this earth to be mistreated, because apperently men are and I as a man apperently have nothing better to do than to mistreat said females.
For every one low life who will abuse his girlfriend or wife, there are three men who buy her flowers and tell her they love her daily.
Why are these men not celebrated with the free hand you're not using to denegrate my gender?
(point en case - My ex gf didnt leave our old apartment to go to uni without me saying I loved her every morning with a kiss before she left no matter how tired I was. She left me for another guy after lying about having an abortion.)
"Have you ever actually studied feminist theory?"
No but my mother has... extensively... and this has in turn rubbed off onto me in our many intellectual forays into the human sociology which consists of her saying. "Women should be allowed to wear mini skirts and not get raped, its her right!" to which my father and I reply, "Damn I guess I better flush my rohypnol and thats the weekends entertainment buggered."
"Please stop going by a tired old stereotype perpetrated by the media and actually look at the feminist movement as a whole before you judge it"
I guess when the media doesn't have any pro vagina rallys to broadcast or print in their newspapers they will run out of methods of promoting the negitive sterotype that is being rammed down our throats without any provokation.
Closing:
Thank you for that sterotypically condescending rant containing subject matter, which I am sure, we have all read at least 5 times this year alone. It was nice to see you cling to the old cléches of:
You dont understand us
Let me explain how this works because you're clearly too ignorant but I am all knowing!
How dare you have an opinion on a public forum that contradicts mine
etc, etc
Now please climb down off that soapbox so I, a mere humble man, may dust it down for the religious, political and other self righteous,
I have all the answers because you're ignorant ranters, who throw their worthless short sighted opinions around like so much feces in a monkey enclosure.
And while we're on the subject, wheres my F*cking sandwich.
EDIT:
Your title is a misnoma.
A myth is something that cannot be proven, the angry feminist is something that is provable and very real in modern socity.
