A question for feminists. Would you encourage/ tell your teenage children to read feminist theory?

Question

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2007/08/do-some-radical.html

Of course I am always a bit cynical of such extremist blogs, but I do not deny that there are extremists amongst feminists as among anyone, so I will take it as a real feminist woman with a son that she has made read Dworkin etc.

I have read loads of Dworkin, and Greer, Butler, Wolf, Faludi, etc etc, but it NEVER occured to me to tell my kids to read them! They are young now, and will not read anything, but if they start to read for pleasure I can't imagine a better way to put them right off again!

I am also an athiest, and a vegetarian, but I will not be telling them to read Dawkins and Singer either!

Answer 1

I would encourage them to read any quality literature - however, I don't consider anti-p**n to be quality literature.  Also, there are feminist books which highlight the problems men face, so I wouldn't see it as a one-sided education.  If that quoted blogger wants to educate her child, she should buy The Rites of Man, an excellent book that will no doubt do much more to open his mind than any amount of Dworkin :-)

Answer 2

I stay away from people like that and I do not read works by Greer or Wolf. Many prominent feminists writers especially women who were young in the 60s and 70s have a hatred against men. I don't know why but I think they need to get help. My children will learn that women and men though biologically different have the same intelligence and deserve equal rights. That is the basic core of feminism and that is what they would learn. A child shouldn't be exposed to such hatred and as someone who has grown up in a family filled with men, I have to say that men are good people. I don't know what type of men those women had in their lives but it has certainly done damage to them.

Answer 3

i would encourage them to read just about anything. i think it is good to be well-read and as a good parent, i would be open for questions, etc. my mother never censored what i read and therefore, i was always above my classmates who's parents would only let them read lame-brained kiddie books.

so, yes, i would encourage my son to read feminist literature and i would be there to have an open discussion with him about it.

Answer 4

I would role model the basic fundamental human behavior of common decency and rationality in all matters with my children regardless of theirs or my own genitalia and leave it at that.

Answer 5

No I won't encourage them to read specifics; I will encourage them to read on everything and anything and always to educate themselves on both sides of an issue before picking the one they believe in.

Answer 6

They can read whatever they want, but I'd always keep some feminist books around the house for myself.

Answer 7

Yes, and absolutely everything else.  Radical thought should be balanced by moderate thought, on either end of the spectrum.

Answer 8

That woman sounds a bit barking to be honest, and I certainly would not expect my child to know the arguments backwards. I think that in the context of what she has done, and what her son has done she could have easily made the situation worse.  I really hate p**n, but I know that my kids will almost certainly be looking at it at some point, and I feel that it is important not to have a big reaction that tells your kid how bad he is. His self esteem must be low now, knowing that his mother hates what he is doing so much it probably feels like she hates him, and I don't suppose the relationship has a positive prognosis seeing as how she is an extremist.

I am very liberal, so it is all about answering their questions fully and frankly. I would rather have discussions with them rather than expect them to educate themselves in stuff that I felt was important. It just might not be to them, and I would accept that.