Currently, eight out of twenty questions on the first page of this forum are about feminism...?

Question

Yet really the only time I encounter the discussion or even promotion of feminism is here. Now there is quite a bit of controversy when it comes to defining what feminism and feminists are. Some would say those who believe men and women are equal are feminists, but for the sake of this question, I am defining feminists and feminism as some sort of self-proclaimed and organized movements or very active individuals that march under the banner of feminism. For example Ms. Magazine, NOW, college campus feminist organizations, or even someone who blogs about feminism.

Only a very small percentage of women participate in such activities and support such organizations listed above. When it comes to most women it seems the only participation they have in feminism (as I defined above) is merely vaguely claiming the label, and nothing more. My question is: many of you (particularly those who oppose feminism) seem very obsessed, even threatened by feminism. Why is this?

Answer 1

Every time someone judges me for staying home to raise my children, feminism threatens me. (Or tries to). Being a feminist is a cliche these days. A fad for the young.

Answer 2

While I dont feel threatened by feminism, I wouldnt be in a

relationship with a feminist. I believe in womens rights: their

right to do what they want with their bodies, their careers,

their relationships. I think women should champion their

rights. How I distinguish that from (radical) feminism is where

it interferes with heterosexual relationships thru ideology. As

a man, I am not the enemy; and as a human being there is

nothing in the human experience that I "cannot understand".

Answer 3

I'm a feminist.

Feminism is not a small or unimportant cause. It's not called "equalism", it's feminism, because we recognize that the majority of the world's societies are patriarchal in structure. We know that while both men and women are hurt by this system, women tend to be more hurt. I'm not saying that a wealthy women is doing worse than a poor man, but feminism is necessary in a world where there is FGM, honor killings, rape (against either s*x, although women experience it the most), domestic abuse (ditto), unequal pay (which still exists), lack of reproductive rights, abstinence only education, s**t-bashing, sexual harrassment, the "silent strong" man stereotype where men are denied emotion, laws against women driving, voting, meeting/appearing in public throughout the world, a disproportionate amount of unpaid work on women's shoulders, and a general lack of respect for women (which has of course triggered resentment and anger towards men), etc.

While some men argue that feminism has hurt men (the focus tends to be on divorce and alimony. What most people forget is that women often get the children because our patriarchal society thinks that is correct, they often get more money because they don't work which the patriarchy encourages, and they require money to take care of the children that these men had with them. If they were in an equal partnership, it was not the "man's" money. Also, divorce rates have soared because there was no divorce before this century. It has freed a lot of people from unhappy relationships. There are still places where divorce is impossible, so be thankful), it has helped women and men in a number of ways. But there still is so much more to be done. Unfortuantely, women, especially younger ones, are quick to be anti-feminist so that they don't come off as unfeminine or unattractive (which is ironic), and men don't want to be feminist because often they do not understand it or they do not want to be seen as sensitive (and thus g*y, or feminine).

It's a shame because if you look around, you'll realize gender stereotypes have hurt all of us.

And you're in the Gender section of Yahoo questions. There would be no gender studies or interest in gender if not for the feminist movement.

We just want equality and people don't want to listen. They prefer to stereotype and drown us out with insults.

Answer 4

Take out the word feminism and insert the word female and you have it - its not feminism its' females that bother them.

Answer 5

because modern day feminism has evolved from equal rights to special rights....when a man is more likely to get screwed over in courts,when a man is likely to be falsely accused of rape and sent to jail,when a man is forced to pay child support for a kid that isn't his...all these factors affect men and as such it is obvious that men will react to it by fighting it, if this is not a threat to the male gender then i don't know what is.

Answer 6

I think part of the difficulty is that many people see feminists as just a lot of loud-mouthed angry women who hate men.  This, of course, is such a wrong perception it's not even funny; even though there are some self-proclaimed feminists who are like this.  Stereotypes do, after all, exist in real life.  What I'd like to see is the elimination of labels so that women and men can work constructively together for the equal treatment of all.  Is that possible?  I wonder and I hope.

Answer 7

This is a good example of why I am against feminism

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...

I doubt you will read 2% of what I have posted, but what the hey its worth a shot.