Feminism has never done anyone any harm?

Question

It seems that feminism wouldn't hurt a fly. This quote was posted by a feminist earlier today:

"Feminism has fought no wars. It has killed no opponents. It has set up no concentration camps, starved no enemies, practiced no cruelties. Its battles have been for education, for the vote, for better working conditions.. for safety on the streets... for child care, for social welfare...for rape crisis centers, women's refuges, reforms in the law." (If someone says) 'Oh, I'm not a feminist,' (I ask) 'Why? What's your problem?'"

- Dale Spender, author of For the Record: The Making & Meaning of Feminist Knowledge, 1985

Do you think we should judge a social movement by how few wars it has started and how few concentration camps it has built? Would you agree with the quote that feminism is a force that has only made our lives better?

Answer 1

Yes I agree with the quote, racial equality and equal rights for g*y and lesbians has also made our lives better.

To be treated fairly and be given a chance to succeed should be a right given to every individual including women.

Answer 2

yes I agree. and also judging a social movement by how few wars it started and how many concentration camps have been built is okay. Not all of your judgement should be about that because some movements have wars and are actually for the better cause. But also peace is important so yes that is a very important part about judging a social movement

Answer 3

Oh I agree, most women would likely (for now at least) feel that feminism has never done any harm.

(but of course women aren't having jobs or copious amounts of wealth taken from them in what- by any other name under a "free nation" would be termed as THEFT -- nor are they being discriminated against by the law)

Answer 4

I'd have to think.  Ideologues, among whom I'd rank the pernicious Ms. Spender, have done a lot of harm indirectly.  Title IX, for example, which is feminist ideology run amok, has certainly restricted the physical education of a great many boys.  The "recovered memory" syndrome-- which, until Frederick Crews blasted it out of the water, destroyed many families and subjected many blameless persons to character- assassination and the full rigor of judicial punishment--was essentially a feminist hobbyhorse.  Ms. Spender herself has done signal disservice to the English language and English stylistics with the feminist claptrap of her book, 'A Handbook of Non-Sexist English.'  Worst of all, Feminism has, in Postmodernist parlance, debased the 'level of discourse' by accustoming, thus inuring, us to a backhanded and inferential mode of argumentation  which serves principally to disguise the bad faith and malicious unreason of feminist ideology and of feminist ideologues.  Thus, when Ms. Spender says that "Feminism has fought no wars...killed no opponents...set up no concentration camps...starved no enemies...practiced no cruelties," she plainly means that 'Masculinism' has.  A perfectly silly assertion, of course, but irrefutable due to the deliberate obscurity of its formulation.  

Answer 5

do you really think the daycare mentality does no harm. Feminism creates a divide and this is the starting point of all wars.

Answer 6

i hate feminism as it is a reason for a bunch of un loved women to make it everyone else's fault that they are under skilled, over weight, ill-educated etc.

scenario: you interview two people, a feminist with no skills or a man with the skills needed for the job, who do you employ, the man with the skills, or the woman so you don't get your Ar*e sued?

look all over women have it easier than man in every part of society.

it used to be about freeing women to become equals, now all it's about is seeing how much we can get away with it... well i for 1 am not going to except any better treatment than a man gets.

Answer 7

No it should be judged by it's over all impact. Feminism has broken up many families and by extension the deaths of many people that would have lived had they not been working so hard to destroy the family unit.

10 fathers per day commit suicide because of the abuse piled on them from family courts and child ransom agencies. I was nearly one of them. And this figure only comes from accounts where there were no other contributing factors so many more fathers than 10 kill themselves every day thanks to feminism.

Children are joining gangs at ever younger ages and killing each other and the majority of these kids come from single mother homes. Feminism pushed for that and is still pushing for that.

Many men are killed and raped in prison because they were sent there do to a false rape alegation.

So feminism has been devestating to men and children and in my opinion has harmed many women as well.

Answer 8

I think the negative things some other men say on here about women applies towards non feminist women. Feminist women want to do things their selves, support their selves etc. I admire and respect that.

Answer 9

As a whole, society is worse. I'm not going to solely blame feminism because there are a couple of things:the media and the decline of religion that have had a hand in the decline. The humans rights that women have acquired is good, but the knit picking and support of radical laws has given feminism a black eye.  

Answer 10

The only "harm" that it's done is that it's made men respect us less.

Seriously... it has.

Answer 11

It's a juvenile point of view at best. It is true feminism hasn't done these things but it doesn't have the power or support to carry most of these things out either. I suppose NAMBLA is a great organization for underaged boys because they haven't started any wars, starved no enemies, or set up concentration camps. The KKK is peaceful organization because there are no known hangings for decades.

We should give feminists a standing ovation because they haven't committed genocide. That's a major achievement any social movement I suppose.

Civil rights advocacy has made the lives better of most people in this country. Feminists overstate their achievements and credit any advancements of woman to feminism.  

Answer 12

yeah. its made everyones lives better.

but you cannot blame the violence of the world on male or determine their fate by the amount of wars that have been brought.

its simply the dark side of human nature.

but i totally agree with you.  

Answer 13

The idea that the genders should be treated equally isn't a notion unique to feminists. The term "feminist" takes on various connotative meanings from generation to generation. For many today, feminists aren't regarded as guardians of equality, but agents of inequality with women being the benefactor.

The quote is silly. I could just as easily say "Graphic designers have fought no wars. they have killed no opponents.... etc" The argument you appear to be presenting is a classic straw man..."oh well, if you're not for feminism, you must be for war and concentration camps and hate women."

You could just as easily argue that feminism has created a climate where men are marginalized, where fatherhood is regarded as an option and not a necessity. A climate where women are starting to be overrepresented in universities and where better qualified men are set aside for political expediency in hiring practices.

Answer 14

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Feminism is War less intense.

As soon as one identifies oneself has Feminist, American, Indian, Muslim, Christian, g*y, Hetero etc, an idea,

One creates war, because it creates a split between you and me.

The beginning of conflict.

Answer 15

I think that quote is pretty awesome.

Answer 16

Yes. Yes.

Answer 17

feminism was started during the veitnaim conflict and while their was riots going on the the ghettos and some middle class white women got together and started complaing how rough they had it and i have never met a feminist that did not treat men badly when they had done nothing to them including teachers at schools and any group that unfailrly treats any people white, black, men or women i do not want to have anything to do with

Answer 18

Feminism has made life better, for women AND men. It is a movement for social change; some perceive change, any change as bad. Fifty years ago women had very few choices, mostly because of social constraints, the same was true for black people, and minorities. Feminism, as well as other equality movements, was a movement whose time had come.

I think we should judge a movement by what good it's done, as well as little harm it's done. Feminism has done a lot of good, and has done no harm, except in the minds of people who would turn back the clock, ostensibly for everyone that's made any gains in equality.