Under what circumstances should women care about each other's choices?

Question

I was just called a hypocrite because I said I didn't care if a woman wanted to make "glamour work" the focus of her life. I've always made the point that an essential part of feminism is NOT to care about this kind of thing and worry only about your own vocation, unless your opinion or help is explicitly requested. Do you agree?

Answer 1

I agree with you.  Although feminism does concern itself with the private sphere, it is only to say that a woman should have free choice.  After a free choice is made, I believe feminism is not concerned.  I would like to see the question where you were called a hypocrite.

I wouldn't worry about it.  Some of the posters here use any excuse to insult people.  Consider the source.

Answer 2

Wow, Rio....this is a really great question and such a difficult one (at least for me) to try to answer!

If a woman wants to make glamour work the focus of her life, it is her choice.  Do I care?  Yes....but I'm not going to interfere....unless of course the person involved is my own child, since I am, as her parent, a role-model and source of guidance as she grows up.  I can't help but have an opinion, though.  Women/feminists are fighting against harmful stereotypes, which include the stereotyped image of a woman being nothing more than a s*x object...and that's a stereotype that bothers me greatly.  And the thing is, it's not men who are forcing women to act in ways that create this stereotype.  It's women's choices that are creating it.  What women do...what other women do...truly does reflect on us all, whether we like it, or they realize it, or not.  

Our choices have consequences, not just personal consequences, but consequences that affect the bigger picture.  

I wish that people would look a little more closely at that bigger picture.

I wish women would see that it's not "empowerment" to exploit yourself.  It does have a broader effect than on the life of the woman who chooses this path.  It affects us all.

Just my opinion.

O.k. sorry for the edit but this question really has me thinking...

What's wrong with the glamour industry?

Breast implants are are an industry that's growing (forgive the pun) exponentially....particularly in the age group of teenagers.

Some well-meaning but naive parents push their young daughters into modeling when they are pre-pubescent (remember Jon Benet?)  

We're forcing our kids, particularly our daughters to grow up too fast and in today's society girls are looking like adults far before they are emotionally capable of handling adult situations.  The results:  abortion is on the rise in the teenage population, materialism is thriving, single-parent households are increasing in number, Cosmopolitan is the nation's number one selling women's magazine, and  people are literally dying to be thin.

Why does anorexia and bulemia affect more the female population than that of males?  

Let's think about this....could it be the pressure society is putting on females to be "glamorous"?

Answer 3

Well, if that's how you feel and you truly "don't care" about what other people do, then WHY are you even on GWS? Are you just here to fulfill your own "personal" agenda?

Based on what you just said, its all about YOU and you don't care what others do. So.... why are you here?

Also, as a feminist who is pro "equality" why are you only focusing on "women" in your question? (and pretty much ALL your questions).

This basically PROVES that Mike T is RIGHT once again. I always say that feminists care about their own personal agenda and now you just said it. Straight from the horses mouth.

Its great to be Mike T today :)

Answer 4

In answering your question : All men/women should know when to butt out of others business, and when to lend a helping hand.

"I've always made the point that an essential part of feminism is NOT to care about this kind of thing and worry only about your own vocation, unless your opinion or help is explicitly requested."

- If you needed femminism to tell you to butt out of others business, and only care when your opinion or help is asked for, its only sad. If you needed the knowledge to come to you through your femministic channels/doctrines, when ANY NORMAL non-feminist man/woman could have the same attitude/maturity, then you know that your "ism" is becoming a menace to your sanity. Its a disease/addiction. You need a therapist - like right now.

Answer 5

That makes sense. Feminists don't make women behave the same way.

Answer 6

I agree...  I think that each person should be able to make their own choices in their lives and only get advice when they seek it.  Unless of course you know they are being abused.

Answer 7

I don't care about the career choices of other women, unless it hurts others, or impacts me financially (ie, me having to pay for her daycare through my taxes....)

I think we all need to butt out of the lives and decisions of others when they don't impact others - and we'll all get along a whole lot better...

Answer 8

Only if a intervention is needed. Such as, if a friend is being targeted to join a cult, if you know someone is being abused ect.

Answer 9

It should not be about the choices women make in living their life, just the same rights and opportunies in the choices they do make.

Answer 10

Partly. I think feminism is all about choice and letting each woman live the way she feels comfortable with, but I also believe in the freedom to speak out if we think something is wrong.

My personal belief is that any lifestyle which is freely chosen and doesn't hurt anyone else is ok. But if someone strongly believes that any woman who, for example, works in the s*x industry is being abused and degraded, and that their career damages society as a whole, then I can't fault them for trying to change things for the better, as they perceive it.

I wouldn't say I don't care, just that I accept that not everyone sees the world in the same way I do...

Answer 11

If your a black women i would think you would care about women who choose to be in the KKK

I care about women's choices when they affect me.

Answer 12

As long as other choice's do not affect me, I don't care what they do with their lives. People who do get their panties in a wad about how others choose to live their lives are insecure control freaks.

Edit: And to the three morons who have thumbed me down, of course I care how others lead their lives when they do some sort of harm, such as being a child molester. But when their choice do not affect me or cause anyone else harm, I do not care. Geez, I thought people would have been smart enough to figure that one out.

Answer 13

Yes, I agree.

I was just thinking about this. That Drew Peterson guy is in the news today...the one whose pregnant fourth wife went missing, and his third wife died under mysterious circumstances. I was thinking to myself, watching the news in the deli while I was waiting for my sandwich, "Some idiot woman is probably going to marry him and make herself wife number five." And if she goes mysteriously missing, I will have zero pity for her...unless, of course, he orders her from overseas and she doesn't have the right to automatically receive a background check on him, as per the law that's now pending that gets some of our woman haters so hysterical.

Edit: Mike T, once again the point has gone whoosing over your head. We fight to make sure the women have the CHOICES, not dictate what choices they should make.