What are some legitimate criticisms of feminists or feminism?

Question

By legitimate criticism, I mean something above the level of "feminists are all ugly man-hating dikes"..

I appreciate any arguments in good faith here :)

Answer 1

Not assertive enough.  Too meek.  We should be taking tips from the Danes.

Answer 2

the word "feminist" is used here to describe Gender feminists who hate men>

Misandry and social decay. Originally it created "equal" rights in American and Western society. Today men get squashed like bugs via the laws-divorce, family & work laws to name a few. Women too get squashed; they are told by the media they have to be "superwomen."

It has increased family and social chaos (of course other events have also caused same.)

Being "superwomen," working women are asked to not only take care of the kids but also to work outside the home.

Meanwhile many men (and boys) shattered by unfair divorce laws, are mere walking shells of their former selves. The biggest winners are the media and business (a broken up family means more people pay rent, energy, telephone, etc.)

Oh and the govt. They can more easily control a country undergoing social and family chaos. One unremained problem will be can "feminized" boys continue to fight Muslims? (WW3.) Then again, with an economic depression, and having to fight unfair job laws (less jobs for men/boys) the Army will one of a few jobs left for boys/men in the near future.

Not all this can be blamed on Misandrists. However if women and men were cooperating (instead of fighting) America and Western Civilization would not be decaying.

Answer 3

The wage gap. I think most feminists assume that the bulk of it is due to discrimination, when it's really only about 10%, if that.

Also, I don't like that taxpayer money is being used to pay for gender-neutral signs. The private sector should be covering that.

Answer 4

Well firstly might I state that I fully respected the first wave since it advocated for equal rights and opportunities for men and women which was fair and equitable.

However, it does seem that when they realised that equal rights and opportunities did not result in equal outcomes or equality in its true sense they had to manipulate opportunities to produce equal outcomes for the sake of equal outcomes. (same number of men and women in high powered positions)

To be clear equal outcomes can be a result of equal opportunities but if equal opportunity was used and produced unequal outcomes it's still a fair outcome (equitable) since the means employed were fair. Bit of a conflict eh

p.s. this isn't a self-validating question is it? I hope not :)

Answer 5

You have been here long enough to have heard them all.

Answer 6

1. Literally every single woman I've ever met who's a feminist has backed off the whole equal treatment mantra when it suits her.  By that, I mean she's going to want the majority of dates paid for, think she can get away with hitting a man without fear of retaliation, think a man should open all her doors for her, or something else of that nature.  Inconsistency is the first issue I had with feminism and the biggest one.  Most problems I have with feminism come back to this issue.

2. They are always right, period.  Of course, you can say this about a lot of people, but many feminists aren't any different.  This isn't quite as universal as the first one, there are some feminists who aren't this way.

3. Some of them can't even admit that men have problems.  This is something I see from some feminists on this forum.  I understand why they'd focus on women's rights and women's issues, but come on, you have to know that men don't face inequalities and have problems too.

On that note, I wonder what would happen if, for example, a man started an "End the Violence Against Men" campaign and didn't include women at all.  Somehow, I don't think that'd work too well.

Answer 7

They are following something blindly and not thinking for themselves. Most feminist only believe what they have been told not what they learn. They have destroyed any equal rights.

because of feminism men have less rights than they should. if feminism equals equality for women then it should respect the rights of men. What they don't realize is that women's liberation is a planned tactic of the corporate government elite. Ms Magazine was funded by David Rockefeller through the C.I.A.

Answer 8

My biggest beef is with current day feminism's definition.  Some PC joker decided it would be a good idea to change the definition from "the doctrine advocating the economic, political and social equality of women to men" to "the belief in the economic, political and social equality of both genders"

Sure it seems like their oh so similar, but they are vastly different.

The politically correct definition of feminism has denied the core of the movement as a women’s advocacy group.  By removing the variation of the transitive verb “advocate” from the original definition and replacing the noun “doctrine” with the pseudo synonym “belief”, the new definition has become a watered down version of the original.  And in its attempt to remain neutral, it has lost its conviction.  

Anti-fems have pounced on this adjustment arguing that feminists who focus energy on women’s rights and do not spend exactly equal the amount of effort on men’s rights are being sexist and hypocritical.  If the PC definition of feminism were applied, Anti-fems would be correct.  However, with the application of the original definition with the important implication of feminism as a women’s advocacy group, feminists who focus their work solely on women’s rights are well within the boundaries of their ideology.  

Feminists who contend that feminism’s focus is equally distributed between men’s rights and women’s rights are met with strong arguments containing examples of the movement’s seemingly hypocritical focus on women’s rights.  When faced with such evidence, rather than questioning the conflicts within the respective definitions, those feminists choose to abandon the cause.

Answer 9

One thing I regret is that the energy of older women does not seem to have been passed down to younger women intact.

It is also irksome that so many women have been willing to accept negative stereotypical representations of feminist views and beliefs.

We dropped the ball there.

Cheers :-)

Answer 10

Why do continue to push for new bullsh*t laws, you are either equal or weak, which is it?

Answer 11

The roles of men and women used to be clearly defined.  But, feminism dissolved those roles and now no one really knows what they are supposed to do anymore.

Oh, and feminism killed chivalry!

Answer 12

Rebel F. got it: we lack unity. - I always regretted that everlasting fractionism of feminist groups and organizations.

That makes us vulnerable, makes it impossible to clearly define the goals of feminism.

For many years feminist movements were too often complaining, whining about outdated patterns of oppression in the patriarchal society, instead of defining the goals where to go. And somehow feminist groups did not manage to include the majority of women whose rights they were fighting for.

As a born male, but confessing feminist, in the past I sometimes regretted not to be fully accepted as a male "accomplice". This has improved. -  I welcome, to a certain extent, a feminization of our society. This must include men as well.

Sometimes I think feminism should be more demanding.  Everybody is repeatedly affirming that feminism means equalism.  Very often, to succeed, you have to ask for more.

Women taking power, being in charge, is that totally out of discussion ?  Can patriarchy be overcome just by equalism?

Or will we get entangled in a long lasting argumentation about what equal rights and chances are, and in the end submit to patriarchal structures again in a willingness to compromise ?

There is yet another problem:  We have to convince a majority of males that men will benefit from feminism as well, because it stands for a liberation from narrowing expectations of gender roles in an outdated patriarchal society. It is a liberation of both women and men.

But above all, a majority of women has to learn to be more courageous and confident.  Who, if not women, has to lead a feminist evolution ?

Just some thoughts.  Your interesting question needs further discussion.

Answer 13

A woman can have an abortion without the consent of the father,but if she chooses to have it,the man is powerless.

Also,A man needs his wifes permission to get a vasectomy,but she can kill his baby without his consent.

Thats just insanity.

Answer 14

Fighting for special laws, benefits and privileges that favor women but discriminated against men.

Expect equal outcome

Expect equal pay for less work (aka "wage gap")

Spewing out false, bias and sexist studies.

Writing anti-male literature and articles

Sexism toward men

etc..etc..  Just to name a few..

http://www.iwf.org/news/show/19778.html

http://www.leaderu.com/real/ri9502/somme...

http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/tenmyt...

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/LGB.a...

http://nzmera.orconhosting.net.nz/femqot...

Answer 15

My biggest criticism is that we lack unity.  There are too many different people who call themselves feminists and believe different things, so the average person doesn't have a clue what feminism really is...and many people who are actually feminists (people that believe in equality) go about specifically saying they are ANTI-feminists because their views have been clouded by the presence of a few sexist women who falsely call themselves feminists.  

The solution would be for all of us who ARE real feminists (a.k.a. people who believe in equal rights, treatment, and opportunity, and believe in ending all sexism) to unite and denounce the false feminists who have given feminism a bad name.  That way the general public will realize what feminism really is and what feminists are really like, and more people will be happy to self-identify as feminists.