What is feminism necessarily about? are there different degrees of feminism?

Question

i believe that men and women should be treated equal according to the law, but both have differences. a woman cant physically or mentally do everything a man does and vise versa. im very proud of being a young woman, and look forward to being a wife, mother, and a singer. is that feminism? i found it very hard to relate to my feminist peers.

Answer 1

Hi.

I am glad to hear that you are proud to be a young woman, you have every reason to be proud of it.

Feminism isn´t about equality and you are right, the genders think differently. Research has shown that women prefer certain colors. If you look at the hobbies of the genders you see a huge difference. More and more research is showing that the physical difference in the sexes is perhaps the least of differences. Newsweek ran a good article about this some years ago.

The problem with feminist is that they claim to want equality but in practice they are all about preferential treatment of women. In Norway, for instance, a law was recently passed that required companies to have at least 40% of it´s board members to be females. Is this equality? What happened to having the fittest person do each job?

There is nothing wrong with men or women, we are made the way we are made and if one s*x prefers one line of work more than the other then there shouldn´t be a law to artificially change the balance and force certain individuals upon the companies. Perhaps women are just not as interested in some of the jobs that interest men and vice versa? What do you think feminsts would say if a law was passed that said that at least 40% of nurses should be males? There would be an uproar from feminists. If fems want real equality they should press for equality in all professions, not only the high paying ones!!  Feminsts want only what is good for women, they are not interested in equality as the above examples show clearly.

Equality is fine and nobody in their right mind is against it. Feminism is a different story.

Answer 2

I am sorry that you think that women think differently than men.  I work in a male dominated field, law, and I think just as clearly, if not moreso, than most of the men I work with.  I met with exactly that kind of discriminatory thinking, and overcame it.  I thought that that kind of thinking had gone the way of the dinosaurs.  While each person male and female, are in certain ways overcome in their thoughts by their hormones, this does not strike only the female gender.  It can certainly be overcome by reason.  All you have to do is develop self-discipline and try.

Feminism can mean many things.  It begins with equal opportunity.  It runs the gamut into some very radical ideas.  People can be different, and yet equal, with certain abilities being balanced by other deficiencies in both genders.

I don't think many people think that men and women are exactly alike.  That would be silly.

Answer 3

Feminism is a cause and can also be a motto to live by.  Your ability to even desire being a wife, a mother and a singer is due to great feminist in our past who fought and suffered for you to be able to not only want it all but to have it.  There are different degrees of feminism; I would suggest you read up on feminism and see what it tells you about yourself and the rights that you have enjoyed and how life would have been different if the feminist of the past had not have fought for those rights.  I was extremely touched by HBO"s Iron Jawed Angels.  I thought what those women went through so that future women could just vote was touching and that it depicted the trials women went through in their family lives very well.

Answer 4

No, it is all delusional.

Answer 5

hm, and what exactly can't a woman do 'mentally' that a man can? please do elaborate

edit

"like you know, men and women think different

they say women can multitask and men cant, im think it would be mean to say women can do all these things men cant do and not acknowledge that men think in different ways"

'they' say? who exactly is 'they'? do you have any idea how retarded you sound? seriously?

Answer 6

A LOT DEPENDS ON HOW ONE IS RAISED UP........MEN TOO CAN BE GREAT SINGLE DADS AND MULTITASKERS......AND THERE ARE SUCH MEN IN THIS WORLD WHO ARE HAPPY SINGLE FATHERS......AND THERE ARE WOMEN WHO ARE AS INTELLIGENT AS MEN............WHY DO THEY SAY THAT MEN ARENT EMOTIONAL? CUZ SINCE CHILDHOOD A LOTTA BOYS ARE TAUGHT NOT TO CRY.....SO TO ME..ITS ABOUT HOW ONE RAISES THE KID......

Answer 7

This is like asking are there different degress of n**i-ism.

Feminism = n**i-ism.

Answer 8

yes, both have differences and can complement each other, but we are both human and both deserve equal rights, status and recognition.

feminism is about achieving these.

there are different types of feminists and varying degrees of knowledge of feminist issues. i'd suggest looking at this forum and feminist web sites to get an idea of the issues and also looking up the gender equality index.

we should all be proud to be women - yes, that is part of being a feminist.

Answer 9

I'd like to repeat Sam's question. What can't a woman do mentally that a man can do?

Answer 10

2nd Wave Feminism is looking like my avatar and performing life as a weak, androgynous man.

Answer 11

Feminism is a movement that focuses solely on the interest of women.  This particular movement fight for special rights, laws, benefits and privileges that favor women but discriminated against men.

Answer 12

Feminism is believing that women and men should be treated equally in all aspects of life.  As for different degrees of feminism, it is just like any other social movement... there are people who are fighting for change in laws to improve the equality, there are people who just want to write checks to organizations to support this work, and there are others who are feminists yet don't participate actively in the movement itself.

The thing that can get tricky with feminism is when discussing choice vs. forced choice.  So, you might be choosing to be a wife and mother, but there are some women who are "choosing" this because there is no other choice open to them.  Many feminists are trying to make sure that women have all possible options open to them.

Yes, there are natural gender differences but there are also variations and exceptions to those differences.  So, for example, you might say "Men are naturally taller than women."  Sure, that's true a lot of the time, but there are plenty of women who are taller than plenty of men.  Many assumptions about gender (both male and female) are based on a stereotype and it is important that individuals are treated based on their qualifications as an individual, and not based on gender.

As for relating to your feminist peers, it could just be a simple problem of misunderstanding... I've had that happen where we are saying/believing in the same thing, but we are just not using the same words to describe what we mean.  

Many women do NOT identify as feminist because it has become such a controversial issue.  Here's a great little saying that might help better define for yourself what feminism is for you:

"I'm not a feminist, but...

I appreciate the right to help choose my government representatives. I enjoy the option of wearing pants or shorts if I want. I'm pleased that I was allowed to learn to read and write. It can be very convenient to control how many babies I want to have. It's awfully useful to be able to open a bank account and own property in my name. I like knowing that my husband or boyfriend cannot legally beat me. It's really swell to keep the money that I earn."

Answer 13

Your on the right tracks :-)

feminism is like the n**i Ideology, best not to go there.

It's great you are proud to be a woman just as you should be, I'm sure you will make a swell mother one day. Don't feel that what your peers are doing is always right, they are usually wrong!

Answer 14

Don't worry about it. Feminists can only relate to themselves. They think everyone else is a zombie or misogynist.