Why must feminists keep re-inventing the wheel?

Question

I don't find the arguments themselves at all dated. Some have been ridiculed by anti-feminists in intervening years, so could make some people roll their eyes and think 'typical feminist rant'. But those arguments were taken out of context in order to ridicule them.

I find I can't fault any of it, and feel that sadly there's not been enough debate in the intervening years that could outdate the arguments... That's what made me pose the question in the first place I suppose. I'm asking "why haven't these arguments moved on? Why are they still totally relevent today? Why are we treading water?"

Answer 1

EDIT: Good points. Yeah, I meant 'dated' more in the sense that some of the basic theories raised are likely to seem simplistic with the passage of time, or perhaps to not take into account a number of factors which seem obvious now, after thirty or forty years of discussion and debate.

~*~*~*~

I may have misread your question to a certain extent, my apologies.

You might find the following quote from Erica Jong interesting:

"We may have to fight the same battles over in each new generation before we establish certain rights as inalienable. I hope not.

"This has been the problem of feminism for most of its history. One generation pushes forward, and the next, oblivious to the struggle, allows freedom to ebb away.

"I pray that we will not have to lose the right to choose in order to value it again."

Unfortunately a lot of the older literature IS out of print and publishers are less inclined to take risks, especially political ones, so a lot of these things will be out of print permanently ~ although with so much stuff nowadays finding itself on the internet, maybe there will be a resurgence of availability.

Of course, much of it is terribly dated, although essentialist, and well worth reading for that fact.

What have you been reading and enjoying? What are the differences you are seeing then vs now (if that's what you're finding)?

PS: Dworkin's works ARE available online, and are well worth a read. I think that given new directions in 'liberal' feminist theory and the politicisation of s*x workers, much of what she says is even more challenging today, and is being challenged strongly, too. It's a shame she's not here to respond to some of the new thought. She's a hard read, too, her style doesn't make it easy to understand her one time through, but rewarding if you enjoy the mine of new ideas.

I'm thinking now, maybe there's less of the burial pit and more of the mound. Have you ever seen them, in northern Europe, those mounds? Barrows they are sometimes also called. In some places they don't know who built them or when in the aeons gone past, and they open them up and there's a whole ancient civilisation in them ~ treasures from the past.

I've put a link to Dworkin's online library and another to an archive of Shulamith Firestone, you may find it interesting and worth a read through.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hmmm, I'm thinking you've not read much other classic literature either, or you would notice that most worthwhile, challenging and powerful ideas get recycled, re-interpreted and discussed for centuries.

You might consider, in this vein, that somewhere over 2,000 years ago, Ecclesiastes wrote that "there is no new thing under the sun".

Nothing much has changed since then, I would think. It's what we DO with these ideas in each generation of humanity that matters.

Cheers :-)

Answer 2

Rush Limbaugh may be a big fat idiot, but he's been astonishingly successful at keeping a certain strata of people (conservatives, non-deep-thinkers and men who have had bad relationship experiences) dancing to his "feminazi" tune.

Answer 3

what books are you speaking of? can you give me examples, I would like to read them myself.

Answer 4

That might be true for most women; quite a few of them are now in a post-feminist mindset, in which they feel like they don't need to care about how they're being treated. But if anti-feminists didn't keep "treading water," they might feel differently. So it's a combination of both factors.

Answer 5

Thanks Tracey for the nice insults to Men. What Men especially those of us over 50 have witnessed and been through is a change of how we are treated in our culture. Feminism was supposed to promote Gender Equality. What it has instead promoted is Hatred of Men. And since Tracey and Rio are not Men they do not care or give a **** about us. Many of us thought when Feminism began to turn toward Male bashing and a Gender War that Women would come to their Senses and ordinary Women would speak up in our behalf.

You could hear the Crickets chirping instead. What we have in the US is a Male suicide every 17 minutes. And the Suicide Rate for Divorced Fathers is 10 times that of Divorced Mothers. By every measure of the Quality of Life Men are under pressure. Life expectancy, Deaths on the Job are 94% Male, Who the money is spent on, Sentences for the Same crimes, and an Education system turned against us.

There is another issue, Men have zero reproductive Rights in the US. ZERO. That is why US Men are bailing on US Women. Why men are leaving. Upon Retirement I intend to leave the US. I hate it here. And yes I have lived overseas.

Feminists are not just myopic they are Blind, Deaf, and Dumb when it comes to injustices to Men. US Men are treated like Criminals and Terrorists. We are now held Prisoners if we are behind on Child Support. And are used as a tool for income redistribution.

Examples of a Double Standard abound. Ellen's former lover got a pass on her Child Support payment from a Family Court Judge. No Man would get such a Free Pass. She is a high net worth Female too.

Men in some states can cohabitate with a Single Mom in Washington State and be give a Child Support award for another Man's children. Paternity Fraud is rampant in the US. And Divorce so common in California the State will no longer publish the Data. Raw data indicates a 76% Divorce Rate in the Golden State.

Men are voting with their feet. And it tells you how far we have fallen when twenty something Men must resort to Viagra to do the deed. Men are losing their attraction to our Women. Who are becoming Masculine in their attitudes and behaviors. And just don't get it. That is a huge turn off to a Masculine Man.