1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Are you a feminist and what type(s) of feminist are you?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Xemptor90, Feb 24, 2017.

  1. Xemptor90

    Xemptor90 Guest

    I consider myself to be a 1st/2nd wave feminist when women rights was actually crucial. There was a point in time when women were oppressed and couldn't vote, go to school or be in certain jobs and feminism combated these issues. Now 3rd wave feminism has become another regressive movement like Black Lives Matter. Most 3rd wave feminists focus on issues that are not very important and don't really address the problems in other countries apart from the U.S. involving rape or women's rights.
     
  2. Assassin'sKat

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Dec 23, 2016
    Messages:
    645
    Likes Received:
    16
    Location:
    Your head, zombie.
    Gender:
    Female
    Gender Pronoun:
    She
    Sexual Orientation:
    Lesbian
    Out Status:
    Some people
    I'm not a feminist at all. I'm simply a person who believes in equal rights for everyone. Not simply, "women having equal rights to men." I don't want to identify with any feminist movement.
     
  3. PianoKeys

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2017
    Messages:
    347
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Northern Europe
    Gender:
    Female
    Sexual Orientation:
    Lesbian
    The same, as a teenager I used to feel a bit feminist and was slightly passionate about some stuff. But just simple equal rights that's all that matters to me.
     
  4. Chiroptera

    Admin Team Full Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2014
    Messages:
    2,504
    Likes Received:
    1,383
    Location:
    Brazil
    Gender:
    Male
    Sexual Orientation:
    Bisexual
    Out Status:
    Out to everyone
    This.

    I'm not a fan of labels. I mean, they are useful to some extent, but i don't feel the need to label myself a "feminist" or "anti-feminist". There are things in the movement that i agree with (like equality), and other things i'm not really a fan of. I prefer to analyze the ideas case by case, instead of using the label and "buying the entire package".

    I'm aware that everyone has labels (like the "bisexual" label i use), but i prefer to avoid them when possible.
     
  5. Spot

    Full Member

    Joined:
    May 24, 2015
    Messages:
    949
    Likes Received:
    84
    Location:
    Wonderland
    Gender:
    Male (trans*)
    Gender Pronoun:
    He
    Sexual Orientation:
    Other
    Out Status:
    Some people
    I'm the same, I used to identify as a feminist back when I was maybe 13-14ish but not anymore.
     
  6. kibou97

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2016
    Messages:
    782
    Likes Received:
    15
    Location:
    Kentucky
    Gender:
    Male
    Gender Pronoun:
    He
    Sexual Orientation:
    Gay
    Out Status:
    Some people
    I don't identify as anything when it comes to this, I just want equality between all genders.
     
  7. MewDew

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2017
    Messages:
    0
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Springfield, MO
    Gender:
    Female
    Gender Pronoun:
    She
    Sexual Orientation:
    Questioning
    Out Status:
    Some people
    Same here. I don't care about any particular gender, I just want to see everyone treated equally regardless of gender.
     
  8. OGS

    OGS
    Full Member

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2014
    Messages:
    2,716
    Likes Received:
    728
    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Gender:
    Male
    Gender Pronoun:
    He
    Sexual Orientation:
    Gay
    Out Status:
    Out to everyone
    I would describe myself as a feminist--no particular stripe I suppose.
     
  9. Libertino

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2016
    Messages:
    1,195
    Likes Received:
    2
    Location:
    This Side of the Enlightenment
    Gender:
    Male
    Gender Pronoun:
    He
    Sexual Orientation:
    Other
    Out Status:
    Some people
    You mean you don't want to be in the front in the fight against manspreading, the greatest problem plaguing womynkind in the 21st century? :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
     
  10. Aussie792

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2013
    Messages:
    3,317
    Likes Received:
    62
    Location:
    Australia
    Gender:
    Male
    Gender Pronoun:
    He
    Sexual Orientation:
    Gay
    Out Status:
    Out to everyone
    A liberal, institutionalist feminist. That is, I support sexual liberation as the freedom of women to increase choice within a context of a parliamentary democracy and a market economy.

    I am inter-sectionalist insofar as I recognise certain hardships are faced by women not just due to their womanhood, such as poverty, racism and lack of access due to disability, and that my kind of feminism often doesn't directly address that unless there is a unique situation of misogyny or sexism that women in those groups face. Feminism needs to accommodate those challenges but I don't think that feminism is the vessel to respond to those challenges unless they are specifically gender-related.

    To make feminism too prescriptive, in a way many devout inter-sectionalists do by demanding a single, specific form of feminism, does three harmful things.

    The first is that it disavows historical feminism that was foundational to modern feminist thought because of ideological differences - a comparison might be to consider how, just as limited franchise democracy is bad, it still forms the conceptual and practical foundation of modern, full-franchise democracy and is valuable for it.

    The second is that it can be alienating. A feminist socialist, for example, can pressure a tiny number of people into socialism in the belief that is the only way to be 'truly' feminist, while pushing away a large number of people who are willing to be feminists in ways that are still meaningful in terms of everyday advocacy as well as needlessly rejecting intellectually valid opposition voices within feminism.

    The third is that it just makes the message you send messy.

    I just think the OP is being incredibly uncharitable about modern Western feminism. He doesn't identify examples of trivialness, and even if he did it wouldn't amount to proof that no attention is paid to issues of sexual assault, economic rights etc., nor does he acknowledge that modern feminism cannot be conducted in the developed world with the same seriousness or radical reform proposals as in the past when greater legal and economic barriers existed for women in those countries. Nor does he choose to recognise that Western feminism has limited scope or effectiveness in being the flag bearer of feminism in developing and non-Western nations and that there are large reformist movements in those countries which Western feminism shouldn't hijack.
     
  11. Blackrainbow

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2016
    Messages:
    7
    Likes Received:
    1
    Location:
    Edinburgh, UK
    Gender:
    Female
    Gender Pronoun:
    She
    Sexual Orientation:
    Lesbian
    Out Status:
    Some people
    'Equal rights for everyone' is pretty much the ethos of 'true' feminism.
     
  12. HojaVioleta

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2017
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Europe
    I'm an intersectional feminist generally driven by anarchist principles. And to weigh in on the inevitable equal rights or feminism thing, why not call it feminism? Women and femininity are oppressed, therefore seeking equal rights is a former of feminism. Moreover,feminism is concerned with a lot more than just equal rights. It's concerned with misogyny, and how women and femininity etc are perceived and erased and objectives - none of those things have anything to do with rights. Feminism is also concerned with the complex interactions of privilege and oppression. It's the name for a movement, but also a discipline of study. You can call yourself a supporter of equal rights, but that doesn't mean you're in keeping with a tradition of those who fight to end the oppression of women, or that a full understanding of that tradition and current practice can be fully understood in such reductive terms.

    It's seven thirty in the morning, why am I awake and ranting about politics already?
     
    #12 HojaVioleta, Feb 24, 2017
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 24, 2017
  13. Aussie792

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2013
    Messages:
    3,317
    Likes Received:
    62
    Location:
    Australia
    Gender:
    Male
    Gender Pronoun:
    He
    Sexual Orientation:
    Gay
    Out Status:
    Out to everyone
    Also I notice I misgendered the OP in my comments. My apologies.
     
  14. Kira

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2014
    Messages:
    1,623
    Likes Received:
    16
    Location:
    Georgia
    Gender:
    Female
    Gender Pronoun:
    She
    Sexual Orientation:
    Lesbian
    Out Status:
    Some people
    I suppose I'm the kind who feels that religion itself is the source of the underlying issues, looking at how more secular nations treat us in comparison to theocracies. The "reasons" used against equal rights in general tends to stem from religion but few acknowledge it due to it's stigma or just haven't read the books very thoroughly if at all. I feel like people born in backwards countries deserve a chance at rights even if they were taught to fear them. I think people are avoiding the real issues due to both said stigma and possibly a willful ignorance of the subject. You know how "it could never say things that cruel and pointless" until you read it yourself.

    Thing is, you say either of those out loud and it feels like everyone instantly readies their weapons. Maybe I was born in the wrong time. :dry:
     
  15. HojaVioleta

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2017
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Europe
    Ok so this seems seriously problematic. Backwards countries? And you're slating entire races and countries as having bad religion and underdeveloped societies. I am not a religious person and I really, really don't care for most of what religion has to say, but it's certainly not the sole or primary cause of oppression in the world.
     
  16. Elysian

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 18, 2016
    Messages:
    86
    Likes Received:
    1
    Location:
    Dublin
    Gender:
    Male
    Gender Pronoun:
    He
    Sexual Orientation:
    Bisexual
    Out Status:
    A few people
    Without me coming in and man'splaining it to you all. The way that I see it is integral to push for this: the acknowledgement of fact that feminism is a social system which pushes for egality between the genders. There is no altering that. Any paradigm that does not conform to the above stated pre-requisite is not cohesive to what is stated in leading feminist theory.

    What is, however, in my opinion not explained in more defining detail- the necessity to never simply cop out and say "I believe in equality". The factor (that has been pervasive for a majority of societies in the world) is that; that which is perceived as pertaining to be "feminine" or attributable the feminine mystique will be perceived as lesser.

    Should the "playing field" have been equal from the get-go and the feminist movement was used as a means of maintaining the status quo then I would have no problem with the "I believe in equality" party-goers but the fact that women and all those that fall under the perceptively "feminine" spectrum are distinctively disenfranchised from their male and the "masculine" perceived counterparts means that to not attribute the label of feminism is a regression within not only feminist thought but also within social perception of both mandate and legacy.

    But as the previous posters have accurately pointed out- the distinction of what feminism or to use previous terms "equality" have come to mean are now severely blurred. I, personally, believe that the wait for most of the disenfranchised groups has caused this disparity. It has been the best part of 150 years of cohesively organised reaction from women that started the feminist movement and while there is literally no doubt that we have come so far from the days that a woman's place remained in the home- we live in an immensely fast changing environ that I feel will make or break how we live for at least the next few centuries. The feminist movement in the 1910s essentially challenged 1000 years (speaking in reference to the major Western European and American democracies) of society's perception of women. And, with the introduction of the internet and what is essentially the electronic Tower of Babel that shows no sign of collapsing, I think that we're coming to the next hurdle of where it goes from here.



    Tl;dr: Yeah, I'm a feminist- people are rad.
     
  17. Aussie792

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2013
    Messages:
    3,317
    Likes Received:
    62
    Location:
    Australia
    Gender:
    Male
    Gender Pronoun:
    He
    Sexual Orientation:
    Gay
    Out Status:
    Out to everyone
    Causation and correlation are important things to note. Has the decline in religious practices in feminist countries been part of the same social factors or has religion's decline been causative?

    Also note that certain religions have become harsher on women (Islam) and others have become more liberal (Lutheranism) in the past few centuries.
     
  18. Jellal

    Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 23, 2014
    Messages:
    1,359
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Florida
    Gender:
    Female (trans*)
    I'd be an anti-feminist if I wanted to argue with feminists, which I don't. Feminists have a different ideal of equality than me and I can't change somebody else's ideals.

    While I believe in equal rights I don't believe in "sameness," i.e. saying that if there is not a given representation of a group that quantitatively exceeds another, it's injustice/oppression. I agree with removing institutional roadblocks that limit social mobility, choice, & autonomy.
     
  19. PianoKeys

    Full Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2017
    Messages:
    347
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Northern Europe
    Gender:
    Female
    Sexual Orientation:
    Lesbian
    @Kira ,We were the weaker gender. And the strongest persons opinion mattered. And that was the beginning. Dang sucky ancestors did not speak up :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: Some religious interpreters try to maintain that and suppress us ladies . But in Western society, we dont know real opression.

    I do feel not taken serious as a woman sometimes in a men"s world ( IT world ) very rarely though. Sometimes I think incapable women will just shout discrimination because it is easier. Which I sometimes feel with a lot of discrimination and racism. I cannot judge if thats true though.

    Women,still have a stigma, and its on us all to improve that. In the western world we come far and we can get there to the end I hope. And western women must support other countries where the fight is not to that level yet, if we respect the fight. Because the earth is like dominos I believe in many factors. One falls, the rest will follow.

    So donate, communicate, talk to your fellow women from the other world. And yes America, talk to refugee women. Maybe they wont eat you alive : P

    Im speaking as if Im doing a speech to America...what is up with me today

    ---------- Post added 25th Feb 2017 at 10:51 AM ----------

    I dont want to come across all righteous, I dont know whatsup with me today :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
     
    #19 PianoKeys, Feb 25, 2017
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 25, 2017
  20. Kodo

    Full Member

    Joined:
    May 27, 2015
    Messages:
    1,830
    Likes Received:
    849
    Location:
    California
    Gender:
    Male (trans*)
    Gender Pronoun:
    He
    Sexual Orientation:
    Gay
    Out Status:
    Out to everyone
    I don't readily identify with "-isms" or movements, and because I'm not terribly versed in all the nuances of feminism, I would answer no.

    However my thoughts on the matter are very simple: all people should be granted equal rights and respect regardless of sex, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, etc.