What's Your View On Feminists?

Well, growing up, the word "feminist" did not have positive connotations. It was likened to people who went to school in the West or East Coast (e.g. people who went to the ivory towers of places like Bowdoin-Pomona-Berkeley-Yale-etc.) and were wannabe hipsters and agents of tumultuous social change who were, at best, social media activists, or, at worst, radical protestors who would use more vitriolic means of achieving their end goals) and were radicals that wanted to upend the social order where women would be nurturers and men would be providers.

I do agree with some of the ideals of "feminism" in the sense of "equality." However, I still have certain viewpoints that may be a vestige of geographical/cultural sexism (e.g. I find that men can cuss and spit and still not look as ill-bred as a woman, actually, this is something my mom also says :lol.

In conclusion, I support wholeheartedly equal pay for equal work, freedom from discrimination and assault, access to reproductive health services/products, and all of the other ancillary things needed to fulfill these goals.

 

This.

 

I have no problems with the feminists who truly strive for equality. But I can't stand those bat shit crazy ones who wage gender war.

 

I'm not saying women in particular are telling men these things (although there are those who do). What I was getting at is that we all deserve equal rights regardless of gender, so why can't we just fight for equal rights instead of for one particular gender? In a way, I kind of think feminism takes away from men. Sure, the patriarchy may be the problem, but when people think of pushing for rights, how often does anyone honestly think about how it affects men? I guess since we're guys, we're supposed to be OK with everything being the way it is. We have problems, too. It's not like we have the world at our fingertips because we're guys or anything. Like I said, we don't have some of the rights women have. Women aren't the only ones who are getting screwed out of stuff. Equal rights are important, but I think it needs to be seen from both sides.

 

Well...it's getting better.

I said this before in another thread, and I'll say it again here, but I did grow up around a lot of the stereotypical feminists who always said things like "I think we should castrate all men, lock them in cages, and keep them as slaves." And hearing that kind of stuff growing up really did have a negative affect how I viewed myself (being male), other men, and feminism as a whole.

But my negative views are getting better. And I have branched out and encountered some feminists (some here on EC) who really have changed the way I look at the world and certain issues. And as a result, as someone going into game design and knowing that video games have a tendency to sexualize/objectify/ignore women, I plan on doing what I can to include more proactive, non-sexualized female characters in the games I work on.

Again, kind of like justjade was saying, I have a kinda negative knee-jerk reaction to the word "feminist" or "feminism," but like I said, it is getting better.

 

They're cool

 

Sorry for the late response, but thanks so much. You explained it well!

 

Yes, that about sums it up.
Sadly, the most popular and widely known feminists are almost always radicals, so I really, really dislike them "in general".

And, well... you see... I realise that women and men aren't treated equally in society yet.
I'm not denying that. But there are fractions of the population which are facing much, much bigger problems - LGBT. Maybe put aside men/women equality for a while and focus on the fractions that are still facing much more extreme issues?

 

Please, I graduated from Smith College in Northampton, Mass. Alma mater of Gloria Steinem. No question about it, I'm a feminist. Remember that it just means that women are treated equally in society and under the law. Who here is against that?

 

The word feminism just has a really, really, really bad stigma attached to it. I think that's why some people voted negative. I doubt many of them are actually sexist.

 

Positive.


Let me share a short story about my english class, which was approximately 2/3 male. Me and my friend were doing a powerpoint presentation on feminism in Of Mice and Men and how it is still applicable. Our powerpoint was feminist in that it promoted the idea of women having equal opportunities and rights as men, and we shared some stats (most women encounter at least one impactful sexist incident per week, etc.). Our teacher, Ms. Smith was extremely happy to have a controversial topic in class and proceeded to talk about the merits of equal rights for everyone (she even included LGBT people!). Immediately afterwards, a boy in my class, let's call him Steven, said, "Go make me a sandwich," directed at nobody in particular. About half of my class laughed, a fourth stared at him, incredulous, and the rest glared.

"Go make me a sandwich?" asked my friend, Grace. Grace followed this up by going back to our powerpoint and showing the slides showing the wage gap and other stats. Steven scoffed. My amazing teacher wasn't finished, either. She asked him how he had the audacity to say something so blatantly sexist after that, and he just sort of stared wide-eyed at her. Everyone else just sat silently.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that people often don't realize how horribly offensive things they say are until after somebody tells them. This goes for everybody. This case was just directed towards women in general, but people face discrimination quietly all the time. I have friends who think that the 50's were a golden age, socially and politically. I know people who are blatantly racist without realizing it. I have hyper-religious friends who have no idea how hurtful their actions and words are, who hide behind their faith. I have feminist friends who are anti-male (like kill the males sorta thing). I say hurtful things and don't think about them until much later. Just think before you speak, I guess? This went off on a tangent, sorry.

 

Some radical feminist even advocate living their life as a lesbian because they hate men I think you call them political lesbians

 

I think it's a given that most sexist men will be against feminism. Haha.

 

I don't really have a problem with feminism, but it just seems excessive at times. I would be all in for feminism decades ago when women really weren't treated equally, but now it seems like they complain about minor stuff or stuff that might not even be happening.