Home › Forums › Open Discussion › What is a Feminist?…really
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March 3, 2012 at 3:36 pm #602362
happywalkerParticipantI hear the term feminist thrown around all of the time. In Rush Limbaugh terms it’s feminenazi…what ever. I believe a feminist is just a female of any age that wants the same rights as any man. What is so wrong with that? It’s a term that is said like a bad taste in ones mouth. My age, let’s just say that I was a teenager and singing along with the Monkeys 45’s.
March 3, 2012 at 4:23 pm #749643
DBPMemberI’m going to be painfully honest with you, happy.
Regardless of what the definition of feminist should be, and regardless of what the word means to you, personally . . . over the years, the term has come to be associated, in the minds of many people, with a certain stereotype of a female who is pushy, threatening to men, and unattractive.
Unfortunate, I know. But there it is.
March 3, 2012 at 4:30 pm #749644
JoBParticipanti cried when my daughter told me that feminism was an unnecessary attack on men .. 20 years ago.
That same daughter chose a male dominated career and fought sexism nearly every day.
i don’t know if she has changed her mind yet.
I sincerely hope so.
She may never have daughters of her own but she has nieces she passionately wants to have the same opportunities that are extended to her nephews.
After 40 years of fighting it seems all we women have gained is the responsibility of equality without any of the privileges.
unless of course you have a lot of money and an indulgent parent…
The trouble is that women gained that kind of privilege centuries ago.
March 3, 2012 at 5:03 pm #749645
pattileaParticipantInteresting subject, I just read in the Leader a Port Townsend newspaper about a Mother daughter team. They walked from Spokane to New York in 1896, to prove the endurance of women, and women’s rights It took 232 days and they wore out 32 pair of shoes. The book is called “The year we were famous” by Carol Estby Dagg. It was her great-grandmother and great-aunt.
March 3, 2012 at 5:46 pm #749646
JoBParticipantpattilea..
small world.
i picked up that book a while ago.
well worth reading.
it’s good to remind ourselves that women have quietly been doing remarkable things for a very very long time.
the sad sequel to that story is that after everything they went through to succeed I believe they were ultimately cheated out of their prize.
Nelly Bly is another intrepid explorer from that time period.. well worth reading about how a plucky young woman set out to traverse the world.. and succeeded.. and won her prize.
she wrote her own book:)
It’s easy to see mountain-climbers and Iditarod contestants as the adventurers of our time..
but the real battlefield is that between conventions and independence…
surprisingly, homeless women often end up in the forefront of that struggle…
or should i say that women who battle conventions without resources often end up homeless?
i recently picked up “No Room of her own” by Desiree Hellegers from our local library. It tells the story of several local homeless women in their own words as well as outlining a historical perspective on homelessness in general and women’s homelessness in particular.
I promise to return it wednesday evening.
i found it in the new reads section.
not what i would call an easy read because it makes us too aware of the fragility of our own realities..
but it has been another one of those eye opening books for me.
If not for chance i could very easily live among them.
March 3, 2012 at 6:42 pm #749647
pattileaParticipantThe Author was a speaker here in Port Townsend last night. I got in to late from West Seattle last night, so I missed it. I am hoping he will be around the bookstore today. I am going to pick up a copy.
Port Townsend is my other West Seattle, small town so caring of it’s neighbors, and community. I am a native West Seattle born and raised.
March 3, 2012 at 7:05 pm #749648
kmweinerMemberDBP
Your statement “with a certain stereotype of a female who is pushy, threatening to men, and unattractive.” Is significant because anything a woman does to assert her right to be treated as a human being IS perceived by men as threatening. If a man does it, it is assertive: if a woman does it, it is aggressive. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich..said “Well behaved women seldom make histroy”. I would go further to say men have a right to feel threatened. We are NOT IN a rebellion, we are in a REVOLUTION— and a battle for our lives if the Repubs have their way with us.
March 3, 2012 at 9:17 pm #749649
datamuseParticipantGosh, DBP. I think all of us were unfamiliar with that stereotype before you mentioned it.
But here’s the really interesting question, and sarcasm aside, I’m genuinely interested in the answer: why do you think it’s come to mean that to so many people?
And, bonus round: what does attractiveness have to do with it?
March 3, 2012 at 9:49 pm #749650
JoBParticipantthanks kmweiner and datamuse
i missed DBPs comment
probably a good thing
i wouldn’t want to come across as one of those unattractive overbearing threatening women
sweet little advanced middle aged slightly rotund lady that i am ;->
hubby was tickled last weekend when we went to the pictures and i qualified for a senior discount :)
that … and finally being able to speak my mind without immediately offending the sensibilities of all the men within hearing distance are two of the perks of growing older:)
March 3, 2012 at 10:38 pm #749651
miwsParticipantMarch 3, 2012 at 10:46 pm #749652
kootchmanMemberWanna add JFK, FDR, and half of Hollywood donors to round out the pictures?
March 3, 2012 at 11:18 pm #749653
casabobaMemberHey, miws learned how to post photos. Cool!
March 3, 2012 at 11:31 pm #749654
ws4everMemberThose offended by an equitable equal pay for equal work system, or who are offended by a standard that women have to put forth much more effort in presentation in order to be considered as “professional” as men, probably were raised to think they were of inherently higher status than women. Everybody should have a chance to work hard and contribute what they can. DBP thinks that by framing insults as a joke he can laugh at other people HE would like to assume superiority over. It’s been done before, DBP. We are not impressed by this tactic, DBP. Exceptional people do not use this tactic. Scoffing just distracts people from what’s relevant.
March 4, 2012 at 6:22 am #749655
JoBParticipantkootchman..
we are members of a protected class except when we aren’t..
like when one in four of us is being battered by our domestic partner.. generally male
you can keep your protection
i’ll take equality instead and protect myself
March 4, 2012 at 7:49 am #749656
JanSParticipantKman…sometimes you’re full of crap…did you know that? And…women don’t want to be men…what the hell does wearing makeup have to do with anything? We can wear makeup and be equal, for God’s sake…or are you implying that it’s just another thing us witches do to entice men? (you know, our devious ways) I can’t tell you how offensive that is, because you won’t get it. You DON’T get it !
March 4, 2012 at 9:25 am #749657
WSBKeymasterIt is offensive and I’m deleting it.
Sexism has absolutely ZERO place on WSB and I’m sorry that nobody flagged me on this. But I am here right now to poke around and see what’s up. I won’t get to everything, so if something else as malodorous is lurking out there, please let me know.
As for D’s description of feminism .. as a woman who definitely can be described as unattractive (in the conventional sense – since fat is still demonized), pushy, and threatening-to-men (who comprise 95% of the haters with whom we’ve dealt over the years, including 100% of the ones we’ve had to sic a lawyer on for defamation, and 100% of the ones we’ve had to report to police for threatening me and my family with violence, but I will NOT hold that against the gender in general) … well … what’s unfortunate about that? Frame it in more neutral terms and particularly the assertiveness part is pretty appealing. We should all stand up for ourselves and our rights, regardless of gender.
I am human, hear me roar.
Tracy
March 4, 2012 at 4:40 pm #749658
redblackParticipantBut here’s the really interesting question, and sarcasm aside, I’m genuinely interested in the answer: why do you think it’s come to mean that to so many people?
low breeding. see the first 5 minutes of idiocracy for an example.
i’m serious. people aren’t getting any smarter. and their parents aren’t helping.
there’s a lot of female exploitation among generation Y and millenials, propagated by social networking.
March 4, 2012 at 7:43 pm #749659
datamuseParticipantI missed kootchman’s comment, and I’m glad.
I will comment, however, that I have never, ever wanted to be a man, for all that it would have made life easier in a lot of ways (it also would have made life more difficult in a lot of ways; I know that).
A person who finds themselves to be a gender other than the one they were born with is transgender, not feminist (though most transgendered people I know are also feminists).
Feminists want a place at the table without also being expected to bring the coffee in. (And if you think those days are gone, I have a lovely oceanfront property in Florida for sale.)
March 4, 2012 at 10:38 pm #749660
kootchmanMemberI hit upon a truth… so of course it was deleted. Twas about an entire set of gender privileges which are exploited and never acknowledged. Indeed they are heavily exploited. Feminists are extraordinarily bound to a strict doctrinaire… general enough opinion? That would be my guess.
March 4, 2012 at 10:39 pm #749661
kootchmanMemberdatamuse… if you are brining in the bucks… I’ll get the coffeee.
March 4, 2012 at 11:32 pm #749662
JanSParticipantno, kootch…they were offensive…and if that’s what you think of women in general, I feel sorry for you, and the women in your life…period. It was the editor’s call to remove it. No one reported it…we already know that you will take things to extremes…but, get a clue…OK?
March 4, 2012 at 11:38 pm #749663
inactiveMemberMarch 4, 2012 at 11:58 pm #749664
JoBParticipantkootch..
there was no TRUTH in your comment kootch…
i will agree that you repeated the rationalizations that some men use to trivialize women and their concerns..
but that does NOT make it truth
March 5, 2012 at 12:00 am #749665
JoBParticipantdood…
kootch pulled out the old saw about women and the way they use their feminine wiles to get what they want and the way that gives them an unfair advantage to get out of doing “real” work because men protect them
only he didn’t put it nearly as nicely
March 5, 2012 at 1:06 am #749666
miwsParticipantkootch, what you describe as gender privileges, will only be such, when women actually have significantly more rights than you and I as males do.
Mike
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