Feminism
 

There seems to be a bit of stigma attached to this word, so i was just curious what TiBB's stance on it was

Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes

Misandrist: a person who dislikes, despises, or is strongly prejudiced against men

Misogynist: a person who dislikes, despises, or is strongly prejudiced against women


with these 3 definitions in mind, and these 3 definitions being the exact definition of the above words, would you call yourself a feminist?

Yes.

Why no definition and option for a man who simply adores women Smithy? :laugh:

That would be: Pervert.

I believe everyone to be equal but man it gets on my tits when some feminists go too far

I'm not too sure tbh. There is so so much stupid **** posted on the internet these days by so called 'feminists'. These people make it their absolute mission to prove how awful men are, how men are the main problem in the world and how much better the world would be without them, etc, etc. At first I thought that most 'feminists' were like this, but I've started to realise that there are actually sane ones out there.

I believe in equality, but I also understand that men and women are different. I believe in equal pay, but I also believe that whoever does a better job should be paid more. Gender is irrelevant in that.

I kind of feel like there's not much to be bothered about in this country. Women are very very lucky to live here. Anyone is. I feel like feminism is much more needed in other places of the world. Places where women arent even allowed to drive, for example.

It's something I care about and hope to learn about more over the years. I feel like when you're passionate about something, you need to experience it on your own. I've never had something happen to me where I've thought, 'thIS IS WHY WE NEED FEMINISM!!!1'. Maybe I'm just lucky. But I refuse to see that where we live is that awful.

/sorryforthelongasspost

tl/dr: I'm unsure because of what I've seen. Want to experience more before having a say

Caitlin :clap1: :clap1:

Hint: That's NOT feminism. :laugh:

Yup. I am.

If that's what you believe in, then you're a feminist. That's one of the most basic things that feminism fights for.

I agree with this and would tend to stay out of discussions about it, and therefore I would not generally identify myself with the 'feminist' tag because it often implies a level of political activism over women's rights that I don't engage in

By those definitions, yes most definitely.

not necessarily, if you believe in complete equality for the sexes, then it's as simple as that

of course

Agreed. By those definitions, yes, I completely agree with option A. However, I am very hesitant to call myself a "feminist" because, sadly, that is not what the word means today and that is not the goal of many modern feminism supporters.

I believe in true equality which means I do NOT support "positive discrimintion".

To use an example: the goal of modern feminism in any random workplace seems to be to have a "quota" so that a equal number of men and women are employed. So let's say it's a workplace with 20 positions, currently there are 10 men and 9 women. Equality is not ensuring that a woman fills the vacant post. Equality is choosing the BEST APPLICANT for that post, completely blind to gender. Equality could be a workplace of 20 men, or 20 women, or anything inbetween, so long as those people have been chosen purely on merit and not because of which set of genitals they happen to have.

In short: I fully believe in equality of opportunity for all people, taking gender, race etc. Out of the equation. I do not agree with controlling ratios to prop up some artificial "equality quota" if it means that someone better qualified is passed over.

A lot of modern feminism is about empowering women at the expense of men. That is not any sort of equality. The word is tainted.

As Smithy said, your level of immersion within feminist movements decides on how politicised you become. If you don't want to get into gender based arguments and discussions, then that's an entirely separate thing to being a feminist. Though it may help the cause of feminism, being a feminist doesn't carry with it a responsibility to engage in its discourse.

Why would complete equality be called feminism? The immediate implication is that there are currently no disadvantages to being male. The term itself is unequal.

I'm a feminist and I believe in total equality of the sexes. Like TS, I don't believe in positive discrimination on the grounds of sex, race or anything else. The person who gets the job should be the best candidate, regardless of who they are.

Sure of course the fundamental principles of 'feminism' are all well and fine but it is a very broad church with a lot of infighting, disagreements etc. and the tag often carries very political connotations that I'd rather not associate myself with

of course

I guess I'm just blinding by the craziness of some feminists that I see. I always thought that feminism as strictly womens right, whereas if what you're all saying is true, then yes, I'd gladly admit that I am feminist.

It's not unequal because historically, all the oppression and inequality has mostly been placed upon women. Even today men hold a position in society far more steeped in power and prestige than women do (you need only look at top earning salaries, how rape is unfortunately still at epidemic levels through society to see that).

The hugely disproportionate advantage men have is primarily why I've understood it to be called feminism. Feminism as a movement campaigns for the equality of both men and women, sure, but mostly it's dedicated to unpicking the patriarchal leanings of human society which are so very poisonous. Hence the name 'feminism'. Or at least that's what I think.

Personally i think that if you're wanting equality, then you want it on a WW basis, it might be better here in the UK than in other places, like the middle east for example, but that wouldn't stop anyone from being a feminist, just because we have it better.

And re; the why we need feminism/it strictly being women rights, there was a story in the paper a few weeks ago, i saw a woman had attacked a man, (bitten his ear off, or bottled him and he'd lost his eye sight in one eye or something equally bad) anyway, she'd been previously arrested 17 times and had numerous convictions for assault, and this case went to court, despite there being however much evidence the woman was let off with a caution, and i'm pretty sure if that had been a man, he'd have been sentenced to a pretty lengthy stretch in prison. Because men and women aren't viewed as equal, she got away with something horrendous

:laugh:

Often I think, the worst or most acidic sects of movements are the ones that get the most publicity. The media especially loves to use feminism as something to be exaggerated and laughed at for its perceived stupidity (like that thing TIME magazine did about feminism before the new year). It's given most people the wrong impression as to what feminism actually is. It's not man hating women. It's the fight for gender equality, simple as that.