jujubeeMB
Posts: 723
Joined: 1/8/2010 Status: offline
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Porcelaine, great topic. The problem, of course, is that while a lot of the people here consider themselves feminists (including the men, which is great), there is not really a solid definition of feminism that anyone will agree to. We know this because of how freakin long my feminist thread got The other problem is what the anti-feminists like to latch onto. Very, very few feminists hate men or believe that women should be superior, but that is the mindset that people like to trot out when decrying feminism. In fact, I don't believe those who believe that are feminists at all, since feminism is about equality and not superiority. But when someone calls herself a feminist, she's going to get people assuming that means she's angry and loud and hates men, because it's a comfortable stereotype to latch onto. I've noticed a lot of resistance to feminist submissives here on CM, except when I tell a guy who's trying to get me to talk to him that I'm a feminist. Then suddenly it's very sexy, and he's a feminist too. And I actually believe most of them, except when they try to tell me that feminism is about the freedom to be a slut, without asking me what my own definition of it is. But that's my own hangup, because despite the fact that it's possibly true, a lot of men are not very convincing in their supposed enlightenment about "feminist sluts." Frequently (not all the time), the concept seems to be just an excuse to objectify women while making the women think that they're empowered because of it. That's not really feminism, and it bothers me quite a bit - I think mostly because it's men re-defining feminism, and not women. Then there are the actual anti-feminists (male and female) and I don't quite know what the hell to do with them. I don't want to insult anyone (even though I clearly am unfortunately going to), but if you are not a feminist, you are sexist. Feminism is just the belief of the equality of men and women, at its simplest and purest. If you don't believe in gender equality, and you believe in male superiority or female superiority - and I mean really believe it - then I think you're kind of a dick. I also think you haven't been paying attention. I think anti-feminist men are greatly intimidated by feminists, because we're not supposed to be talking, except to agree with them. And I think anti-feminist women are either over-analyzing the concept and rejecting the term because they're misunderstanding it, or they're trying to impress the men who are intimidated by feminists.
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