Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Feminism Is, Except When It Is Not

Women get to change their minds, men do not.

I'm posting this here for posterity.

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2010/08/10/why-blame-the-feminists/

There's a commenter here "Sheelzebub" who embodies the worst aspects of the liberal feminist world.

Look forward to an allegory later, but I just want to highlight some of Sheezlebub's real golden moments.

Q: "How does rape culture benefit non-rapist men?
A: First, she lists off a bunch of non-benefits, like "wag their fingers as they lecture us about our terrible judgment if we are raped." That is an action, not a benefit. Now if you said "every time a woman is raped, the men who didn't rape her get a gift card to Starbucks," THEN you'd have a point. Anyway, she lists off a few non-benefits and then she hits us with concrete proof that she has severely handicapped reading comprehension:
"Rape culture propagates the myth that rapists are creepy dudes hiding in the bushes, not your friend, boyfriend, husband, or coworker. So “nice guys” don’t rape, and since Joe/Nigel/Steve is a nice guy, he couldn’t have raped you, you see."
Did you catch that? Let me spell it out for you: Rape culture benefits non-rapists by making it easier for non-rapists to rape. The second part, about nice guys not raping is summed up this way: Rape culture benefits non-rapists by fooling non-rapists into thinking their rapist friends are actually non-rapists. Yes, Sheezlebub, because being FOOLED ABOUT THE CRIMINAL STATUS OF PEOPLE CLOSE TO YOU IS A GOOD THING.

Q: Why are you so disturbed by men commenting on how the patriarchy hurts men?
A: "I wouldn’t go into a WOC’s blog and go on and on about how racism hurts Whites too and what about the Whites and BTW you’re judging me based on mean white people who have more power than me."
Here, she betrays the "secret" motivation behind feminism for a very large number of women. Feminism is about "gender equality" but only when it benefits women. (See Correction) And here's your proof: Her analogy betrays her bias. A WOMAN OF COLOR blog would be concerned with WOMEN OF COLOR - white women ARE NOT "of Color." So bringing up comments about white-people problems WOULD be inappropriate there.
In case I need to spell it out: Feminism is about GENDER EQUALITY, not just women. If you don't agree with this definition, find a new term for yourself. May I recommend "bigot?"

Update: I've tried to contact Sheelzebub to see if she could come up with a good explanation. But she hasn't been seen online since 2007, from what I can see.

Correction: As April pointed out in the comments, this wording, and the subsequent conclusions one could (rightly) draw from it are incorrect and embarrassing to me personally. If I could reword it, I would do it like this:
Here, she betrays the unspoken bias in modern feminism: Feminism is about "gender equality" but only when it benefits women."

5 comments:

  1. i'm an anti-feminist but i ascribe to equality for everyone. the feminist label is too rife with internal contradictions, and i have found out they are concerned with their own selfish interests. a man, even if he may be negatively affected by the patriarchy, are largely non-issues for them. plus, the whole philosophy is rooted in illogic and baselessnes. so much of feminism is deconstructing something for its own sake.

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  2. Welcome to my blog, Sofia

    I think you and I are on the same page here. I think it's not so much as "non-issues" though - I think it's more along the lines of Republican "trickle-down economics." They think if women can topple the patriarchy then all of men's problems will magically fade away.

    I propose that a matriarchy is no better.

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  3. hahahaha,

    There is a reason that their movement is called feminism and not gender equality....

    It's kinda like white power....it's not good for everyone....

    And anyone whom opposes, well, they will use any kind of argument.....

    as far as trickle down economics, I feel tempted to make a a bad joke about too much beer and too little bladder control...

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  4. Here, she betrays the "secret" motivation behind feminism for a very large number of women.

    NOW who's sounding "conspiratorial"? As soon as you try to claim there's a "secret" motivation, you're treading on wingnut territory.

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  5. @April
    You're right. Painting with a broad brush about a worthy cause (feminism) and saying that there is a "secret motivation" is wrong, wrong, wrong.

    That was poorly worded on my part and I apologize. I will be editing the post to note the problem with this sentence (and the mentality behind it) while keeping the original comment for the sake of honesty.

    ReplyDelete