Feminist Movement : Effect or No? (tradition, minority, choice, creation)

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by beckysoup61

This thread is similar to the "Japanese-Americans Internment in US : Appropriate vs. Inappropriate", and the poll is coming from the same website. I was suprised to find this as the statistics for this poll:

• Of the 20763 visitors who have voted, 9% believed the feminist movement was effective in impoving the lives of American women while 91% felt it had little or no effect.

What do you think? Was the feminist movement effective or has it destroyed America sas we know it? Do you long to go back with the mother in the kitchen and the father at work? What are your views, opinions, feelings, etc. on it?

The feminist is the only reason why women have the right to vote. The only reason why we're not still barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. I don't see how anyone can say it wasn't effective.

[Bishka]

Originally Posted by lilithu

The feminist is the only reason why women have the right to vote. The only reason why we're not still barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. I don't see how anyone can say it wasn't effective.

The part was effective, but about the after effect of the ones who want to be 'barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen'; like myself? I'm constnatly being looked-down upon because I was to be a housewife, stay-at-home mum -- should something be done about that?

~Becky

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by beckysoup61

The part was effective, but about the after effect of the ones who want to be 'barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen'; like myself? I'm constnatly being looked-down upon because I was to be a housewife, stay-at-home mum -- should something be done about that?

~Becky

There is nothing wrong with being a housewife (or a househusband for that matter). It's harder work than most people give credit for. That's not the same thing as the 'barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen' ideal which basically sees women as little more than baby-making machines who also cook and clean.

I agree that some women look down on women who want a more traditional role. They are misguided. The whole point of giving women more freedom and rights is so that women can actually choose for ourselves. If we're not allowed to choose a more traditional role then we are being not allowed to choose.

[Bishka]

Originally Posted by lilithu

There is nothing wrong with being a housewife (or a househusband for that matter). It's harder work than most people give credit for. That's not the same thing as the 'barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen' ideal which basically sees women as little more than baby-making machines who also cook and clean.

I agree that some women look down on women who want a more traditional role. They are misguided. The whole point of giving women more freedom and rights is so that women can actually choose for ourselves. If we're not allowed to choose a more traditional role then we are being not allowed to choose.

Absolutley agreed.

[Ðanisty]

Thanks for the cookie.

The feminist movement was absolutely necessary. I certainly won't argue that. I don't like the attitude it has created in a lot of people, both men and women. Therefore, I disassociate myself with the movement. That doesn't mean that I don't believe in equality. It means I believe in going about it a different way.

As far as the ban on partial-birth abortion goes, it makes me sick. We're backsliding on women's rights in that arena. On other fronts though, I just see feminists pushing to hard and alienating men in the process and I can't agree with that.

[Mercy Not Sacrifice]

There's not a lot more that I can add.

I agree that feminism was, and to an extent still is, necessary. Women deserved a lot more than society gave them; by and large, feminism helped to solve that. They deserved the right to work full-time, receive the same pay as men for the same task, own and manage property, and make their own decisions.

Unfortunately, at some point a few decades ago, it turned away from a utopian desire for higher standards of life for both sexes, and instead began a club for women to emotionally not just beat up men but themselves as well. Once this threshold was crossed, their power to influence degraded into a power to repel people.

Where feminism leaves a great deal to be desired and frankly, is failing both women and men, is in its stance on romance. I'm very sorry, but pursuing a member of the opposite sex is normal and natural, and as long as "no means no" is heeded, there is nothing wrong with acting on these desires.

That said, that is no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Society still needs feminism, but not at the expense of that society.

[jamaesi]

Let's see. As woman I can vote, I can drive, I can wear pants, I can hold a job that's not a teacher or a secretary, I can choose to be a housewife, I can own property, I can make my own decisions in my life, my husband can't beat me, I can go to college, I can choose to use birth control, I can choose if I want to have children, I can't be masturbated by a doctor for "medical treatment", I can hold public office, I can get custody of my children...

No, feminism has had no effect and has done nothing for me. :P


I'm also wondering where all these man-hating feminists that seem to be just everywhere are.

I've never met someone who described themselves as feminist and as hating men. Not in any feminist group I'm in, not in any women's studies classes I have taken, not in the department of women's studies here at OSU, not any of my feminst friends are, never seen one at the women events I've been to...

Honestly, where are these man-hating feminists?


This sort of smacks of there being extremists of some religion (and it could be argued they aren't really following that religion, I don't know of a single religion that promotes violence) and that makes all members terrorists... Hating men is not part of feminism no matter how many times someone just insists it is.

We're currently in the third-wave of American feminism. It picked up with the realisation that not all women are the same and are affected in different ways because of their race, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, ability, and so and and actively fights against those oppressions as all oppressions are linked. It also sees a link between the oppression of the earth and oppression of women and is pro-environmentalist.

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by jamaesi

I'm also wondering where all these man-hating feminists that seem to be just everywhere are.

I have met a couple. Just as I have met so-called feminists who would denigrate any woman who wants to stay at home and raise the kids. But just as small minority of extremists in a religion should not be taken to represent the whole religion (and yet people do anyway), a small minority of extremists in feminism should not be taken to represent the whole movement (and yet people do anyway).

I understand why those in power would want to portray the extremists as representing all of the movement. It serves to discredit the whole movement and preserve the status quo (or go backwards). But I sometimes have trouble understanding why many women so easily buy into this "extremist" picture that's presented. Why would we so easily desert a movement that has empowered us?

[standing_alone]

Originally Posted by Ðanisty

Thanks for the cookie.

The feminist movement was absolutely necessary. I certainly won't argue that. I don't like the attitude it has created in a lot of people, both men and women. Therefore, I disassociate myself with the movement. That doesn't mean that I don't believe in equality. It means I believe in going about it a different way.

As far as the ban on partial-birth abortion goes, it makes me sick. We're backsliding on women's rights in that arena. On other fronts though, I just see feminists pushing to hard and alienating men in the process and I can't agree with that.

I understand that some of the feminist perspectives tend to go into men-hating. However, one should keep in mind that feminism is a diverse ideology with liberal feminism, radical feminism, Marxist-socialist feminism, global feminism, black feminism, eco-feminism, gender feminism, etc. It's just, I don't see so many of these radical or men-hating feminists for as much as people talk about them. It seems like people are taking the whole feminist movement and just reducing it to radical feminism or lesbian separitism and such. Feminism is much more complex than that. (Not saying you are doing this, just using your post as a springing point about how the opposition of the feminist movement reduces it to the radical forms in order to criticize it, ignoring a wide-array of feminist perspectives).

[lillitruthseeker]

until the female balance of power is restored in the world we will never ever live in peace