what is feminism really?

Question

i always hear 'it's about equality between men and women?'. if that'strue, then why is it called 'feminism'?

that might have been true 50 years ago, but i really don't think that's the case anymore. it seems to me women are definitelt in control now. after going through high school, i've seen enough to convince me that being a girl is much easier than being a guy.

Answer 1

Since 1920, women have entered into every facet of what was considered to be the male realm and have now surpassed men insofar as ‘rights’ are concerned. What was formerly called “women’s rights” has become “women’s superiority”.
Fifty years ago was 1957. Women chose to be mothers and homemakers. It was not as being touted today as being kept in that position due to the so-called patriarchy.
Every single answer you have received about any current need for advancement of women is either nonexistent or just wrong.

One poster's answer is a good example of modern-day feminism. She has proposed that no woman had ever gotten so far as to run for president yet the truth is in 1872, Victoria Chaffin Woodhill ran for the office as well as Belva Lockwood in 1884 and 1888. Margaret Chase Smith, Shirley Chisholm, Sissy Farenthold, Patricia Schroeder, Elizabeth Dole and Carol Mosely Braun all ran for president.
The fact that the highest percentage of voters is women should tell today’s feminists something… but they apparently fail to grasp the meaning, that being that it is not *men* keeping women out of office.

Such is the lie of feminism.

Then the well-known “know it all” comes in with psychobabble to further drive home the point that modern-day feminists avoid the subject and tend to talk in circles in an attempt to deflect the point.

One answerer chimes in about bloating and cramps and birth. Let’s not forget that women are adapted to give birth, unlike men so the comparison cannot be made. A better comparison would be to compare men’s life expectancy with that of women or that research in women-specific diseases and conditions receive far more funding than that for men. This is by political choice, not nature so which is discriminatory?

A poster has decided you are not old enough to have enough experience to see what you apparently know to be a fact. I am over 60 and what you surmise is exactly my experience.
Another poster has decided that women need a boost without one single example of what they need help to achieve. What are these areas where women need an express elevator to the top floor?
Another echoes that sentiment and asserts that a few obnoxious individuals cause the women’s movement to look worse than it is. Truth is, this IS feminism: obnoxious and misleading.


Others have chimed in about how women are/were behind but fail to give one instance about how this affects life today. Women have gained full rights, equal to men yet have chosen to deny the responsibility that goes with those rights.
Women have the ability to retain custody of their children in almost every case, married or single. Women have several forms of contraception to men’s one. Women can prevent pregnancy, legally abort a fetus, legally abandon the baby after birth, legally have the child adopted by others or keep the baby and sue the father for “child support’. Men are typically driven out of the marital home when divorce occurs and as often denied full equality as a parent in divorce. As a practical matter, men do not have any of these options except the limited use of condoms for birth control.
Women marry up, meaning women will marry into a higher social level or higher income strata where men are forced to marry down because women will not generally consider marrying someone in a lower social or financial level than themselves as a rule.
Affirmative action, which was primarily aimed at forcing businesses to hire minorities, was adopted by feminists to achieve positions for women even though they may not be otherwise qualified. When the standards to certain professions proved beyond the ability of most women, the standards were lowered by mandate such as police, firefighters and the military.
At age 18, men have to register for selective service (military draft); women do not ever have to register and cannot be drafted even when selective service is enacted.
‘Domestic Violence’ is legislation aimed at punishing men even though the instance of spousal abuse is nearly equal for men and women as abuser.
Women given more lenient sentences for the same crime that a man will serve longer, if in fact the woman serves any time at all.

Feminists point out that men abuse children. The truth is that mothers abuse children more often than fathers (58% compared to 42%) http://www.acf.dhhs.gov.

The list is too long to properly go into it but the fact remains that unless specific indicators are given, anything said about how women are treated worse should be treated as an error at best and are typically bald-faced lies.
I concur with Robinson0120’s ending paragraph in that we need to look at the condition of both men and women and consider the facts instead of innuendo, lies and half-truths.

Answer 2

I am going to do my absolute best to keep this under about 100 pages on how wrong you are. What makes you think that you've seen it all, or "enough" to convince you in a few years of high school? Are you kidding me? You haven't even entered the real world homey, where woman are sexually harassed every day, and looked down upon and less than in work and at home! Woman are viewed, yes still to this day, as the sole homemaker and carer for the kids, and that's all. Do you have a clue of how hard that is alone, not to mention that more and more woman every day are trying to survive the business world too, and managing the home and all the kids and all the shopping? And while at work, they are given lower jobs, and even if they make it somewhere, they are statistically going to make significantly less than a male in the same position. Have you ever heard of a thing called the "Glass Ceiling"? The fact that we have a term for it shows that woman are not of equal status and respect. Besides all the pain of having a child, they have way more every day occurences that remind them constantly of how unequal they are.

True, things have gotten better, but it's far from being equal. The heart and sole of feminism is to say that woman should be equal. That's it. People have misconstrued the word "feminism" to stereotypically mean some bra-burning, fat woman with a buzzed head and hairy legs. It's pathetic, and a tragedy. How dare you go as far as to say that it's "much easier to be a girl". Sorry to sound so harsh, but sometimes the truth hurts when it hits you. But you asked, and I hope you respect my opinion.

And by the way, I am a male, and my views have only been didn't change until the last few years, during college and the real world. When I was in high school, I would have said the same thing. Hopefully you grow up and step outside of your ignorance one day as I have, and not end up like all the "tough, hardcore, man's world only" guys out there.

Answer 3

No, they prefer feminism simply by fact with out it, they does no longer be waiting to make their very own alternatives or also have a gamble at getting an education. try traveling a rustic the place women persons are considered as assets and can't carry a job or get an education and tell me how "stable" those women persons are.

Answer 4

"I'd like to see you have to deal with cramps and bloating every 28 days and have to push a baby out of your penis."

And men have to deal with long work hours, a culture that still doesn't accept weakness and emotion in men (hell, even most WOMEN don't), and have to deal with little to no benefits.

One benefit women get is a flexible work schedule, they get maternity leave, the list goes on. Try and take that into account when you compare how much women make. Any idiot can look at statistics and spout them forth; it takes someone of moderate intelligence to actually look at the reasons for such outcomes.

The most sexist people in America are women (seems to be more like girls). "Men are pigs, men are dogs, boys are stupid, throw rocks at them." Look at commercials; is the wife EVER portrayed as ignorant or stupid? Is the white, middle aged father? Hmm. What would happen if a man or boy said such a thing about a woman? He would be labeled a sexist and could get slapped with sexual harassment.

Who ACTUALLY rules the household? Cultural expectations and "patriarchal" ideals are one thing; actual practice and experience are quite another.

Women are "overrepresented" in universities (depending on the university, of course; women tend to predominate in liberal arts, men in engineering, and so forth. Specifics aren't necessary here...), women have higher reading levels, women aren't risking their lives nearly as often as men in mines, construction yards, or on the battlegrounds in Iraq. Hell, they can't even be drafted right now. But do they complain about inequality there?

Final passing thought: Just because a woman has never been president does not mean it is impossible. Quite simply, women have never RAN for president, at least in either of the two parties that matter. Vice president yes, president no. If women want to vote for men, why shouldn't they be allowed to?

I could go on and on, but I think I'll leave it there. My overall point is, people should stop spouting forth rhetoric and actually look at the truth of situations.

Now to answer the question: It is called feminism because its constituents ASSUME that women are the ones who are left behind and oppressed; maybe its about time to look at the condition of men and women (in the UNITED STATES; the above does not generally apply to Less Developed Countries such as those in Africa or the Middle East) and consider the facts.

Answer 5

1. Are you looking for a definition? If so then why are you questioning the validity of the definitions you are being furnished with? If not, then why did you bother posting your question - asking for something you really don't want?

2. Why not call it 'feminism'? There was consensus reached and the term came into popular useage in the english language. If you have a problem with the term then talk to the people at Merriam-Webster about it.

Answer 6

I'd agree with Geoff's response. The emphasis on the female gender is because most of the time if one of the two genders is in need of an improved situation to level the playing field, it's women. Women have made some wonderful advances thanks to the discussions and action taken by feminists. However, there are times when radical and obnoxious representatives of this movement turn off the general population and make it difficult for the rest of us to advocate their general cause.

Answer 7

Because women face a variety of difficulties and require advocacy to remove those problems in order to elevate women to genuine equality with men. In other words, it's called feminism because it's the female status that needs improvement.

Answer 8

if women are in control, how do you account for all US presidents being male? no woman has even gotten so far as to run. that's just ONE example...

and 50 years ago it was still okay not to hire someone because they were female, or to fire a woman for being pregnant, and women didn't have to be paid the same, and birth control was regulated and considered "obscene", and husbands could legally rape their wives (1976-first law)... all of which have changed due to feminism

Answer 9

It's called "feminism" because women were the ones who were/are behind. There's also a growing movement of "masculinism," if you're at all interested.

Answer 10

Being a girl is easier than being a guy?? Are you crazy?? I'd like to see you have to deal with cramps and bloating every 28 days and have to push a baby out of your penis.