Why does Feminism pretend to care about equality??

Question

We all know that Feminism professes to be all about gender equality, but is it really? I have yet to see a single Feminist indicates she gives the slightest toss about areas where men are disadvantaged. That's not equality. You cannot possibly achieve gender equality with an exclusively imbalanced effort.

Men do the vast majority of the most inflexible, unpleasant and dangerous jobs.
Die 5 years earlier.
Make up 80% of the homeless.
5 times more likely to lose the children in a divorce.
4 times more likely to commit suicide.
20 times more likely to be killed at work.
20 times more likely to be imprisoned.
Many time more likely to be wrongfully arrested, wrongfully imprisoned, mugged, assaulted or murdered.
4 times more likely to lose their homes in divorce.
Suffer more from nearly every medical disease and ailment that there is, and yet, far more money is spent by governments on women's health than on men's health.

Just name a few. Feminism is not about gender equality is it?

The answers are interesting.

Most of the women here are getting defensive to the point where they actually miss the question. I'm not trying to point fingers as to who's to blame for the issues men face, just as I brush off your silly attempts to blame women's issues on men. Of course many of you have also responded with fundamentally misinformed opinions that reek of college women's studies courses.

I'll reiterate;
Feminism cannot possibly claim to fight for gender equality when it completely ignores half of the equation. Who's at fault for the issues in society is irrelevant, it is the imbalance of attention that contradicts the Feminist pretence of gender equality that's important. I merely listed some male disadvantages to preempt the typically stupid response to this question; "men aren't disadvantaged."

Do you think Feminism pretends to be about gender equality to dupe people into supporting it?

Answer 1

No, feminism is about the oppression and domination of men.

They have no interest in equality with men at all, but treat them like dirt whenever and however they can.


I know that use and abuse of women by men is a major and serious problem now, but I don't see how woman Hitlers is the answer to that.

The answer is respect for others, their rights and human dignity, so masculine and feminine characteristics are not merely coinage in some gender power struggle and a property to exploit, but something to wonder at as God has created a polar diversity in which we do not have to live in a desolate world of androgyny - I love the gender difference of womanhood almost to the point of adoration (but of course of good and not evil women - an evil woman is a terror that I would not wish on anyone).





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Answer 2

Who wants gender equality? I don't think any gender is better as the other overall.

Some of the statistics you put in are very biased, like homeless, suicide, imprisioned, and about suffer more fro medical disease? While I think that women are stronger biologically, they have more things to worry about.

Homeless and suicide is because some people are lonely, or don't work in society. Probably most women will do more things to stay at a house than men, or something, but that's not women's fault. Suicide, I don't know if that's true (the percentage), but probably men won't let out their emotion as good as women do, so we foster the bad stuff and finally cant' take it. It's not feminist, it's just that we men are not strong in this area.

Imprisoned? Because they did crime? yep, like feminism pushes defensless men into criminals. Well, sometimes some women do, but I think there is also the other way around, or women doing something to protect their BF or husbands and end up doing jail time because of him.

Now, some women might go too in favour of womens over men, as in history men has pretended superiority towards women. But I hope we learn to live together and work to build a society that appreciates the difference between the sexes and improve.

Answer 3

Of course feminism is not about "equality" and never has been.

You overlooked what, in my opinion, is the most obvious and flagrant inequality, reproduction.

If a pregnancy occurs, the woman has four choices.
1) She can have an abortion;
2) abandon the newborn child legally with no questions asked;
3) have the child adopted by others (if she can keep it a secret from the father) or;
4) keep the child and demand payment each month from the father, ostensibly to support the child but without accountability or without right to have input into the child's life and environment.
(There is also paternity fraud where a man who is unrelated to the child is still forced to provide support money to the mother but is less common than the others).

His options are .... none.

He is forced by law to abide by her decision.

And feminists argue that this is fair and equal, substituting emotion for common sense.

Any who would argue that feminism is about equality is either demented or unintelligent.

EDIT for KA1227:
Biology can never be the equal but in the US, LAWS can, and according to the SCOTUS, MUST be equal. There is nothing tying either parent to the baby after birth EXCEPT law and yet only the mother has the legal option of walking away or staying in the child’s life. She even has the legal ability to keep the baby but prevent the father from being a full and equal parent.

What is it about biology that creates the ability for the mother to abandon the baby but not the father?

Which biological function forces a man to pay the mother of his child solely for giving birth?

When society has laws that treat women and men differently, especially when they are identically situated, the law is a joke. It is the same reason women are given lighter sentences for crimes, the same reason women are not expected to give their life to defend the society they are better treated by, the same reason women are allowed many more rights and privileges with far less responsibility than men. The answer is that in the “free world”, women are spoiled, unaccountable and irresponsible. They need fewer rights and more responsibility in order to be equal.

As far as socialist programs such as WIC are concerned, the “rightness” is debatable. Since society had nothing to do with the woman who made the decision to get pregnant, I do not believe society should be forced to pay for her maintenance during the pregnancy that was solely the result of her bilateral choice. She is given special treatment solely because she is pregnant and female.
This is one of the reasons women can never be taken seriously when they claim “equality”; they refuse to stand on their own two feet while they are part and parcel to forcing men to do so. It is highly hypocritical and extremely offensive to those of us who are expected to accept unequal treatment and be told it is “equality”.

Edit, KA, It is "Women, Infants and Children". I understand the intent of WIC but the application is not what was intended and is just another socialist program that funds (primarily) women's choices (all told, there are 77 of these programs, from giving cash to those like WIC).
And, yes, I have determined that these programs are well-intentioned but sexist as well as socialist and administrated so badly it is not what was intended nor what is advertised.

Answer 4

Feminism is about power. Women in the US had equality by law 40 years ago. Modern Feminism is about women gaining power over men. They want more power and no matter how much they have, they will always crave more.

Answer 5

You are absolutely correct. Feminism is NOT about gender equality. Feminism is about ending the degradation and subordination of women. As for concepts of equality, feminisim really is about equity (balancing the needs of one against the needs of the other). Feminism is about getting the needs of women on the table for negotiations with men.

When I see women saying that they are feminists but they refuse to speak up against women's degradation, subordination, or equitable treatment...I become aware that they do not understand what the feminist movement was about in the first place. They are not feminists, they are something else. Again, feminism is about WOMEN, not men.

Answer 6

Feminism has become a money making machine that strived from its original intent, to make the sexs equal. Now feminist groups need to give women the illusion that they are victims of sexism and discrimination in order to keep themselves financially secure and ensure that they have a political arm to muscle the politicians in their pocket.
Not that sexism and discrimination do not exist against women but you are correct in the fact that feminist groups refuse to acknowledge the inequalities men have against women, particularly in divorce and DV charges. Feminists do not want equality because if they had it it would eliminate the victim mentality that goes hand in hand with the ideology.

Answer 7

Those are all important social issues, definitely. I guess the issue is, to discuss those issues doesn't necessarily require any sort of analysis regarding gender. For example, when feminists speak of violence against women, they're concerned about it because it has historically been used as a tool to oppress women. When men get assaulted, is the main motivation the man's gender? Is it a way to put him in his place, to show that he's a lesser being because he has a penis, etc? When discussing various crimes, one needs to look at motivation first and foremost in order to find a solution. A lot of issues men face don't have anything to do with sexism against men, rather, their root causes vary (poverty, lack of institutionalized mental health care which "creates" homeless people for lack of a better term, valuing violence, etc). It's not to say that feminists don't care about these things - after all, we all have fathers, brothers, husbands, whatever, whom we care about - it's just that those issues can't be analyzed in the same way that some women's issues can.

Answer 8

Oh please! Did you read these stats somewhere or did you spin them yourself? Lets just hit a couple. How about the dying earlier...want me to play God and change how hormones affect humans? How about losing children and homes in a divorce... I don't know about you and your buddies, but EVERYONE I know who has kids, the Mom is the primary caregiver. So if she cares for the kids, why shouldn't she have them and a house to raise them in? How about the arrested and imprisoned part.... you do know that because of our society and testosterone, men are more violent than women, don't you? Some of your so called stats are just made up. do you know that when a new drug is tested, it is usually tested on men and that info is applied to women? Even though many drugs effect women differently? That women often go undiagnosed with heart attacks and other serious ailments because doctors say it is just a 'hysterical female'? And yes, I am a stay home mother because my hubby and I want the kids raised by us, and not daycare and he can make enough to support us all because men get paid more. You know what Feminism really is to most of us? Treat us as human, not women, pay us the same amount for the same job. don't look at which restroom we use when it comes time to promote. It is about equality, not about catering to your prejudices!

Answer 9

Ok, Phil I have to jump in and say -
reproductive rights are not equal...they will never be equal as long as men and women have biological differences.
You men are simply going to have to accept that at some point.
We are back to equal is not the same thing as identical.
And "fair" might mean what you guys call "special consideration" because of gender. For example, I used to work for WIC. Why is there a food program for women, but not men? Pregnancy. Is it fair and appropriate to offer low income women nutritional support during pregnancy? I sure hope so.

Oh, and to address the larger question... there are some men's issues that I support. I am just learning how the men's activism differs from feminism in its political approach. I hope y'all will grant me the grace of a learning curve here.

Here's the lesson I have taken from the past couple days of participation on this board:
Once we stop arguing and defending ourselves, we can study the actual ISSUES, and there's hope for making progress toward fair laws that provide for and protect EVERYONE.

EDIT: Phil, I wanna remind you that I SUPPORT a reasonable opt-out waiver for men who don't want to be parents. Not to mention proper eduction that would help prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place.

As for WIC, you need to step out of attack mode for a moment to understand the global implications of providing nutritional support and prenatal care. It REDUCES health care costs for the *baby.*
But you already have decided its bad, wrong and unfair, so I'm not wasting my time connecting the dots for you.
Please re-read my third paragraph.

Answer 10

If you think that there are issues in gender quality that are not being addressed, you need to bring them to the table, and I assure you that most feminists will listen to you with open ears and hearts. The fact is that there is a *lot* of injustice in the world. And we're all just individual humans, and we are doing the best that we can. And I for one trust that there are other good people who will pick up where I'm leaving off and fight the battles that I simply don't have time to fight.

To insinuate that we don't care about equality is disingenuous and unproductive. If you've been reading anything that we've been discussing at all, you would see that we care very much about equality, in fact it is the entire purpose of this movement (and the fact is that a lot of men's issues are also discussed on this forum, like the rape of males and violence against men, and these are just recently). The vast majority of us aren't here to drag men down, and if you don't trust us enough to bring these issues to the table without accusing us of things... well, how are we going to have any kind of useful discussion to actually *fix* these problems?

We are very much willing to help in men's fights for the problems that plague their own gender. But you have to realize that our problems are valid too, and we have our own battles to fight. What we really need is for all of us to *band together*, not to bicker amongst each other. All that's happening with these pointless accusations and arguments is the breeding of more and more distrust and hatred.