How has feminist propaganda shaped your thinking?

Question

For example, I find myself still suspicious of men--I mean, as in strangers on the street. When I stop to ask myself why, I realize it's because of the feminist propaganda that every man is a potential rapist.

Keep in mind I was born in the 70s, so I grew up hearing all this nonsense.

Answer 1

it hasnt changed my view. it just made me despise the propaganda more.

Answer 2

You're suggesting that the tables have changed and we're just not realizing it, but I think we all do. It's just that not a good solution has be thought of. Should we keep letting this stuff happen? No. But someone still needs to come up with something that's going to work for everyone, or at least for most people. Simply wiping out what was originally established may have serious consequences.

Answer 3

It's feminist "propaganda" to say "every man is a potential racist"? Gee, as a pro-feminist myself I've never heard that one (or maybe I realized why it doesn't mean too much). However, I can understand given our society's structure of male dominance where the belief came from, and I don't need to be a woman to understand. I have walked down a street afraid of some of the men I've seen, not for fear of being raped but for other reasons. I also think "strangers" to feminism might not feel some women are justified to be afraid of a male stranger on the street as you suggest. I think your concern is not as much a fear of how feminism has shaped your thinking as much as you mean a heightened awareness, not that I'm trying to tell you how to think.

And by the way, anyone who said "every man is a potential rapist" is flat out wrong and grossly overgeneralizing about men. The idea borders on the militant form of feminism and may have come from the Freudian form of psychology or perhaps the evolutionary paradigms, and if so, doesn't fully explain human behavior, has little (if anything) to do with the "nature" of human beings, and simply doesn't tell you the whole story.

My point, in short: When you pass by that male stranger on the street, whether you were a feminist or not you'd probably feel angst.

Answer 4

The fact of the matter is, senseless violence and attacks DO happen to men and women every day. Nobody should be out walking in a seedy neighborhood alone at night. Or down an isolated alley. Or through a dimly or not lit park. Crime rates are higher than they should be. Men and women alike should be afraid of strangers. It's sad, yes, but it's the way we live.

Answer 5

Alexandra, my good woman.

For generations, women have felt themselves and been felt by others to need protection from the brutes of the world. This is part of the basis for chivalry, whatever other baggage it may have also carried. But it goes back to Roman times and even further.

Being wary of strangers on the street is generally a wise thing. Sensible precautions in the face of the realities of violent crime are not a sign of feminism propaganda.

Answer 6

You fear people on the street because its instinctual. Fear is what helped ancient human ancestors stay alive. It goes hand in hand with the Fight or Flight instinct. You may want to deny it and hide it and try to repress it, but we are primates and we are still limited by our instincts that helped us stay alive and allowed us to pass our genes on to the next generation. It just so happens that men seem to make you fear more because it was instinctual for us to fear something larger and stronger, men are biologically stronger than women, that is why you fear strange men on the street, not because of some feminist "propaganda" as you call it.


Mantis: Preach on sister friend!!!!! The real propagator of bigotry and xenophobia is religion, not to mention its glorification and rewarding of ignorance.

Answer 7

i think for myself, thanks.
i've never thought of every man as a potential rapist while walking down the street, but it *is* a good idea to think like that if deciding whether to go somewhere isolated with a man one does not know well, or when choosing a route to walk (dark alleys, not so great), or many other situations that could make one vulnerable. that's just common sense, not feminism!!

Answer 8

The majority of rapists are men. Guess it didn't take a genius to figure that one out.
An American is sexually assaulted every two and a half
minutes.
Sexual assault is down by 64% since 1994, yet there was
an average of 204,370 sexual assaults in 2003-2004.
About 44% of rape victims are under age 18; about 15%
are under age 12.
One in six American women has been the victim of an
attempted or completed rape.
About 10% of sexual assault victims are men.
About 2/3 of sexual assaults are committed by someone
who is known to the victim.
Since 2000, the overall number of sexual assaults dropped
by 22%, while the percentage of sexual assaults that are
reported to the police rose to an average of 42% in the
last five years, compared to 31% in the prior four years.

Answer 9

Lol.. I'm not stupid enough to let anyone else shape my thinking. I shape my own thinking.

It's wise to be suspicious of people that you don't know, particularly ones that can easily overpower you.

Feminism has made me grateful that I won't be forced to be miserable and in the house all day. It's made me so happy that instead of being useless and miserable, I can actually be who I want to be. I'm happy that it has granted me a voice, so that I can vote for the first time [I'm 18]. All I can do is be grateful for the powerful women that fought for me and all women of today.

Answer 10

Feminism hasn't made me the least bit suspicious of men — I don't trust anyone, anyway. It has only shaped the way I want to live instead of the way I want other women to live.

Answer 11

No, it's not. I'm a feminist, and I'm not suspicious of every man I meet on the street. Stop finding scapegoats to blame and look into yourself to realize why YOU are like that, because not all women are, and certainly not all feminists.