Honestly I feel like the issue here is that almost the entire "feminist" community is one giant echo chamber. Sure, there's a few well known cases of rape in the military. Of course, no one mentions the fact that men literally can not report being raped because of a combination of social stigma and a flawed definition of rape. And no one mentions that there was a whole series of cases where daughters reported being raped by their fathers recently. Their seventy to eighty year old fathers. The conviction rate on those is being absurd, considering each of the father's was proven impotent. Feminism is long dead and all that's left is a few women who feel that working for a loving us above them.
I'm sorry, but there are too many assumptions made in your comment. When you say, for example, that "no one mentions the fact that men literally can not report being raped because of a combination of social stigma and a flawed definition of rape", you are saying that first, Feminists like me, who are biologically male, do not exist or do not stand up for the rights of all people everywhere, and second, that we do not understand that women aren't the only ones who get raped. If you do believe any of those things, you have been misled. The internet is populated by loud, obnoxious people who will try to tell you that they are Feminists, but who simultaneously put down anyone who is different from them and trivialize the experiences of rape victims who aren't biologically female. I have had a couple of conversations with these same self-proclaimed "Feminists", one of which went as follows: Spoiler: Conversation with a so-called "Feminist" Me: "Cersi Lannister from Game of Thrones is my least favorite character. I've been waiting for her to get her comeuppance and be killed off." Woman: "Yeah, I've heard people say that. She sounds pretty terrible and probably deserves it." Me: "Like in the scene when her brother rapes her. I was waiting for that, too." Woman: "Wait, you wanted her to be raped? That's so terrible!" Me: "Yes, but not as terrible as wanting her to die, which you were fine with. Rape isn't worse than death, and insisting that it is essentially tells rape victims that they would be better off dead, which I don't appreciate." You see, I like Feminism. Feminism is the fight against Patriarchy, which is equally harmful to both men and women. To cite just one example of a way in which Patriarchy hurts men and women, men are set up on a pedestal and not allowed to show their emotions because then they would be perceived as weak which would invalidate their masculinity, while women are set below men and called over-emotional because they are seen as being the antithesis to strength, a perceived male quality. There are so many other ways in which Patriarchy hurts men as well as women. Put simply, when you pessimistically remark that Feminism is dead you are turning away from your only way out of a Patriarchal society, your only way to extricate yourself from a tangle of false assumptions and hurtful norms. You are also trivializing the experiences of biologically male rape victims; Patriarchy is the reason why those men are hurting. Most people don't like the way Feminism sounds; the word bothers them, mostly because of all the needless connotations that surround it. But if you want all sexes to be treated equally and you want to recognize that our society treats both men and women in hurtful ways, then congratulations! You have taken your first step as a Feminist, whether you identify as such or no. So many people have been falsely led to believe that Feminism is their enemy, when truly there are people who call them Feminists but who are rather agents of Patriarchy with little awareness of their own actions. Those people need not exemplify the best of us.
I despise what the word "feminism" because of what it has come to imply: misandry. Instead, I prefer "egalitarian".
I beg to differ. Dilly Star has said all I was going to on your assumptions but I will say this. Feminism to most is about equality for everyone. I push for equality on all fronts weather it be riding the world of Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Classism, Religious Zealotry or Nationalist Xenophobia. When you say that feminism is an Echo Chamber you are saying that all movements or fandom or any group of people really are only there worst in the said group. Not all bronies (I hope none) are the people who use the show to .... exploit younger people with the show. (Trying to keep this ToS Approved) Not all punk are Nihilists Drug Addicts you see asking for spare change in between their parents monthly money wiring. And not all feminists are the women who believe that we should run or social system like Bee Hives. (If you don't know, male "Drones" are used to procreate then tossed out of the hive left to die.) In fact, the majority of all of those are people who happen to be great people all working to unite the world and show that it's okay to be different and that you don't need to hurt others to better yourself. Philosophies of Tolerance, Unity, and Individuality. So no, I refuse to let others tell me that any group is an echo chamber. Because if they truly believe that, then there own clique and/or movements aren't free from the same ignorant judgement. And it's just not true. - - Auto Merge - - Just because others believe the term "Skinhead" means Nazi/White Nationalist doesn't mean that the Skinhead Movement started by Jamaican Immigrants and the U.K. Working Class both loving Ska and Reggae.
I've discovered that the answer to all of these social justice problems is misanthropy. All people suck, so why not just hate them all equally?
You didn't complete that thought. Also news flash, in America, which is the area relevant to me, skinhead does just mean Neo-Nazi white supremacist. This is all irrelevant anyway. Regardless of what you say, I still don't like the word "feminist" and will continue not to use it to describe myself. You can thank tumblr for that.
I have to let you know that America coined the term S.H.A.R.P. (SkinHead Against Racial Prejudice) the term used by Traditional Skinhead differentiate from the "Boneheads" (The term used for White Nationalist who pretend to be skinheads) stigma. And it is relevant because the when you base the entire group on it's vocal minority you allow others to stigmatize your beliefs and groups as well.
It must not have caught on then. I've never heard the term "bonehead" in any context besides a child-like way of calling someone dumb. They do that already, regardless of what term I use to describe myself.
It's also another reason they use it. SHARP has been around since the early 80's btw. Also does that make it right for people to judge an entire group by the extremes in a group, regardless if you believe that people already judge you?
Funny. I've been around since the late 80's and I mean no exaggeration when I say I have never once heard "SHARP" or "bonehead" until you posted it just now. It doesn't help your case against vocal minorities when you use a vocal minority to discredit a term that's widely recognized to mean "white supremacist". I honestly really do not care what other people think or do. I call myself an egalitarian because I choose to. I find it bewildering that a feminist of all people, who claims to support not only women's rights, but everyone's, would take issue with my choosing to use a term that is all-inclusive as opposed to a term that focuses on only one facet.
Well, sure, everyone's a Humanist in theory, but egalitarian is more a platform than a plan of action. Feminism is a call to action on a very specific issue, which matters because anyone on any side of any debate can claim to be a humanist or an egalitarian but Feminism fights a specific battle for specific rights and recognitions. Furthermore, you shouldn't let some website like Tumblr, filled with all the crazies that it is, inform your decisions about entire groups. Sorry man, but it's kind of like saying you prefer to believe that because that's just how you started out and you don't want to change.
Pretty much. Feminism as a movement has been ruined for me. Deal with it. Doesn't help that one of my best friends bit my head off and said I was part of the rape culture problem when I had the gall to say that a majority of people don't think rape is acceptable.
Sounds like you need to find better friends. And on the subject of all inclusive terms. Also two more things. One: Just because you haven't heard of it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And Two: One can be a feminist along side every other egalitarian ethic.
That's not a problem at all; it's not as if you're the first. I've met a lot of people who say that Feminism is pointless, or that it's been ruined for them, but those are the unhelpful people who only hurt the movement that has given me strength. When you say, "deal with it", I'd say that's exactly what I've been doing for years. And I'm sorry your friend hurt your feelings by ignoring what you really meant in favor of supplementing what he wanted to believe. That must really hurt when that happens.
She, but yeah. Please show me where I said it doesn't exist. I said it's not widespread or well-known enough to matter. As long as most people don't know there's a new term for neo-Nazi, you can't expect people not to refer to them as skinheads. She's a great friend. I just made the mistake of trying to talk sense into her when she was really angry.
The interesting thing is that "Skinhead" is the new term. Skinheads are jamacian but white nationalists changed the meaning like how fundementalist christians changed what christianity stood for. Sent from my LG-L38C using Tapatalk 2
I feel this is very much on topic. Because feminism gets the same stigma. Not only that, but just because a mass amount of people believe one thing doesn't make it right. So just because the world thinks Skinhead means Neo-Nazi doesn't make it right, nor does it make any sense when people believe the Feminist believe in Female Superiority .
Actually it does. Language isn't something that's set in stone. It changes as people's usage of it changes. So if the world thinks skinhead means Neo-Nazi, it does. An example of this is people have been using the word "literally" so much in the wrong way that it was actually given a secondary definition in the Webster's dictionary. Oddly enough, the secondary definition is pretty much the opposite of its primary definition. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally Would you argue that the well-known homosexual slur still means a bundle of sticks? Or argue that it doesn't mean cigarette in England? Different place have different meanings for the same word, and the meanings of words change over time. So it is and so it has always been.
