Original post by Guills on wheelsI will read this tomorrow when I'm much less tired.
1)Being male, my opinion will never be as valid as either yours or any other female who adds to this discussion. However, from speaking to an awful lot of people about this, I pretty much disagree with everything you say.
2)Firstly, it's pretty poor of you to just list two people for radical feminism. You get nutjobs everywhere, and a fundamental part of feminism being pro-choice, I think you'll find the majority of feminists don't want you to have your baby in a test tube. Radical feminism however plays its part much like the green party or Left Unity do in politics; rather than being a feasible option they simply generate ideas and discussion in order to further the feminist cause.
3)You completely fail to mention intersectionality and the huge role that plays within feminism. You got halfway there with marxist-socialist, but so far, this post is awfully western-centric.
4)Also, a major criticism of liberal feminism is that it focuses on the individual and their responsibility to manage gender equality within a relationship. It's very heteronormative and individualistic. It attracts the white western moderate, perhaps the most dangerous demographic for the preservation of progressive feminism(?).
5)I really don't like the way you single out this Mary Daly for being really into ladies. What's that got to do with anything? Would you explicitly mention that someone is straight? No. Why do it if she's gay?
6)Okay. Porn. Basically, to an extent, yes, they are getting paid. it's the same with the criminalisation of prostitution; it's wrong. Where the porn industry doesn't work is the kind of sexual intimacy that is portrayed within which takes on a whole new sinister effect to it, for example, in the emphasis on youthful, almost childlike appearances among ambiguously consenting women. It's basically a legal fantasy about peadophilia. To a lesser extent, porn portrays the white, pure female as the ultimate symbol of beauty, which is quite discriminatory. Also, it's not always their choice, many in the sex industry are students who are desperate for cash. Don't be too quick to assume.
7)Men being at risk of low self esteem is bull****. Men aren't objectified and pressurised about appearance in the same way as women are. if you look at the typical male ideals for a woman it's normally white skin, big breasts and arse, and a small waist and a small weight. They are unrealistic and very very specific. There have been numerous posts on this forum about penis size; the almost unanimous verdict from women has always been that it doesn't ****ing matter. If it's existing at all, it's coming from men themselves. It's self imposed.
8)Plastic surgery is far, far more popular than injecting steroids. Sorry, but... no one does that.
9)I only got so far as work quotas. In short, what you describe is theoretically what's meant to be the case right now, but it clearly doesn't work. We have been socialised to see certain qualities in male and female job candidates regardless of their actual performance; this is perfectly apparent when you state that apparently mother nature forces you to only take certain roles in life. Only a third of MPs in cabinet are female; does that mean that men are naturally better at running a country? Really? Or is it, that, when selecting various politicians to rise through the ranks we already have an idea of who we want to run our country before they've even opened their mouth. Hmmm.
Anyway, good night. I'll be back in the morning to read this and get mightily ****ed off.