Thursday, December 18, 2014

Reasons Why I Just Can't Support the Modern Feminist Movement

Several of my friends have been talking to me about gender equality and how they think I need to just stop the bullshit and admit I'm a feminist because I believe in so many things that are, in their words, "central to the very idea of feminism."



They tell me that "Feminism is not the enemy", and that just because the modern feminist movement is only advocating for half of the human race instead of advocating on behalf of everyone, organized feminism isn't actually doing any harm.  There are, they argue, a lot of true egalitarians who care about men and women equally in the modern feminist movement, after all.


And, they tell me, modern feminism is actually advocating for everyone, because when you solve the problems women face, everyone else's problems will also be solved as a side-effect.  There are no rational reasons to oppose feminism, they tell me.


Sorry, but to me that's wishful thinking.


While there are some small areas in which the problems faced by men, just because they are men, and the problems faced by women, just because they are women, overlap, the honest truth is that for the most part men and women face entirely separate issues, and solving the problems faced by women will do precisely fuck-all to solve the problems faced by men.  And you'll excuse me for saying that a political movement founded on and dedicated to the ideal of empowering women isn't the first group I'd turn to if I wanted to solve the problems faced by men.


And let's be clear about something.


Those loud, angry women who clearly and proudly hate men and who waste no time belittling, attacking, demeaning, and harming men in the name of feminism ARE feminists.  I don't care how many times you say "Well, they aren't true feminists" or "Not all feminists are like that."  They're the most visible members of your movement, feminists.  They are the public face of feminism and it is their toxic hate that is driving people away.


If you don't like the fact that people are looking at them and associating the reasonable feminists with the radicals, then maybe you should be more active in, oh, I don't know, shutting the radicals down.


To be honest, I don't think everyone in the modern feminist movement is corrupt or evil or untrustworthy or whatever.  But I do think that modern feminism has fallen so far off the beam that it needs a complete and total overhaul if its members continue to say that they are dedicated to gender equality.


No rational reasons to oppose feminism?


How about we start with the fact that, as I mentioned three paragraphs earlier, some feminists really do advocate the systematic death (or at the very least, mass castration) of the entire male gender, and the mainstream, moderate, reasonable portions of feminism either make excuses for these women at worse, and simply ignore, tolerate them at best rather than speak out against these bigots?


How about the fact that the modern feminist movement has a history of marginalizing women of color, transwomen, poor women, and any woman who chooses to be a stay-at-home mom rather than seeking out a career outside the home?


How about the fact that it has been absolutely proven that feminist academics have purposely distorted data in order to meet the ideological ends of the movement?  For example, one feminist sociologist who quoted a study on domestic abuse utterly ignored the studies findings that men were abused just as often by their female partners as the women studied were abused by their male partners.  And this was only one person; there have been dozens of similar cases.  By ignoring and covering up the truth regarding legitimate research in such a manipulative and cynical fashion, they not only have thrown doubt on the legitimacy of feminism, they've also dishonored themselves as scholars and scientists.



How about the fact that, even worse than the previous reason, on occasion feminist academics have simply fabricated studies whole out of the cloth.  The best example is the "Superbowl Rape Day" myth that claimed that more women were raped and battered on Superbowl Sunday than on any other day of the year.  When the facts of this myth were checked, it turned out that the "study" on which this myth was based was entirely fictional.  No such study was ever concluded.  In addition, when further investigated, it was found that the source of this myth was actually a feminist group in the Denver area, who apparently just made it up out of thin air.



How about the fact that feminists have purposefully impeded research studies that showed that feminist ideology had little to no relationship with reality?  They did this by harassing researchers, making death threats to both the researchers and their families, organizing protests, lobbying to have research funding cut in areas the feminists did not approve, and otherwise make things difficult for the researchers.  Studies into female perpetration of domestic violence and rape are particularly favorite targets for this sort of action.


How about the fact that, when they tried scaring off and interfering with the researchers mentioned in my last paragraph, and failed to keep the scientists from completing their study, they would then go into action to make sure the results of the study were either drowned out before it could reach mass media attention, or else was outright suppressed by legislation and public censorship?


How about the fact that feminists continue to spread myths and lies that even they know have been long shown to be false, despite the fact that they know damned well that what they are spreading is bullshit?  I'm talking about things like the wage-gap myth, or the "only 2% of rape accusations are false" myth, or the "women only batter men in self-defense" myth, or the "rule of thumb" myth.  They know that these things are utterly untrue and have been proven utterly untrue, but they spread these lies intentionally anyway because doing so helps the cause.  Even when presented with conclusive evidence that they are promoting bullshit, feminists refuse to back down from it.


How about the fact that feminists discuss boys as if they were animals in need of training, but speak of girls as if they were precious gems that need to be protected?  Girls are treasures, boys are a threat.


How about the fact that feminists abandon any pretense at fairness or equal treatment when it comes to the rule of law by advocating insane, discriminatory laws and practices that actively benefit women (and women only) and actively harm men (and only men).  They have pushed for laws that utterly remove Constitutional protections and void due process for men accused of rape or domestic violence.  (Note:  not "convicted of rape or domestic violence", accused.)  They advocate for laws such as the Violence Against Women Act, which not only treats men in a prejudicial and discriminatory fashion, it ignores the fact that men are the majority victims of violent crime in the United States.



How about the fact feminists claim that their movement is both a "woman's movement" and a "movement for gender equality" without any awareness of the inherent contradiction in those claims?



How about the fact that feminists claim that their movement is "the only equality movement we need," but when pressed to address some male-oriented gender issues, refuse to do so because "men should create their own movement to address those problems."  That would be the same movement they previously said was unnecessary because feminism was "the only equality movement we need."

How about the fact that, when men do go ahead and create their own movement to "address those problems", the feminists immediately label such a movement as misogynist, hateful, and harmful to women?



How about the fact that feminists constantly equate an opposition to feminism with an opposition to women, when the truth is that "feminism" does not equate to "women"?  (One is a political movement, one is a human demographic.)



How about the fact that feminists use obvious fallacy and bad logic to ignore any evidence presented that men are often just as oppressed in our modern society as women are, but in different areas and in different manners?



How about the fact that, most frequently, the response feminist give to honest criticism isn't an honest reply, but rather a shaming tactic meant to silence the critic without having to deal with the points they bring up?



I don't know... the more I think about it, the less I think feminism is salvageable.  It may be time for "rational" feminists to abandon the movement to the fringe wackadoos and start something new that isn't tainted by the sexist bullshit of the loud-mouth man-haters.



But I think I've shown that there are, in fact, rational reasons to oppose feminism.


And opposition to feminism isn't misogyny.  Its just opposition to feminism.

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