Feminism

It’s funny how, at the mere mention of feminism, some people automatically start squealing in fear at the imagined approach of some sort of big bad castrating lesbian mother-figure who wants nothing more than to lock them into concentration camps to die while she steals their women--oh and pee standing up, thank you, because that’s *such* a cool thing to do, really. Personally, I think that image has more to do with their own fantasies, but that’s just my take on it.

*sigh* Feminists do not ’hate’ men--hell, many of them *are* men. It’s not really all that difficult a concept to grasp. Women would like to be treated as human. In places where basic human rights are not accessible, many feminist organizations work toward bettering the lot of both men and women because, as any rational person will understand, ’women’s’ rights are essentially human rights: the right to life, the right to food, the right to health care and access to sanitation, the right to shelter, the right to education, the right to self-determination, etc. The term ’women’s rights’ exists because, in poor societies and classes, it is often the women who are deprived of these rights first, but it does not automatically mean that men have no right to these things or should give them up. At this level, we all are , or at least should be, feminists in that we promote human rights for all.

Only once people’s basic survival needs are taken care of can you address their social and economic needs. People need access to jobs and money to sustain their survival or they will slip into the first mode again. If one particular group of people is banned from or hindered in their attempt to work, we have a problem. If one group is discriminated against on the basis of something that does not have a bearing on their job performance, we have a problem. If one group is forced into particular situations without regard for their own preferences, we have a problem(and no, that doesn’t mean we should let serial killers have their fun. I’m assuming a certain level of reason from the people reading this). To be a feminist at this level means to be proactive in asserting a woman’s social and economic worth as a human being and perhaps, in the process, redefining what it means to be human, since the default has been ’whatever the men are like’ for centuries, and that simply isn’t accurate.

At the third level, we need to address human beings’ more abstract needs on a meaningful scale. This is when people can actually take on concepts and ideas and contribute academically. This is when theories regarding androcentric culture, phallocentrism, discrimination on the basis of sex, gender studies, etc. can be examined, debated, thought about, and so on. Feminism is a concept/area of study within which various schools of thought exist. At various times, various schools of thought will hold sway. None of these is defninitive and none of these really intends to be. Feminists at this level are people who examine the social and gender differences between the sexes, take on the definition of ’human’ at the purely intellectual level, as opposed to the practical, applied level discussed previously. The ideas expressed at this level are more likely to be radical than at the previous two levels and should not be misconstrued as fact. You wouldn’t read a scientific journal article describing the design of life-sustaining biospheres on Mars and start packing your bags immediately, would you?

Anyway, this sort of careened out of control and became a bit of a lecture...I only wanted to explain why it’s silly to assume that feminism is anti-men or harmful to women (unless you mean in the way abolitionists were bad for slaves’ productivity on antebellum cotton plantations!) or any such thing. Lunatics exist in every movement, extremists will show up and make life uncomfortable in every group (except maybe Quakers?? hmm)--it’s a pretty normal occurence and we should know better than to assume that they speak for all members of that group.

But seriously, why, oh why, would anyone care how somebody else pees?