StarOcean said:
Louie said:
Well, so we basically agree but argue over semantics then? That's fine with me. I still wouldn't call myself a feminist because modern day feminism goes way beyond arguing for equal rights, as you pointed out in your manspreading example. It's not people like me who dragged the word "feminism" through the mud, it's the radical people who will define feminism as equality between the sexes and then say we can only reach equality by making laws against manspreading (happened in Madrid and Berlin, too) and banning grid girls in Formula 1 (thus, taking away women's right to choose their job, based on a political opinion).
I get what you are saying about real feminism but when those radical people make the laws (and at least in Germany, are among the heads of three major political parties which constitute 40% of the parliament seats), maybe the dictionary needs to change its definition then. Or we should politely ask the radicals not to identify as feminists, but that won't be happening I think.
And I absolutely think that "women should have the right to vote in a democracy" is a political view. It may be a well-established view that doesn't get debated anymore, but sure it is - it answers the question how our political system should work, after all. It also stems from the traditions of liberalism and social democracy (in Europe), which are two of the big political ideologies of the past few hundred years (besides conservatism). Of course, I was actually talking about radical feminism and if you want I can change my argument to this: "Radical, third wave feminism is a political view and shouldn't be treated as gospel or taught in schools, just as we shouldn't teach social democracy or communism or nationalism as being 'correct' in schools." But again, now we are arguing over semantics and definitions. It's a fun discussion, nonetheless!
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When people argue with me they often find I agree with what they say, it’s mostly how it is said or presented that bothers me. I believe I’m more reasonable than most may assume.
I agree with radicals making laws. A right wing equivalent of the feminist would be the NRA. Their platform of hating any and all gun reform (that likely would not affect them) makes them tear down even the most reasonable of proposed gun regulation. Making many pro-gun handlers look bad -even when studies show many gun owners are more than okay with reasonable reform. The radicals should not be making law, left/right -period.
I may not necessarily buy that view but I can respect it. As for schools teaching 3rd wave feminism and similar ideas, I agree they shouldn’t. Unfortunately though, things such as communism, facism, nationalism, etc will always have a bias due to teachers all being flawed. Rationale and independent thinking needs to be encouraged so that people can make their own conclusions.
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