I'm actually a big opponent of the word "objectification". It's being treated as something inherently wrong but there is actually absolutely nothing bad about it.

Sex and attractiveness are natural stimulants. People like their stimulants, be it food, games, drugs or just looking at a pretty sunset. Looking at an attractive person and getting your fill because you appreciate what you see is normal and healthy. Yes, you basically look at the person as if it is an object, a beautiful object that is fun to look at. But what else are you supposed to do? It's a stranger to you and you know nothing else but the pretty exterior. I see absolutely nothing wrong in looking at something pretty or even giving a compliment, as long as it's not too overbearing. If I see a hot girl and have a nice double take of what I just saw, what exactly am I doing wrong? What could I do better in that situation? Not looking? Should I ask for a date and send flowers before I appreciate the automatic and genetic reaction I get anyway?

There is nothing wrong with appreciating beauty. People watch porn for the same reasons as they watch regular movies, yet no one calls out on cinema goers as bad people because they objectify actors. I mean there are people who laugh at deaths in horror movies. They're basically objectifying the victims for their own pleasure. Same thing in porn. It's a visual medium that is supposed to show you fantasy. You're not supposed to think of them as actual people but rather devices to fulfill your fantasy.

Same can be said about prostitution. Yes, prostitutes are basically treated like objects by their customers but that is literally the point. There is not supposed to be a special interpersonal bond. It's just one person doing manual labor for money. Construction workers are treated like objects, farmers are, literally every job that uses manual labor is basically selling your body for money. That is the whole point of it.

I will be damned for being called an asshole for appreciating things for their purpose. We're not talking about daylight rapists, we're talking about people who are hardwired to react to stimulants and would never hurt another human being.

As for genderism, the issue I have with a lot of it is the method of trying to obtain equality. People focus on the differences and celebrate the differences, but then suddenly demand equality while still being treated differently. That's toxic and unhelpful in my opinion. It's not "we deserve equal rights despite being women", it should be "we deserve equal rights because we are all humans". I actually hate genders and think they have outlived their usefulness. "Being proud to be a woman" is not more or less "toxic" than "manspreading". Gender should have absolutely zero bearing on anything unless you're talking to a doctor and biological sex is important for treatment.

I don't like feminists who try to achieve equality by claiming women are special or in some ways superior to men. The word feminism is already counterproductive. It's about human rights, not female rights. Society needs to grow up to a point where gender does not exist and everything that plops out of a vagina will be treated the same. That includes "harmless" things like gendered clothing and toys. The differences between men and women only exist in the first place because society works hard to separate the genders as much as possible. Just like a lot of feminists are working hard to establish that women are different while at the same time demanding to be equals.

On a side note, that's why I also have absolutely no respect for trans people. Because you cannot transition between arbitrary concepts that you invented yourself in your head. And that's what genders are; arbitrary concepts that do not hold up to any scrutiny when you seriously think about it. In my book trans people are inherently detrimental to any equal rights movement because they celebrate differences that do not exist and do not matter.

You bring up good points and I can understand where you're coming from but ultimately we were born into a sexist, patriarchal society, at least in the states. What feminism does is to specifically look at the effects that sex and gender play with inequality and injust treatment of individuals. There are many different sects of feminism most recognize that gender is a social construct, just like race, but these social constructs have very real effects in the real world. To just flat out deny their importance and the role they play on the sole basis of them being socially constructed helps no one and furthers the problems people face because of them. A lot of sects feel that feminism will inevitably lead to an abolishment of the gender construct, which I'm in favor of.

I believe Jaicee's lesbian feminism is an offshoot of white feminism which is very problematic in and of itself. White feminism only focuses on cis white women particularly in the western world, thankfully it's on the decline. White feminism tends to lead to racist, sexist, xenophobic, and/or transphobic observations and conclusions. In contrast, intersectional feminism takes into account class, race, gender, age, disability, religion and creed and how they relate to one another when establishing and achieving political, social, and economical equality between the sexes.

As a trans person, I find that last paragraph extremely problematic. We are the ones who defy gender stereotypes and the traditional gender roles of society and bring into question what it actually means to be a certain gender. So I don't see how that leads to more traditionalist genderism.

I will disagree with the statement about transgender. In my opinion it's not a bold stance against gender stereotypes, but pretty much the opposite. It is very much defeatist in nature. Instead of trying to fight for the recognition of being themselves as the person they're born as, they try desperately to affirm gender stereotypes by changing their categorization to fit the boxes society has deemed them to be in. Transgender people basically say that it is impossible for a man to display female characteristics unless he changes his gender. That is extremely detrimental to the gender they were born with because it gives power to people who strongly adhere to gender stereotypes and affirm their believes that genders should be treated inherently different.

Since you seem to be a reasonable transgender person I will ask you the question that always burns on my mind when thinking about this topic. How do you define the gender that you are transitioning to? And why do you believe that that definition is impossible to apply to your original gender?

Modern humans have evolved beyond their physical limitations. Yes, society is still inherently sexist, but that doesn't mean it has to stay that way. I struggle to find a single positive aspect about that strict separation of genders, All I see is plenty of negative aspects, that you as a transgender person should be very much familiar with. It is a self imposed hard limit on humans to live to their full potential. Women should also be very much familiar with that hard limit. I myself find myself very much limited as a man. While I do reap the benefits of the male stereotype I am also very much boxed into that stereotype since I absolutely do not fit into it. I am limited in my freedom of expression and very much looked down upon by the majority of males for my expression of traditionally non-masculine interests. Now you tell me what's so great and beneficial about keeping us boxed in.

It seems you have some misconceptions about what it means to be transgender. To put it simply transgender individuals have a gender identity or expression that differs from their assigned sex at birth. You don't have to transition to be trans, some people can't transition due to medical or economical reasons and others just don't wish to transition. Transitioning itself also has various levels, for example, a trans man might just go through hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and not wish to go through top or bottom gender reassignment surgery and he can be perfectly fine with it. Likewise another might go through HRT and top surgery but not go through with bottom surgery. It's up to the individual to determine to what degree they feel comfortable and authentic with their external appearance. Even without medically transitioning a trans person can change various things about themselves like hair, clothes, pronouns and name to be more authentic to themselves.

There are many different identities under the trans umbrella, the ones we hear about most often is transitioned transwomen and transmen but there are others such as non-binary, genderfluid, agender, demigender, etc.

I'm a non-binary trans person my gender is neither male nor female. My gender expression is a mixture of masculine and feminine or straight up androgynous. So being who I am I can't really answer your questions because I haven't medically transitioned. The gender binary is pretty much bullshit to me but I do recognize that for other trans people it treats their gender dysphoria to medically transition to a male or female and look more traditionally masculine or feminine.

Feminism ultimately wishes to free individuals from the shackles societal gender roles and stereotypes has given us. Men and women can be liberated to be there authentic selves. Men can show emotions without looking weak and women can hold a positions of power etc. In feminism sex and gender shouldn't matter and it shouldn't be something that holds someone back from being who they are or want to be.

So hopefully you can see that neither "transgenderism" nor feminism puts people in boxes such as you say. We're striving for something better than what we were born into.

I kinda rambled on a little there so let me know if you need me to clear anything up.

Trump's boycotting of Omar/Tlaib visit to Israel is shocking.

What's shocking about it, I would say it's par for the course for Trump.  Of course he would do something like this because he's an idiot.  He never thinks things through and does stupid stuff on impulse. Its what makes him so endearing to his base and a complete idiot to everyone else.  Depending on how his base respond and the fallout he will either double down or walk back.  Bring the popcorn, he is pretty predictable in these scenarios.

Well because he crossed a line that even is called by pro israel groups undemocratic and by some as an attack on the 1st Amendment you would expect it from a Dictator and he probably is going to call him self a hero.

Anyway I am getting close to turning of my news apps because it is getting sickening.

The right-wing of the US becoming FAR more supportive of authoritarianism.

https://www.people-press.org/2019/08/07/republicans-now-are-more-open-to-the-idea-of-expanding-presidential-power/

An that view is also blatantly false as long as there will be elections and different parties. Because the first things a new president tends to do is nullify the executive orders of his predecessor. In other words, bypassing the congress would just result in a lot of back-and-forth and not really getting somewhere meaningful.

Also, the second graph is funny. You can clearly see that there was another president in the White House during the August '16 survey, as democrats were much more supportive to this idea than they did later on, while the republicans are much lower than they do under Trump. Although, it's pretty worrying that it's rising so fast, hopefully nothing comes out of it.

There is no line for Trump.  He doesn't view the president office like previous presidents, instead he views it like one of his business.  This is why him asking another sovereign nation to bar elected congress members never cross his mind on how stupid it is for the President of the United States to even consider doing.  Its this kind of dumb petty divisive mentality that he has shone before he ever got into office that make his base happy.  They see this as an improvement to the President office and will fight tooth and nail to defend what he does.  Of course that all goes out of he window if a Dem gets back the office and act the same way but for now its pretty much par for the course for this administration.  Everyone who would have told him this was a mistake have all been fired or quite.  The only ones like are the enablers or the ones who just shut up.