It Always Seems Like A Lost Cause...
Both our sides are the type who will agree to disagree, so what's the point in making these response articles? I think it's got a lot to do with representation. Yes! Representation! That is one of the biggest issues feminists face. They feel as if women and other marginalized groups have little representation, but yet I see them getting so much of it and being called "strong" for sharing whatever it is they decided would be a good sob stor--oops, inspirational piece! But what about the other side, I ask? What about the women against feminism? Where is our representation? When celebrities come out and say they are against the movement, they get called out for it. Women, in general, get called out for not being feminists, because how could you be opposed to equality, right? I mean, feminism totally calls for equality. How couldn't it? What with bunching up all men into one group and saying they're rapists or oppressive. Sounds like equality to me! It's normal for men to be against feminism apparently, but to be a woman against feminism, you must be absolutely stupid! How could you not want equality for the very gender you were born as?! Well, as someone who is very much against feminism, here's my take on the following article.
Well, the first thing you're going to see is a picture of Lena Dunham. Such a great feminist icon.
"As a staunch feminist...I have a really difficult time understanding why so many people refuse to identify as feminists." I can only speak for myself, but the reason why I am personally against feminism is because although it's supposed to be this all-inclusive movement, it seems like men are constantly being blamed for the dumbest things. I mean just look online and you can find thousands of ridiculous feminist articles and videos. I also think a lot of it has double standards or two-sided problems where no one ends up happy. For example, virginity. Some feminists say virginity is a social construct that shouldn't matter and others say, virginity is something you need to protect. Which feminist opinion is right? Or are they both right? It doesn't seem to matter anymore, because in the end one side is unhappy and complains. I also think feminism brings up a lot of non-issue issues or tries to use surface evidence to justify the oppression of women. This next reason for me not being a feminist is more of an opinion, but feminists are delusional. If you give a feminist lemons, she'll squeeze the lemons in a man's eye, because he stare raped her. Perhaps, this is just the radical feminist, but isn't that the feminist you see more often? I wish there were more Christina Hoff Sommers type feminists, but there aren't. If they were more like Sommers, I'd probably consider myself a feminist. Might I also mention, feminists like to complain about things that occur in 3rd-world countries, but they don't actively go out there. They don't make that a bigger issue than the 1st-World feminist problems. When I heard air-conditioning was sexist I nearly gagged. What has this world come to where anything can be considered sexist?
"According to a 2013 HuffPost/ You Gov Poll, about 82 percent of Americans believe in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes, but only 18 percent of Americans actually identify as feminists." Ah, so being the minority and all, you guys have got to shove your feminist propaganda down our throats every second of the day. I don't know if it's because I'm so interested in this at the moment, but I can't look at anything now without thinking What Would Feminists Do (WWFD)? It's mostly because I like to be funny and act like a feminist for a day, but if only 18 percent of Americans are feminists, then why do we hear about it SO much?! Look at this situation using 100 people. 82 people agree with you. Out of these 82, only 18 percent label themselves feminists (that's about 15), but you all apparently stand for the same cause. That should still make you happy. We may not all label ourselves the same, but again, I really think it has to do with what you associate a feminist with. I think a lot of people realize that feminists have got a lot of problems within their own movement in terms of what they believe and fight for. Sure, you can use the dictionary as rationale, but that doesn't mean your movement hasn't evolved into something more. But just to make sure you don't use the dictionary as rationale again, just remember some of the words can trigger people (I'm personally triggered by the word droll), some of them aren't intersectional, and I mean come on, the patriarchy!
Well, the first thing you're going to see is a picture of Lena Dunham. Such a great feminist icon.
"As a staunch feminist...I have a really difficult time understanding why so many people refuse to identify as feminists." I can only speak for myself, but the reason why I am personally against feminism is because although it's supposed to be this all-inclusive movement, it seems like men are constantly being blamed for the dumbest things. I mean just look online and you can find thousands of ridiculous feminist articles and videos. I also think a lot of it has double standards or two-sided problems where no one ends up happy. For example, virginity. Some feminists say virginity is a social construct that shouldn't matter and others say, virginity is something you need to protect. Which feminist opinion is right? Or are they both right? It doesn't seem to matter anymore, because in the end one side is unhappy and complains. I also think feminism brings up a lot of non-issue issues or tries to use surface evidence to justify the oppression of women. This next reason for me not being a feminist is more of an opinion, but feminists are delusional. If you give a feminist lemons, she'll squeeze the lemons in a man's eye, because he stare raped her. Perhaps, this is just the radical feminist, but isn't that the feminist you see more often? I wish there were more Christina Hoff Sommers type feminists, but there aren't. If they were more like Sommers, I'd probably consider myself a feminist. Might I also mention, feminists like to complain about things that occur in 3rd-world countries, but they don't actively go out there. They don't make that a bigger issue than the 1st-World feminist problems. When I heard air-conditioning was sexist I nearly gagged. What has this world come to where anything can be considered sexist?
"According to a 2013 HuffPost/ You Gov Poll, about 82 percent of Americans believe in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes, but only 18 percent of Americans actually identify as feminists." Ah, so being the minority and all, you guys have got to shove your feminist propaganda down our throats every second of the day. I don't know if it's because I'm so interested in this at the moment, but I can't look at anything now without thinking What Would Feminists Do (WWFD)? It's mostly because I like to be funny and act like a feminist for a day, but if only 18 percent of Americans are feminists, then why do we hear about it SO much?! Look at this situation using 100 people. 82 people agree with you. Out of these 82, only 18 percent label themselves feminists (that's about 15), but you all apparently stand for the same cause. That should still make you happy. We may not all label ourselves the same, but again, I really think it has to do with what you associate a feminist with. I think a lot of people realize that feminists have got a lot of problems within their own movement in terms of what they believe and fight for. Sure, you can use the dictionary as rationale, but that doesn't mean your movement hasn't evolved into something more. But just to make sure you don't use the dictionary as rationale again, just remember some of the words can trigger people (I'm personally triggered by the word droll), some of them aren't intersectional, and I mean come on, the patriarchy!
"1. Feminism = Gender Equality"
Umm....not quite! Again, lumping all men together and calling them rapists who can't control themselves with things like "Teach Men Not To Rape" shouldn't be considered equality.
Apparently, teaching women precautions is bad. Look, if you're going to teach men not to rape (because they're all just born rapists. Gosh, men are the absolute scum of this earth), then likewise you teach women how to protect themselves in case they are ever in the situation of potentially getting raped. Rapists are not raping because rape is okay. Almost everyone knows rape is wrong and if you're doing such an action, at that point you are no longer sane. Rape is rarely ever about sex, it's more about control or dominance. The thought of dehumanizing another person makes rapists excited. It's not something a normal person does. So let me put this situation in front of you. Let's say there is a boy named Bobby and a girl named Melissa. Melissa is never taught how to protect herself from being raped. Now Bobby after years of being told his gender is sick and perverted and just born rapists (I'm sorry for the over-exaggeration, I truly am, but if the feminists take over I'd see that as plausible). Now Bobby is told not to rape, but he doesn't care. He sees Melissa and Melissa looks like an easy victim. Bobby rapes Melissa and because she didn't know any precautions she couldn't have helped herself except perhaps struggling by kicking or punching. Sadly, this will become all too common if we cease to teach women how to protect themselves. Bobby is obviously at fault here, but it would have been great if someone had taught Melissa a thing or two before she stepped out into the real world. No one can be in a safety bubble forever, so it's good to be cautious. It's not wrong, but I guess it's just the patriarchy sticking its nose where it doesn't belong. Let's say Bobby was a very polite guy, not sick in the head like before. He was taught to not rape and understood completely what consent was. Let's say Melissa consents (verbally or nonverbally. Yes, consent can be nonverbal. I know bizarre, isn't it?!), but the next day she regrets it and says he raped her or pressured her into it. Is that rape? Apparently, yes, but in what world is that gender equality. How is that fair to Bobby? Regret rape? Give me a break? If you never told Bobby to stop what he was doing or told him you were uncomfortable, how would he have known? It just seems like men lose in the end. It needs to be fair from both sides. It's not just rape either. I'd say the fact that the following statistics are rarely addressed by feminists shows a discrepancy in this "gender equality" business:
I mean, such a patriarchal society, am I right? Definitely catering to men above women. I'd also like to mention feminists, that gender equality isn't about what you think is sexist. A lot of people see the things that you think as sexist *cough* gender roles *cough* as merely another aspect of life that they enjoy. A lot of women enjoy the idea of your typical 1950s relationship. There is nothing wrong with that, that's what you're movement is about, right? Respecting everyone's opinions and lifestyles? Well, then, why can't you accept mine?! Why can't you accept that I don't agree with you? It doesn't make sense. Sure, I don't agree with you either, but as Evelyn Beatrice Hall once said "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." Yet somehow, free speech is hurting feminists? And it's only if they don't agree with what you're saying. Free speech for something they stand for is great, but if you start giving opinions like mine, expect retaliation from them.
"Feminism is by definition, 'the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.' So feminism is just another word for gender equality." As I mentioned earlier, feminists love to whip out the dictionary definition of feminism, not realizing that feminism has become more than that. I mean they have different sects (and way more than the ones mentioned in here I'm sure) for crying out loud. Sure, the dictionary definition may be the foundation of your movement, but that's exactly why it's faulty. It's gone so askew from what it was originally meant to be in my eyes, that all it's become is a joke now.
"2. Feminists Don't Hate Men"
If you don't hate men, then why do you say they're oppressing you? Why do you say there is a patriarchy that won't let you get far ahead in life because it caters to men? Why is there mansplaining and manspreading? Why do you blame men for everything? I mean the list could go on. Ever heard of the SCUM Manifesto, that's misandry at it's finest. Now, I'm not saying all feminists are misandrists, because that's obviously not true, but their is definitely a common level of hatred towards men, because hey they're just that oppressing! It's not to the point where they completely hate men, but when they're classifying men as sexists for simple things like holding the door, then you have to ask yourself, "What exactly does this movement feel towards men?"
"Plus, it doesn't even make sense, many feminists are men." For context, everything she said before that particular sentence was just a way to justify how she doesn't hate men, because she's been inspired by them and she has male friends and the likes. So why is it when someone says they're a non-feminist you mark them as being misogynistic??? As for the quote I picked out, it has no logical standing. Hey, my movement is justified because people from the very group we call out for oppressing us are in our movement. You guys are for gender equality, right? I mean not having any men in your movement just because it's called FEMinism would be ironic, wouldn't it? That just sounds to me like someone was stretching a little too far. Still think feminists don't hate men in the least bit, check this out.
"3. Feminists Don't Think Women Are Better Than Men."
But by gosh, wouldn't it be great if they really were! If there was a "matriarchy" instead of a "patriarchy," I feel like feminists would stop whining. I don't think many feminists really think this and I don't think people associate feminism with women being better than men. Personally, that's not something that crosses my mind. What I think is that feminists are trying to take away what men already have. They want to call it equality, but it's really just special privileges that they're asking for. I'd like to put the gender wage gap into this context. Now, I'm sure if some feminist out there sees this, they'll think this is crazy, but read this article by Milo Yiannopoulous, get triggered because he wants a wage gap (only so you stupid people see why it's a fallacy), and then let that last two lines sink in: "There's no reason men and women should be paid the same, when they don't work the same. Food for thought." Take that into consideration with the whole women-aren't-better-than-men thing. Why do you want people who aren't working the same job at the same effort to be paid the same amount of money? That's what communists do. You know what sucks about that type of system. People become lazy. If they know they're being paid the same as everyone regardless of how hard they work, why would they even bother? The guy who works the graveyard shift should be paid the same as the girl who works the morning shift? I think not. Honestly, this should be a meritocracy, but if that were the case and this supposed wage gap actually became true (let's say women didn't work as hard as men), then what would the feminists do? Cry, systematic oppression even when this time they know it's all based on a multitude of factors??? There is no pleasing these people. If women were paid more than men would it finally make you all happy??? Probably not. To me, feminism seems to be a cycle of problems. Once one problem is resolved, they take a step back, look at the picture, and nitpick at another minuscule detail they don't like. I know it seems like I'm not talking about the problem at all with number three, but I'd like to say again, I don't think many people see this as a problem with feminists, and honestly, I see it more as you want women to have equal standing, but when they do it's suddenly "not enough."
The author of the article goes on to say, "I mean, hello, Emma Watson definitely seems nicer than Donald Trump." Not sure, if that was added as comedic relief, but it was a bit contrived. That's also really just a matter of subjectivity. I mean, there are tons of people who like Donald Trump, so I don't see what this point here was supposed to be?
"The goal of feminism is not to advance one gender more than the other--it's about campaigning for women to have access to the rights and opportunities that the majority of men have never had to think twice about." Yeah, but like I basically said earlier, I don't think you guys would have so much of a problem if that were to occur. I couldn't imagine you guys suddenly becoming men's rights activists in order to stabilize the opportunities and make them equal once more. I can imagine a feminist article entitled "Why are men intimidated by women's opportunity?" and me face-palming myself because it infuriates me. That being said, I love what you guys are doing when you put it simply like this, but I hardly ever see you guys really campaigning for it. I am someone who seeks out feminist and social justice accounts on Twitter and from what I mostly see, the majority of what is mentioned in these accounts is slut-shaming, rape, body positivity, and gender roles. There may be your occasional, women can do this just like men tweet, but from what I've observed it's not to often that those are posted. So it just makes me wonder, what is this movement really about and why are the little issues being brought up rather than the bigger issues that we do face in 1st-world countries? I know that I, myself, living in the 1st-world have not directly faced any problems because of my gender, but I am willing to learn from others what possible problems there are and by using logic and reasoning, I can decide for myself whether it truly is an issue or a non-issue.
She then adds at the end of this third point, "We would, however, appreciate it if more men were on our team." Feminism is about equality and I think one of the biggest things about being equal means everyone can have their own beliefs. If so many men aren't in your movement, then deal with it, everyone has different beliefs. It's not some trend people are trying to pick on, although, you guys do seem to market it that way. Let people do whatever they want. Whether they are a feminist or not isn't your problem.
"4. The Term "Feminist" Isn't Just For Women"
Yeah, we all know about male allies, but there are feminists who don't think men should be included or don't like the idea of male feminists. It actually makes sense, I mean as I mentioned earlier, there are so many different sects to your movement that it only makes sense there would be a feminist sect that is strictly all women. Now, I know you guys love to pride yourself in intersectionality, but #NotAllFeminists, right? Also, I really don't think when you're blaming the patriarchy and saying masculinity is somehow toxic, that it's really such a safe environment for a male. If women need safe spaces, then men need them, too! I feel as if a man in the movement won't be as appreciated and will be fed a bunch of lies about his gender causing him to feel guilt because of something he can't control. So sure feminism isn't just for women, but take into consideration also how it makes men feel and then apply that to why there aren't a lot of men in your movement. Maybe then it'll make sense.
"Perhaps due to the fact that the term "feminist" contains the word "fem," a lot of people seem to think it's off-limits to dudes." Sure, that's a good enough argument, but I think it has more to do with what your movement advocates rather than the movement itself. If the men in your movement are fighting your stupid "gender roles" then I don't think they'd care about it being called feminism. If guys aren't in your movement, it's just because they don't want to be.
"In fact, feminists like myself love it when men refer to themselves as feminists, because the feminist movement is not meant to encourage an 'us against them' mentality." First off, all you male allies out there, get ready to be cucked (just kidding, but watch the following video if you want a good laugh).
Aside from that, since we're talking about our feelings towards men who refer to themselves as feminists, here's my opinion on that. No. If a man referred to himself as a feminist, I wouldn't love it, I'd give them all the stuff I'm putting in my article and then some and afterwards ask them if they were still a feminist. Depending on their reaction, then I'd just have a tolerance level. There are a lot of feminists at my school, so I just tolerate them unless they are so far off, in which case I just laugh while quietly telling myself "life will be better someday." Of course, I can't stop people from believing what they believe, I can only try to convince them. Just know, if you're a male feminist...I wish you luck.
As for feminism not teaching an "us against them" mentality, if that were really true we wouldn't be creating a division between genders. Not just boy and girl, but everything else on Tumblr, too. We create a division between girls and boys and transgenders and people who don't follow the gender binary, etc. We create division as if one group doesn't understand another and we always make sure men are the most privileged, because privilege is totally based on whether you have a dick or vagina or if you're comfortable with the gender you were born as. That is only creating division not this intersectionality that feminism is supposedly trying to encourage. How is division not creating an "us against them" mentality? If you keep telling women they're oppressed and that men are privileged, don't you think some resentment would form? What comes with resentment? Rebellion. We already see it in slut walks or protests held by feminists, so who's to say it won't get worse over time?
"5. There Are Many Types of Feminists"
Well, either she's going to talk about all the sects I was talking about or she's going to use the #NotAllFeminist logic. I mean if men say #NotAllMen they say it's a problem, but they do the same thing. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but don't be a hypocrite.
She uses a gif of a Muslim girl who says, "Some might say there's nothing inherently liberating in covering up, just as there's nothing inherently liberating in wearing next to nothing. But the liberation is in the choice." First off, the use of the Muslim girl is obviously calculated. She wants to show the intersectionality of the movement, but I always think that's so contradictory. If you've ever noticed with Islam, the whole religion is very oppressing what with veiling, the stoning of women who have been raped (and if they don't do this, these women are ostracized), underage marriage, and much more. However, feminists don't call this out because hey, that's their culture. They don't want to have to choose between the fear of becoming an "Islamaphobe" or getting rid of their intersectionality.
Anyway, besides the picture, what the girl is saying herself is once again a two-sided issue of feminism. We have feminists on one side of the spectrum saying it's better to cover yourself up from the oppressive eyes of men and we have feminists on another side yelling and shouting for the right to wear as little clothing as they please because our "patriarchal" society stops them. The last point of discussion is that choice is liberating. No one is telling you you can't dress however you want, the problem feminists face is not being able to take others opinions. I like to make it a point to tell my friend she's going to marry a man who wears chubbies--you know those short shorts for guys. She always says ew. Is that wrong? No. That is her preference. So feminists, great you now have choice, but apparently that is not enough. Yeah, I'll agree people don't want their stylistic choices questioned, but it's only human nature for others to point out what they do or do not like. If they point out what they don't like, then you have to respect that person's opinion even if it doesn't correlate with yours.
The rest of her point basically lists a bunch of different ways you can be a feminist and we totally understand that. What we want you to understand as people looking from the outside in is that feminists aren't letting their movement die down where it's no longer needed. If a problem is already solved, don't look for something else just so that it can stay inherently sexist or male-oriented or whatever other problem you want it to have. Don't do that. Again, #NotAllFeminists, but definitely plenty of you that support my argument.
"6. When You Say You're Not A Feminist, We Hear That You Believe Women Are Second-Class Citizens"
This is arguably the worst argument she has made! What she is basically telling everyone is that because feminists associate one thing with something else, it means we, too, need to call ourselves feminists as to not hurt their feelings? No. Want to know what I hear when someone tells me they're not a feminist? I immediately think they're logical and I don't have to censor myself, because of the PC Police. Feminists undeniably believe that women are second-class citizens or else they wouldn't categorize themselves as oppressed. You know who's oppressed? Second-class citizens! If you believe women are so strong, then how are they oppressed? How are they the second-class citizens you seem to claim they are because of systemic sexism? From the non-feminist perspective, when I call myself--no, when I label myself (because labels are very important to feminists)--an anti-feminist or non-feminist or whatever you want to call us, when I use that term for myself it is because I believe nobody is better than anyone else based on surface factors like gender. I base my feelings on you from what I know about you as a person. That being said, no one is second-class. They can get treated like a second-class citizen, in which case that's not good, but you should probably bring that up and fight against it depending on the context of the situation. With that being said, I'd just like to point something out that's really bothering me and is what I'm mostly getting from this thing I'm supposed to "understand." Just because someone says something that you do not like doesn't mean you get to misconstrue their words. Ask for goodness sake! It's not that hard.
"Saying 'I'm a feminist' is literally just like saying, 'I support the equality of the sexes.'" Gosh, darn it! I've been doing it wrong all this time! Shucks! See, I thought if I called myself a feminist I was basically indoctrinating myself into a cult. Hmm, funny how word and thought association works that way! You believe it's equality of the sexes and I think it's more along the lines of Jonestown. Wouldn't it be nice if we could just have a nice conversation about it so you could understand where the non-feminist community stands on this whole equality issue. Most of us are egalitarians, so we do support equality of the sexes, but that doesn't automatically make us feminists.
"When people (especially females) say they aren't feminists, it makes less than zero sense to me." Yeah, I know, it's very hard for feminists to think that women wouldn't want to engage in a movement that is directly geared towards them, but there is a little something called choice. If I and any other woman against feminism chooses to not be a feminist, that is our choice. We do not have to choose to believe in a movement we do not support just because the movement is specifically made for us. That's not how it works.
"7. Saying You're Not a Feminist Doesn't Mean You're Not Actually A Practicing Feminist"
What? Ok, the last one was pretty bad, but this one is even worse. Look, I think most people are very aware of what they are doing and what they aren't doing. When you're trying to find yourself in those very ripe teenage to early 20s years, you may not understand what exactly it is you stand for. Take me for example, I had no idea I was going to be a nonfeminist or anti-SJW (and the apparently coined term for it cultural libertarian lol). I had no idea I would be into politics or social issues. This wasn't who I thought I would turn out to be, but that's what's happened and I am still shaping myself. I don't really know who Bustle's audience is, so I can't have a clear-cut argument for this, but trust me if you say you're not a feminist, you're not a feminist. You may have a few feminist values, but that does not mean you're a feminist. It's like being liberal, but having some conservative values. That doesn't suddenly turn you into a conservative. I don't think you can really label yourself until you understand yourself. When you're all confused about your stance on something, you can't just say well I agree with most of these things so I must be a feminist. You have to explore other things when you're confused before settling for one specific label. That's something we all do and something we should do if we want to get to know ourselves better.
The accompanying picture to this is a quote by Emma Watson, the spokesperson for the HeForShe campaign: "If you stand for equality, you're a feminist. I'm sorry to tell you." Once again, they are just using the same excuse as the one up above. No, you aren't a feminist just because you believe in equality. Does that mean feminists are a part of the men's rights movement??? I would hope so, since they both believe in equality. I mean technically that means MRAs, feminists, and egalitarians are all basically the same thing, right? Why even have a fucking label anymore. Oh, wait, but that would defeat the purpose. Each of these groups has a different goal. Men's rights activists are specifically looking for the inequality faced by men (and please let's hope that they do not go the route of feminism). Feminists are specifically looking for the inequality faced by women. Egalitarians are people who look at everyone as equal and it is a movement that addresses all (REAL) gender problems. I say real in parentheses, because it seems like anything could be a problem now.
My teacher was talking about family's the other day and he said, "I believe in a very traditional family where the husband supports the wife and the wife takes care of the children. Both parents should do their fair share of work." He's basically presenting the model of the nuclear family, and of course, someone started complaining. The feminist in the front of the classroom, who is one of the students who constantly bickers with him, said, "Well, what if the mother is the one who works and the father stays at home." My teacher then says, "In my culture [he's from Cameroon], I am used to it being the other way around, but I believe that if both parents are doing their equal share of work and there is balance then it's fine. What I do not like is one parent doing all the work and the other one being lazy. That isn't fine." Yet even when he presented this one, they still kept interrogating him, making him out to be sexist. It was like they were trying to confuse him, so he would unintentionally give a sexist response. But see, this non-issue ended up taking fifteen minutes of our class time, because the feminists had a problem with his beliefs. Was what he believed a problem? No. Did it become a problem? Yes, the feminists in my class decided to make it a problem.
My teacher was talking about family's the other day and he said, "I believe in a very traditional family where the husband supports the wife and the wife takes care of the children. Both parents should do their fair share of work." He's basically presenting the model of the nuclear family, and of course, someone started complaining. The feminist in the front of the classroom, who is one of the students who constantly bickers with him, said, "Well, what if the mother is the one who works and the father stays at home." My teacher then says, "In my culture [he's from Cameroon], I am used to it being the other way around, but I believe that if both parents are doing their equal share of work and there is balance then it's fine. What I do not like is one parent doing all the work and the other one being lazy. That isn't fine." Yet even when he presented this one, they still kept interrogating him, making him out to be sexist. It was like they were trying to confuse him, so he would unintentionally give a sexist response. But see, this non-issue ended up taking fifteen minutes of our class time, because the feminists had a problem with his beliefs. Was what he believed a problem? No. Did it become a problem? Yes, the feminists in my class decided to make it a problem.
"If you want...any...woman in your life to experience full gender equality, then you're a feminist." I can just as easily say if you want any man in your life to experience full gender equality, then you're an MRA, but like I said earlier, that's not how it works. She keeps trying to use this argument that believing in equality immediately makes you a feminist, but there are different types of equality (and it's comparable to Animal Farm equality haha).
I think what feminists want is equality, but on such a larger level that they split it up into the so many intersectional groups they have. They want no one to be offended. That's impossible. As I said, they create issues out of nothing, so imagine trying not to offend anyone. The world would be filled with trigger warnings and safe spaces galore. Is that really the equality you want? Probably not. The equality I want is equal rights for all and equal opportunities. I briefly mentioned it in the beginning of the article, but I believe in meritocracy. I think we are heading in the right direction towards that, but with the feminist agenda we could destroy that. Here's an example of how. At my school there is an engineering program. They wanted to have a certain amount of kids and they wanted it to be exactly half girls and half boys. An overwhelming majority of the applicants were boys, but the teacher in charge put them on a waitlist, just in case more girls decided to sign up. I don't think that's fair. Why should something important like that be based off of gender? Because you want more women in STEM fields??? Obviously, if the girls at my school aren't choosing to take part in the engineering program they don't want to. You can't just force the boys onto a wait list!
After this, the article continues to try and convince you that you're a feminist, regardless just because you believe in equality, which I already explained was wrong.
So here are 7 things I wish feminists would understand about non-feminists:
1. Being against feminism doesn't mean we aren't for equality, it just means we don't like your propaganda and social agenda.
2.We'd really appreciate it if you didn't use the same arguments over and over again to justify how great you think your movement is, thanks!
3. Non-feminists hate it when feminists make big issues out of the smallest things.
4. It is a choice to be in your movement, we do not like it when you try to shove that choice down people's throats.
5. There are many types of non-feminists.
6. We think everyone is equal, which is exactly why we are not feminists. It is not to pretend like the problem isn't there, it is to demonstrate we are above it.
7. We do not hate you because we argue with you, we just hate some of your ideologies.
I think what feminists want is equality, but on such a larger level that they split it up into the so many intersectional groups they have. They want no one to be offended. That's impossible. As I said, they create issues out of nothing, so imagine trying not to offend anyone. The world would be filled with trigger warnings and safe spaces galore. Is that really the equality you want? Probably not. The equality I want is equal rights for all and equal opportunities. I briefly mentioned it in the beginning of the article, but I believe in meritocracy. I think we are heading in the right direction towards that, but with the feminist agenda we could destroy that. Here's an example of how. At my school there is an engineering program. They wanted to have a certain amount of kids and they wanted it to be exactly half girls and half boys. An overwhelming majority of the applicants were boys, but the teacher in charge put them on a waitlist, just in case more girls decided to sign up. I don't think that's fair. Why should something important like that be based off of gender? Because you want more women in STEM fields??? Obviously, if the girls at my school aren't choosing to take part in the engineering program they don't want to. You can't just force the boys onto a wait list!
After this, the article continues to try and convince you that you're a feminist, regardless just because you believe in equality, which I already explained was wrong.
So here are 7 things I wish feminists would understand about non-feminists:
1. Being against feminism doesn't mean we aren't for equality, it just means we don't like your propaganda and social agenda.
2.We'd really appreciate it if you didn't use the same arguments over and over again to justify how great you think your movement is, thanks!
3. Non-feminists hate it when feminists make big issues out of the smallest things.
4. It is a choice to be in your movement, we do not like it when you try to shove that choice down people's throats.
5. There are many types of non-feminists.
6. We think everyone is equal, which is exactly why we are not feminists. It is not to pretend like the problem isn't there, it is to demonstrate we are above it.
7. We do not hate you because we argue with you, we just hate some of your ideologies.
