It's good to be a feminist

[Heathcliff]

I've seen enough internet rage of men saying feminists and SJWs are taking over the world.

I want this thread to be somehwere we talk about how it's good to be feminists.

I used to work in maths. I've seen frighteningly clever female mathematicians, and that made me disbelieve the idea that women simply "can't do things".

[Guest]

Hmm... Well, over the years a lot of "fake feminists" (that's how I call them) have appeared. These fake feminists are the ones who don't fight for gender equality, but rather to be superior to men, and that's misleading to a lot of people because they now think that a feminist is that, so they end up rejecting them instead of doing actual research.

 And yeah, it's good to be a feminist, I think everyone should be treated equally and without hate (like misogyny) or reject. Nowadays, I've seen a lot of men who over-sexualize females, and I've even seen some of them treating women as garbage or a sexual object, and I think that's kind of sad...

[sickprincess]

what a lot of people don't get is that feminists want gender equality, which is also beneficial to men! 

[SneezyKateM]

Exactly what sick princess said!  It makes me sad how strongly some people fight to keep women from being fully equal and being treated as well as men.  

It seems like a trend is starting, and I hope it continues in support of feminism.

[Shay]

On 9/29/2018 at 10:14 PM, sickprincess said:

what a lot of people don't get is that feminists want gender equality, which is also beneficial to men! 

True, but I think the term feminism can be misleading and maybe it's time to update the terminology especially in a way that would include all genders both within and outside of the binary? I remember asking someone once what you'd call it if you supported equality for people that are trans, NB, ect, and I was surprised when I was told that it was still called feminism. I mean I'm sure there are probably still good reasons to keep using the existing term, but feminism does give the impression that it's just pro women's rights.

[Yuurei]

Agreed! What a lot of men don't realize is that feminism isn't about giving special treatment to women or making them superior to men, but fighting issues that affect people of all genders! For example, one thing I'm really devoted to is combating toxic masculinity-- an essentially male issue that keeps men from making meaningful connections with each other. They become rigid, cold, angry, and aggressive as a result! And often, women suffer at the hand of these men enveloped in toxic masculinity.

Let men be affectionate with each other! Let men be open about their feelings with other men! It's devastating seeing how toxic masculinity is hurting EVERYONE.

[sickprincess]

On 10/8/2018 at 2:39 PM, Shay said:

True, but I think the term feminism can be misleading and maybe it's time to update the terminology especially in a way that would include all genders both within and outside of the binary? I remember asking someone once what you'd call it if you supported equality for people that are trans, NB, ect, and I was surprised when I was told that it was still called feminism. I mean I'm sure there are probably still good reasons to keep using the existing term, but feminism does give the impression that it's just pro women's rights.

that's an interesting point i hadn't really thought of! in academia we refer to feminism that centers on women of color, trans women and nonbinary individuals as "intersectional feminism" but most people just shorten it so it's hard to tell the difference. I think feminism gets confused with "white feminism" a lot, which isn't really feminism as much as it is white supremacy

[Shay]

5 hours ago, sickprincess said:

that's an interesting point i hadn't really thought of! in academia we refer to feminism that centers on women of color, trans women and nonbinary individuals as "intersectional feminism" but most people just shorten it so it's hard to tell the difference. I think feminism gets confused with "white feminism" a lot, which isn't really feminism as much as it is white supremacy

I had heard the term "intersectional feminism" before, but didn't really understand what it meant, so thanks for explaining that. However, even that term doesn't give the impression that it's inclusive of all genders (and I'm not sure if it's meant to?). I think anything that has "fem" in it is going to give the impression that it's only about women's rights. In the definition you gave you don't include men of color or trans men or people that are agender(some would say this falls under non-binary but not all agree), and I guess it excludes white people by design because there's normal feminism for that? I apologize if it sounds like I'm attacking intersectional feminism, but I'm just trying to get a better understanding of it.

I'm not really sure I have any better ideas for what a better term would be that would feel like it included all genders. Egalitarianism comes to mind, but that can refer to many things other than gender. Though the first time I heard it used was in the form of religious gender equality. So if a religion normally discriminates based on gender, such as orthodox Judaism, then an egalitarian denomination wouldn't.

[facet]

.

[Shay]

Well, as I said, egalitarianism can refer to many things, so it might not be the best thing when trying to talk about gender equality, but it was the only existing word I could think of that doesn't have any implications towards one gender or another in the word itself. Terms like Feminism and Womanism are probably always going to feel exclusionary regardless of whether they actually are or not. If egalitarianism doesn't work, then perhaps a new term needs to be created. Genderism doesn't work because that word already exists and is by definition transphobic. I hope someone better than I am can come up with something better that truly includes everyone.