Feminist Kiwis (not a honeypot)

[Ariel]

 

[on a serious note]

I'm a feminist. I don't really let the people on tumblr define my own politics. If people are confused because of tumblr I just tell them that I'm a second-wave feminist. Which isn't entirely true because I realize that race and socioeconomic factors intersect with sexism and I'm really big on environmental justice, but whatever.

It was literally only a couple generations ago that women were not able to vote, and I'm not really sure why a bunch of people today seem to act like it was ancient history. I do think we need to work a bit harder on calling out the crazy in our own movement.

 

[DirkBloodStormKing]

I'm a feminist, but more or less a libertarian feminist. I'm heavily cynical of both the second and third-waves of feminism (since it's pretty much left-wing crazies hijacking a movement that was aimed to give women equal rights to men and it is less of a woman's right's movement and more of another liberal/Democrat movement these days). I do believe that third-wave feminism has definitely isolated a lot of women (especially if the woman is conservative or right-leaning libertarian), because the intertwining of left-wing/Democratic politics and the feminist movement has pretty much catered the feminist movement to only give a shit about women if they are left-wing/liberal/Democrat/Marxist, which has really tainted the feminist movement.

 

[NG 070]

I'm a feminist, but more or less a libertarian feminist. I'm heavily cynical of both the second and third-waves of feminism (since it's pretty much left-wing crazies hijacking a movement that was aimed to give women equal rights to men and it is less of a woman's right's movement and more of another liberal/Democrat movement these days). I do believe that third-wave feminism has definitely isolated a lot of women (especially if the woman is conservative or right-leaning libertarian), because the intertwining of left-wing/Democratic politics and the feminist movement has pretty much catered the feminist movement to only give a shit about women if they are left-wing/liberal/Democrat/Marxist, which has really tainted the feminist movement.

This pretty much sums me up as well. I consider myself a feminist, but the third-wave has alienated me from openly identifying as such. For a variety of reasons (none of which I will get into here, because they're loaded subjects), because they shun and exclude anyone who doesn't match their arbitrary requirement check boxes, and -this is the big one- because I don't believe in tearing men down to build women up.

Absolutely any inequalities and issues concerning women can and should be addressed. But resorting to ad hominem and all the manner of tactics the third-wave feminists use isn't going to win people over or persuade them to look at the bigger picture where women are concerned. I get that for some, it stems from some deep, personal wounds. None the less, I feel we must work on building each other up, because division only breeds further hostility and nobody wins in the end.

 

[autisticdragonkin]

I think I would be considered a feminist because I am against the demonization of female gender roles in modern society

 

[RV 229]

I personally find feminism to be obsolete. There's no rights men have (in the U.S. anyways) that women don't, and the only "issues" feminists bring up anymore are just the result of people being assholes or doing things that are already illegal. I respect what feminism did in the past, but I see no need for advocacy of women's rights when women aren't lacking any in the first place.

 

[NG 070]

I think I would be considered a feminist because I am against the demonization of female gender roles in modern society

Same.

On a similar note, I hate that women who choose -choose- to be mothers are made out to be garbage by some third-wavers. There is nothing wrong with not wanting kids, but there's also nothing wrong with wanting to have kids, either. That's not getting into the whole "career mom vs. stay at home mom" debate, but that's an entirely different thread for another time/place.

 

[Magnum Dong]

I don't often openly identify as a feminist, but I generally believe in intersectional feminism.

Some feelings/opinions I have: Any feminism that tries to make blanket statements about "all women experience [x] in the same way" is bad feminism. Liberal/"white" feminism doesn't consider a broad enough range of perspectives and is really only useful for relatively unoppressed women. Radical feminism is too transphobic and sex-negative for my own comfort. I don't buy into the idea that anyone who thinks men and women are equal is a feminist by default. I don't think feminism should ignore the needs of people who don't identify with the label. Although I think feminism can and should be welcoming to the needs of men, I immediately distrust most vocally sex-positive male feminists. "Weaponized femininity" is a crock of shit which pretends conforming to traditional beauty roles is empowering, and it serves to allow women to praise themselves for doing nothing.

 

[melty]

it serves to allow women to praise themselves for doing nothing.

On that note, I really hate how some feminists try to push that anything women do with their lives is awesome and respectable. Awhile back there was some athlete who made a comment about "do-nothing bitches" and "instagram models," and a bunch of bloggers and instagram models got really offended about how that's putting down women and their careers need to be respected.
Sorry, it's just not. I think a lot of the "careers" these women choose are fucking jokes. Being an instagram model is doubly a joke. If you have a guy that sits around at home all day doing nothing but occasionally cleaning and posting on the internet he's correctly called a deadbeat hipster, but if you're a woman it's somehow a career worthy of respect. I think it's nice if you and your husband have that agreement and you're able to do what you want that makes you both happy, but I won't respect you as much as a woman who is an engineer, or a police officer, or really anything that isn't lazy as fuck. It's not the 1800s when people were milking cows and scrubbing laundry by hand, cleaning your two bedroom house really isn't a full time job and I know that your makeup tutorials aren't making shit (see foreverkailyn). But if you dare tell some bitch who's complaining about she never has any money to, you know, get a fucking job, it's antifeminist and shaming her sacred choices.

 

[WWWWolf]

I would have been a feminist 30-40 years ago when women were actually disadvantaged in Western society. I've be a feminist today if feminists cared about women who were actually oppressed, like those in the Middle East. As it stands I don't see how women in Western society need any more help so I'm not a feminist.

This has actually always been a really weird argument. The only people who actually care about the oppression of women in Middle East are feminists and feminist organisations working on those problems. They have a lot of work to do. Props to them. If you're really concerned about oppression of women in Middle East, please contribute to the organisations who do this kind of work.

As for me? I'd like to be realistic about what I can personally do about anything. I don't want to be a random raving Tumblr slacktivist. I'd rather focus on what I can actually realistically do in a competent manner. Which is also why I'm not exactly super-enthusiastic about publicly identifying as a feminist at every turn, because, goodness gracious, people might confuse me for an activist when I'm anything but.

I think the "what have YOU done to further YOUR ideological cause?" kind of questions are counterproductive and only lead to pointless fights. They're kind of like "what, you don't like this film/book/video game/whatever? Well, I'd like to see you try make a better one" argument. That's ultimately asking people to apply skills you know they don't have (and which you know kind of miss the point), and if you think people going out to do things they're not competent at does any good to the world, you're probably a bit confused.

Supporting an ideology and engaging in activism to further it are completely different things.

 

[Psycho]

Feminism makes a lot more sense if you read the works of Andrea Dworkin and realize she's batshit crazy. Take her influences out and, suddenly, ridiculous "activists" like Brianna Wu, Anita Sarkeesian or Rebecca Watson would never be able to call themselves feminists.

The irony is that most modern feminists reject Dworkin because she was transphobic and against pornography, but modern feminism is supportive of transsexuals and pornography. Thing is, those are the only two differences between modern feminism and Dworkin; the crazy, angry, hate-fueled delusions, the professional victimhood, the ability to interpret everything as patriarchy, those are Dworkin traits that are still carrying over.

 

[AnOminous]

Feminism makes a lot more sense if you read the works of Andrea Dworkin and realize she's batshit crazy. Take her influences out and, suddenly, ridiculous "activists" like Brianna Wu, Anita Sarkeesian or Rebecca Watson would never be able to call themselves feminists.

Catherine MacKinnon is pretty nuts, too, if less shriekingly, obviously insane.

 

[YI 457]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=sCRohDqWDcw

"Porn is the theory. Rape is the practice." I'd wear a tshirt with that while working in the porn industry.

 

[Psycho]

Catherine MacKinnon is pretty nuts, too, if less shriekingly, obviously insane.

Dworkin took McKinnon's crazy and up'd it by a factor of ten.

That being said, I have to acknowledge why Dworkin and her brand of feminism has been so influential. You tend to draw attention to yourself when you're a crazy, shrieking, blob of a man-hating banshee. It's why the extremes of any group tend to draw attention to themselves, both from outsiders and from those within their group. I just wish that feminists, when paying attention to her, considered a cautionary tale of how not to be a feminist.

 

[AnOminous]

It's why the extremes of any group tend to draw attention to themselves, both from outsiders and from those within their group.

Not just from outsiders in general, but specifically from opponents of the group. If you're opposing a group, you seek out the craziest, most extreme members of the group you're opposing and want to damage, and then claim they're the typical average representative of that group. This serves two purposes. One, you might be successful, and in that case, the public decides that the group is utterly insane, as its core ideology is the nuttiest shit you could find. The other is you can set off infighting in the group, as moderate members seek to disavow the crazies.

The ratio of normies-to-crazies really has a lot to do with which social dynamic takes hold. And unfortunately, if a group is specifically trying to promote tolerance, it perversely encourages malignant crazies to take up residence and become the actual leaders of the group, whereupon they predictably fly it into a building screaming allahu akbar or something similar.

 

[Pepsi-Cola]

Although tbf porn is p bad for other reasons outside of feminism and stuff like that

I think that basically everybody is a feminist in some way or another. Unless you literally hate women, you're probably a feminist, tbh.

 

[Anchuent Christory]

I don't refer to myself as either a feminist or an atheist, despite technically being both. It's because, to me, both these things are a "default" state in my mind, as in you are until you decide you believe otherwise (or arguably had the choice made for you by your upbringing)

Does that make sense? I dunno.

Basically I don't feel the need to declare myself either of these things any more than i feel the need to declare myself a human.

 

[StarvingAutist]

Fuck identitarianism. Human beings are human beings and should be treated with humanity.

 

[Cucumber]

I consider a lot of feminism to have too many similarities to my Catholic upbringing. My thought is "if I took issue with this coming from a nun, why wouldn't I take issue with this coming from anyone else?" Particularly the idea that men were all predators, with no ability to control those sinful urges, and the "you must be in this group to be moral." I didn't find those teachings to sit well with me at all.
There's too much baggage that comes with the label, and why should I give myself a label associated with a movement I would have a very hard time getting along with in the first place? I don't feel like adding to what will just end up as more arguments. It's just not for me.

 

[Abethedemon]

I consider a lot of feminism to have too many similarities to my Catholic upbringing. My thought is "if I took issue with this coming from a nun, why wouldn't I take issue with this coming from anyone else?" Particularly the idea that men were all predators, with no ability to control those sinful urges, and the "you must be in this group to be moral." I didn't find those teachings to sit well with me at all.
There's too much baggage that comes with the label, and why should I give myself a label associated with a movement I would have a very hard time getting along with in the first place? I don't feel like adding to what will just end up as more arguments. It's just not for me.

I would agree. I feel like there are a lot of aspects of feminism which seem somewhat close to religion, in how there is somewhat of a dress code for priestly classes (dying hair), rituals, processions, saints, martyrs, technical terms (privilege), the list goes on.
I guess I prefer the real thing when it comes to religion.