Quote from: ell on April 12, 2008, 10:46:23 PM
as for feminists, i appreciate that they have done much good for women. but they have also done much harm to that most important realm of child-rearing and stay at home moms. talk about taking away a woman's dignity! this in turn has done a great deal of damage to the culture and quality of life of children.
and i used to hate feminists for their male-bashing.
but i don't hate them so much anymore, because now i see that they have left a huge vacuum of soft female space in their wake. yes, i'm an anti-feminist, child rearing, soft female! i am very subservient to men (if they are polite). the other day, three young men all took a step back as i passed them in the parking lot, and i was tickled to death. i know! it's old-fashioned of me. but i honestly enjoy that little role. and men, who often haven't seen the likes of such behavior, ever, seem to be like, "what? is this for real? a soft female? i didn't even know they existed." and they graciously provide female space for me.
I agree with you to an extent. I think that many of our nation's problems can be traced back, in part, to a couple generations of kids who have pretty much been left to raise themselves. Whether from ambition or from economic necessity, parents are frequently not around to guide their children into thinking beyond themselves, or acting as part of a responsible member of their communities. Besides which, just as women should not be forced into the role of June Cleaver, neither should they be forced into the roll of Ms. Corporate Ballbreaker.
I also think we, as a society, are doing men a disservice by forcing them into the same old "boys don't cry", "men have to be tough" attitudes, while simultaneously taking away their only positive roles as protector, provider, and knight in shining armor.
HOWEVER...
Having been raised by a mother who grew up in the 50's and 60's, and who had feminist leanings, I have heard about what it was like
before feminism, and I can state unequivocally that, so long as I am forced to live in a female body, I will be eternally grateful for the feminists who have brought us to the point we are at today.
Some examples:
*When my mother was applying for school, most of the top universities (if they accepted women at all) had quotas of the number of women they would accept, after which they took men with less qualification. (As I recall, Stanford, for instance, was 10%)
*At the school she went to, women were required to wear skirts unless it was -50 degrees out. (It was frequently -30.)
*Her roommate was constantly being campused because she couldn't get back from her job as a nurse in time for the 9 o'clock curfew, which was only imposed on female students. This had to be especially galling for a woman in her late twenties, who had been taking care of herself for years. But female students were required to live in the dorm, regardless of age.
*As a working woman, my mother was turned down for jobs and denied promotions because, "You'll just be running off to have children, so it would be a waste to give you that position."
It's because of the feminists that women have the choices they have, that sexual harassment is no longer acceptable in the workplace, and that our daughters celebrate "girl power", rather than being reminded daily of their second class status.
Did feminists go too far? Yes, sometimes they did. But sometimes you have to push too far to bring the status quo back to where it needs to be.
And, having finished my rant, back to the topic of the post: I'm afraid I would have 3 strikes against me. 1. I'm male, 2. I'm gay, and 3. even if I were straight, and they accepted FtMs, I'm much too short to ever be a chick-magnet.
