Radical feminism isn’t “intolerant” of anything but oppression. It’s empowering to a class of humans who have been suffering the most extreme forms of oppression imaginable. Women have been considered chattel (property) — first of our fathers, then of our husbands — for thousands of years. We have been systematically mutilated, beaten, raped, enslaved, imprisoned in harems or “women’s quarters”, barred from schooling or a meaningful career, forced into financially-motivated marriages with total strangers who are then legally entitled to beat us, rape us and impregnate us. The sheer volume of the human trafficking of women and girls is the worst it’s ever been in the history of the planet. Tens of millions of female fetuses are being aborted now JUST for being female in a sexist world.
Women have been completely disenfranchised as a class for thousands of years.
Feminism is women fighting against our oppression, fighting the sexist roles being forced upon us, fighting for our survival.
If you don’t get that, then you know nothing about feminism. You’re just one more ignoramus telling a woman that she’s doing feminism wrong.
You think I just don't understand, but I don't believe you. 
Thank you for saying this about feminism! I’m sick of people calling me a “feminazi” for sticking up for my rights and voicing my opinion! 🙂
I am so tired of the negative connotations associated with feminism.
It is not about hating men or wanting to be a man it is about wanting equality so that women are treated the same as men by society, places of work and the law.
You would think in the 21st century gender equality would no longer be an issue!
Oh, is that what feminism is about?
Views of what feminism is as most things are subjective or in some cases sarcastic I guess!!
I think this is the liberal/equality version of ‘feminism’ — and although even THAT is objected to by some, it doesn’t really get to the heart of the issue.
Treated ‘the same’ by society/places of work/law DOESN’T get at any of the issues as to what happens to women on a more personal basis, in personal relationships or within families. So, for some, being treated ‘the same’ by society/workplaces/law would JUST mean that the law doesn’t specifiy sex, nor do employers.
The point is, we’ve GOT the vote (here at least), yet why are there so few women in parliament or congress? We have EQUALITY under the relevant law — so must be OUR fault for not being ambitious enough…………………….
We’ve GOT equality legislation as regards employment, yet women still earn substantially LESS than men, fewer women in upper management and board rooms. Why? Must be OUR fault for being too weak-minded/unambitious…………
(According to some in this article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18127469
the problem is our GENDER (O dear!), in that women either just ARE, or are conditioned to be weak and feeble and unambitious and unwilling to take risks. )
Why are we playing catch-up with the menz, or trying to make women more like men? Surely it’s THEIR game, with rules set out to their advantage? Do we really want to play their games, or do we want to change the game (or stop playing games?).
WHY did women get into this position in the first place? WHO benefitted from it, because from a historical point of view, this arrangement of society has been up and running for a bloody long time…………………….
Once you start addressing THOSE sort of questions, then you’re getting towards feminism, not just this liberal — we should ALL be treated equally, which is just basic human rights, NOT feminism.
“Views of what feminism is as most things are subjective….”
Goddess, get that wishy-washy, and you’ll never get anywhere……………….
The OPPRESSION of women throughout history isn’t subjective, it’s a plain fact, hence you are either addressing those real issues, or you ain’t. Saying ‘we should all be equal’ is like liberating the slaves (i.e. you can no longer OWN people), but then not addressing the fact that the former slave owners may not own slaves anymore, but they certainly OWN everything else………………………………….
When I said subjective I meant in the sense that many people do not agree on what it is to be a feminist. Some men and indeed some women do think it is just about jealousy and the hatred of men and nothing else, which is of course completely ignorant and needs to change. I am well aware that women have been oppressed throughout history which is why in my view equality is so important. ‘On paper’ women are considered equal in many areas such as employment of course but with peoples attitudes along with the glass ceilings etc. in theory this is not the case. Women are still being exploited, treated badly and abused so what I meant when I said equality is equality across the board in a local and general sense. For women to receive the same respect as men and not be seen as mere objects, made in to sex slaves or treated like garbage, for us to have the same opportunities and not be held back in our careers simply because we do not possess a Y chromosome. I want women to be able to apply for any job they want and get it on merit and not have gender be a factor. This is what I meant when I said equality. It is negative attitudes that need to change first in order for larger leaps to be made, until women are seen as being equal to men in everyone’s mind there will continue to be problems. We are on the same side and obviously very passionate about the issue. I will continue to write and speak about my individual views on feminism as I know you will, I agree with your views and enjoyed reading your piece. We all want the same outcome so I do not wish to get into hair splitting debates with fellow warriors; it is the ignorant and misogynistic who I wish to target!!!!
Thanks.
Thanks for the expansion — makes it clearer now what you actually meant rather than what I feared you meant!
But yes, it is very very sad that we’re STILL arguing about the basic equality issues for women — although I myself object to the overuse of equality reasoning, but you leave yourself open to either the whole equality for men backlash, or the ‘equal but different’ cop out. Or if feminism is about ‘equality for women’ then you’ll get asked about why you focus on equality for women specifically, rather than just equality for everyone, and then the we’re more oppressed than you games start…………………………
Which it sounds rather depressing, but then I’m just very pissed-off having read about Sheils Jeffreys being prevented from speaking at RadFem 2012:
http://gendertrender.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/sheila-jeffreys-let-us-be-free-to-debate-transgenderism-without-being-accused-of-hate-speech/
I just want to be human…
You can apply for membership in the human race at the U.N., I think. What species are you, anyway? Are you an off-worlder? Wow. Cool. Or maybe a robot?
I have no problem telling people they’re “doing feminism wrong.” http://radfemway.blogspot.com/2012/11/doing-feminism-wrong.html