"I'm not a feminist but..."

I despise this quote... ARGH! Does anyone else hate it?

 

Well, I'm not a feminist, but I really have no opinion on this matter.

 

Think think think think think

 

right up there with "some of my best friends are black/gay/arab/..."

 

who cares?

if they believe in equality of the sexes, who cares if they decided to label themselves a feminist?

 

It is pretty pathetic.

They are probably just ignorant of what feminism actually is. Just falling for the immediate stereotype that all feminists are obnoxious man-hating ... well yeah you know.

When in fact it's being able to vote, working outside the home, getting an education, having my own money/property, being in control of my own health (reproductive or otherwise), refusing to descriminated against based solely on gender... hmm there are probably more things too.
Every women I know is in suppourt of those things, and takes them for granted.

If by me actually understanding and being truly grateful for everything that has been worked for by the generations of women before me, and being prepared to keep that up, and if necessary carry on the fight, supposedly makes me a feminist then hell yeah I'll happily a feminist.

Seriously can someone explain what is so wrong with that, and why anyone would be ashamed of it.

 

It's possible that some people don't want to identify with the same label and fall under the same umbrella that some man-haters share. It's possible that some people see feminism as an institution whose members seek to rectify only the inequities that short-change women. It's possible that some people see sexism as a two-way street and prefer to associate with and work toward a gender-neutral concept called equality.

I believe these people have as much right to proudly declare their lack of association with feminism as any person would have to trumpet their love of feminism.

 

In their struggle for equality, they only give more reason to be considered unequal... Chairwoman is such a ridiculous split to take; I think there should just be gender neutral terms, if anything... That, or for people to get over such labels.

 

I'm not a feminist, but some of my best friends are women!


Equality also means shouldering an equal portion of responsibility. My grandmothers fought alongside their men in the 'Indian Wars', ...on both sides....

 

chairman is gender neutral; as 'man' means both male and female.


But i guess i'm back to my original question: Who cares whether someone wants to identify themselves with being a feminist IF they believe in equality?

 

I know it's gender neutral already, but... some women see that and think it isn't neutral. Chairwoman came about because of that... I honestly think that more girls should do their part in certain things; I end up doing stuff that only boys tend to be left with, because it helps out everyone. Even other girls leave me to handle stuff by myself...

 

..

 

Gloria "a fish needs a bicycle" Steinem? Or what's her MARRIED name again?

Sorry, but I'd see why someone would eschew the label. Considering some of the mental case statements you hear - you can't be a true feminist until you've drunk your own menstrual fluid, you can't be a true feminist unless you're a lesbian etc.

 

..

 

WHO the fuck says that?

 

Yes, because it is usually NOT followed by what it should be:
I'm not a feminist but:

• I enjoy the fact that my husband is not allowed to beat me legally.
• I have a job where I earn almost as much as a man, which was impossible before feminism.
• I really am happpy I get to vote.
• I am not forced into prostitution just because my husband dies or leaves me.
• I can legally keep my job after I am married and after I have children, if I want to. (Womyn used to be FORCED to quit their jobs after they married. and Womyn with children were often not hired, or fired as soon as the became pregnant.)
• I get to drive a car.
• I can leave the house without a male escourt of either my husband, my father or my brother.
• I can report a sexual assault and maybe even be beleived.
• I can't be kicked out of a resturant for wearing "pants." (My aunt, in the mid 60s was actually told to leave a restuarant, where she has arrived wearning pants and told to "Go home and put on a dress or a skirt like lady." And it was a NICE pantsuit.)
• I got to have PE class and sports programs in school
• I got to go to school

Who has more?

 

RE: well, i've heard men say some really moronic things too, but i wouldn't expect you to deny being a man to avoid being associated with them

You wouldn't. But there are wimmyn I've known who did.

RE: WHO the fuck says that?

Simone de Beavoir Wimmyn's Studies Institute, Concordia University - Montreal. The reading list includes (well, it did) womyn who said that heterosexuality is a patriarchal construct designed to oppress women and the only way out of the testocratic loop is to be a lesbian. As to the other quote, it's been a LONG time, 15 years, but maybe Steinem. If not, it's someone of that period. Pun not intended. This was a degree that included courses (hands-on) in being the "master of your own domain" (womyn only) and in which the graduating class had a scrapbook of close ups of their own privates, which was kept in a feminyst bookstore somewhere on St. Denis.

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Oh, here we go.

* I enjoy the fact that my husband is not allowed to beat me legally.

I can enjoy being in a one-sided fight (her assaulting me) and STILL go to jail, if my spouse simply says I pushed her.

* I have a job where I earn almost as much as a man, which was impossible before feminism.

Good! It should be about equal pay for equal work, which is a human rights issue, not a woman's issue.

* I really am happpy I get to vote.

NO COMMENT

* I am not forced into prostitution just because my husband dies or leaves me.

No, but a man can be indentured.

* I can legally keep my job after I am married and after I have children, if I want to. (Womyn used to be FORCED to quit their jobs after they married. and Womyn with children were often not hired, or fired as soon as the became pregnant.)

A womyn can decide to become the town mattress and skip town with some other guy, and the man is FORCED to pay for her expenses and those of her children with NO ACCOUNTABILITY e.g. she could spend the ENTIRE CHILD SUPPORT CHEQUE ON WEED and it wouldn't be illegal. If he loses his job, can't find another similar job (e.g. guys who got divorced in the dot com days and went from $100,000pa to $25,000 pa) at a similar salary too bad jack it's JAIL TIME FOR YOU - the only debtor's prison we have in this country. A woman can lie about the paternity of her kids and rope the men into paying for them.

* I can report a sexual assault and maybe even be beleived.

I can be sexually assaulted, and it will 90% of the time be laughed out of court. If I am beaten by my spouse, there are no men's battered shelters, nor are there many cops or social service people who will readily believe me. The domestic violence industry is staffed by womyn whose primary idea is that men cause DV and therefore women do not abuse and lesbians technically can't, though empirical evidence shows that's wrong. (Never let facts get in the way of good angry screaming though)

* I can't be kicked out of a resturant for wearing "pants." (My aunt, in the mid 60s was actually told to leave a restuarant, where she has arrived wearning pants and told to "Go home and put on a dress or a skirt like lady." And it was a NICE pantsuit.)

Why not? I can be kicked out for not wearing a suit.

* I got to have PE class and sports programs in school

Thanks to Title IX a lot of sports got cut cause for every guy that wanted to play they had to find a girl equally as competitive, and since the girls weren't interested in the sports they had to cut the men's teams.

* I got to go to school

Schools shown to favor girls over boys.

 

I have no problem with that quote, because I am NOT a feminist. There are several reasons for this, but basically here are my beliefs...


1. I believe in womens rights (I am active with IWF). However, I also believe men have rights too and believe a great many feminists take it too far, which is why I won't associate with them.
2. While I belief that men and women share a lot of the same rights simply because we're both human beings and both members of the animal kingdom. the biological fact is that men and women are different, and therefore there are some things men can do that women can't, and vice versa. It is against nature to think otherwise.
3. For some feminists, freedom means that women should do what the feminists deem as "appropriate". For this reason, I am NOT a feminist because I think a woman should have the right to be a housewife or even a porn star if she wants to. And while I do realize that there are pro-porn feminists they seem to be few and far between. I also hate how some feminists paint every female porn star as someone who was forced into it...even when the star proves 1,000 times that they weren't. Watch the "E! True Hollywood Story" of Jenna Jameson to see what I mean.

 

I would say that the right to not be physically harmed, to go to school, and to vote are HUMAN rights issues, not feminist issues.

Also, in some restaurants I would consider it inappropriate to wear pants if you are a woman. Was that the type of restaraunt your aunt went to? If so, I can understand them asking her to leave. If it was just like a McDonalds than I can see how that would be annoying.

 

That is another reason I am not a feminist. Men are getting the short end of the stick, and the biological differences between men and women are being ignored. Title IX is stupid. Unless a girl is on steriods, she isn't going to be able to compete in male-dominated sports like football and wrestling. That is just common fucking sense.