Unarmed man shot in miami by police

[Canarr]

Race and sexual orientation issues are more severe, and on paper, men and women are equals — usually. Reproductive rights are still a major issue in many parts of the country, and one of the most regressive politicians in the entire nation on that subject is currently in the running for Vice President.

But the bigger problem isn't with laws, it's with society. Socially, we have a long way to go.

I agree with some of the things in your links, and disagree with others. Actually, I think there's probably a lot of topics that we have the same opinion on - except for the beneficence of modern Feminism itself.

Warning: personal observation ahead, entirely subjective! Part of my problem with Feminism's handling of these issues you link, is that they never seem to acknowledge women's participation. Whenever Feminism discusses an issue, it's always about what men do to women. It's never about what women do to each other. Look at online harassment: half of the abusive tweets sent to women on twitter originate from other women. And when it's about topics like slutshaming, or attacking women for their career or reproductive choices, then women are right there at the front, dishing it out.

But when do you ever read something like that in Feminist discourse? One example that springs to mind is Christina Hoff Summers, who does regularly point out women's own responsibility for their actions or situations - and who attacks her for that? Feminists.

If I could see that Feminists actively look at social issues as a whole, including at women's contributions to existing problems, instead of just blaming The Patriarchy for everything bad that happens to women, then maybe modern Feminism would seem more agreeable to me. But instead, we get "Misandry".

Feminism is not misandry. Misandry undermines feminism. Too many men encounter misandry, and attack the entire concept of feminism in turn because they equate the two.

That's a bit of a "True Scotsman" type cop-out, don't you think? "No, that's not a REAL feminist! Real feminists would never DO that!"

Still, even if it were true - if there were the Good Feminists and the Bad Misandrists - how the frack is the rest of the world supposed to tell the difference? They both sail under the Feminist flag.

Who campaigned against the improvement of custody rights for unmarried fathers in Germany? Feminists.
Generally, who likes to call fathers' support groups for "abuser networks"? Feminists.
Who lobbies against public funding for shelters for male victims of domestic abuse? Feminists.
Who suggests boys' problems in school might be solved by not making things so easy for men in the workplace? Feminists.
Who shitstorms scientists with half-naked manga women on their shirts, or software developers making dongle jokes, or men taking up too much space on public transport? Feminists.

Can you really blame men who, after looking at some of the crap people spew in the name of feminism, decline to believe that this is a movement that somehow still has their interests at heart?

Or worse (and frankly, likely more often), men have their expected and normalized privilege confronted by feminism and, because the norm has been broken, believe that THIS is misandry and resent it.

I know there are plenty of (current or former) service workers here who have encountered the workplace version of that one: "But they always let me do it before!"

Priviledge is a fairly loaded term. Yes, being a man in modern society has its advantages, but it has its disadvantages, too. And the same goes for being a woman - yes, there are disadvantages, but there are advantages as well, which often goes ignored.

Feminism just tends to look at the juicy bits, and ignore the negatives. Most CEOs are men, so all men are better off than all women! For instance, last year, Germany passed a law requiring all German corporations to implement a 30% quota for women in their supervisory board. This was then hailed as a great victory for equality, never mind the fact that it will have absolutely no value for more than a few hundred women, at most. 99,9% will never see a difference in their lives, but this is something that's worth campaigning for?

The average single mother struggling in one or two jobs to make ends meet has a lot more in common with the average working Joe struggling similarly doing construction or road work in order to support himself and/or a family, than she'll ever have with the highly paid female politicians or CEOs, who don't really know what it's like to have to decide between buying food and paying rent.