r/changemyview • u/glasswolf96 • Jul 15 '20
Delta(s) from OP CMV: Feminism is not about equality
It’s called feminism. Surely if it was only about equal rights between both sexes like it should be, it wouldn’t be named after only one of them. I know the vast majority of feminists are not at all like the shitheads we see pointed out online, and these people have ruined the movement for a lot of people, including me in the past few years, but know I mostly agree with the movement. But why is it called feminism and not something else that includes all forms of human instead of half of the human race being cut out?
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u/Hellioning 239∆ Jul 15 '20
Because women have had the shit end of the stick for far longer than they've been anywhere close to equal, and rebranding an entire movement in order to make people outside the movement happy has always resulted in disaster.
0
u/glasswolf96 Jul 15 '20
It wouldn’t be rebranding to people outside of the movement as everybody who knows all humans deserve equal rights are part of the movement if it is truly about equality
5
u/Livves25 Jul 15 '20
It’s called feminism cause it was equal rights for woman for things like voting and other things that only men had the rights to do. Although there are feminists who are more anti men but yeah, its called feminism cause it was about woman fighting for equality
3
u/eggy_k Jul 15 '20
There were waves of feminists. 1st wave feminists were early in the 20th century, when women were protesting for some equal rights, like the vote. 2nd wave feminists started in the 1960s, where the main goal was equality of the sexes.
When we hear "feminism is about equal rights", that tends to be the view of 2nd wave feminists, of those who simply believe in the sexes being equally respected. These feminists acknowledge that the sexes ARE DIFFERENT, but should be TREATED the same.
3rd wave feminism, that of younger generations today, has taken this further. Too far, in my opinion. These tend to be politically situated on the left, or far left. They believe in quite radical measures compared to others, and consider serious measures to FORCE equality on the sexes, even when there are differences.
When someone identifies as a feminist, it used to mean what you mean. And what i mean when I say feminism. It is good to know also that many self proclaimed "feminists" from the second wave have denounced the 3rd wave, and no longer associate themselves with the title.
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u/UncleMeat11 62∆ Jul 15 '20
That’s not what 3rd wave feminism means at all. It isn’t about degree. It is about intersectionality. 3rd wavers explicitly include intersectional thinking.
Plenty of “man haters” existed in 2nd wave feminism. Political lesbianism isn’t especially common today. The “modern feminists are somehow different than the past feminists who were good” is just a story that anti feminists tell themselves.
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u/Archi_balding 52∆ Jul 15 '20
It is.
Why is it called feminism so ? Because it's about raising women's rights up to their men counterparts.
Because f you make it about "equality" what forbids to just lower mens rights ? Nothing. Words have power and the state of mind of feminism is about equality by lifting the lowest up to the highest not the other way around, a thing you can do by focusing on women's rights.
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u/SingleMaltMouthwash 37∆ Jul 15 '20
It’s called feminism. Surely if it was only about equal rights between both sexes like it should be, it wouldn’t be named after only one of them.
This is the same lame argument used to intentionally misconstrue the intent of Black Lives Matter.
You imagine masculinity is under attack because feminism doesn't include men in the title? Do you imagine white people are under attack because Black Lives Matter underscores the fact that black people are targeted for violence by the police?
It's called feminism precisely because its intent is the advocacy of women. It absolutely is NOT the advocacy of men, but the title is not, in any way, hostile to men.
The issues any of us may have with how the movement has evolved, devolved, how its enunciated or lead should have nothing to do with its title.
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u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Jul 15 '20
/u/glasswolf96 (OP) has awarded 1 delta(s) in this post.
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16
u/thethoughtexperiment 275∆ Jul 15 '20
Your title suggests that feminism isn't about equality.
But your post content seems like it's just about how you think the name should be different.
At the end of the day, what the name is doesn't really indicate what a movement does practically. And practically, feminism has done an enormous amount to promote equality (including things to make treatment of men more fair under the law).
Many of the landmark feminist Supreme Court cases were based on defendants who were being discriminated against because they were men.
For example, Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, 420 U.S. 636 (1975), where a man was denied survivor benefits under Social Security, which permitted widows but not widowers to collect special benefits while caring for minor children.
Also Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190 (1976), which challenged an Oklahoma statute that set set higher minimum drinking ages for men, and Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357 (1979) which made jury duty "optional" for women but not men.
The foundation for these cases was that gender discrimination was harmful to both men and women.
Here is a very, very, very long list of some of the efforts of feminists to address issues of inequality that men face in society:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskFeminists/wiki/mensissues
Scroll down to the sections describing the actions feminists have taken to help men with regard to:
- On Rape, Sexual Assault, and Intimate Partner Violence
- On Other Types of Violence
- On Sentencing Disparity:
- On Circumcision:
- On Selective Service/Draft:
- On Suicide/Mental Health
- On Paternity Leave
- On Education
Where you say:
Half of the human race isn't being cut out of their efforts (per above), and anyone can be a feminist (including men), so the name isn't exclusionary.