Thread:Madkatmaximus/@comment-25625534-20150602104025/@comment-5311834-20150602112557

FortressOfNight wrote: "You know the idiom “rule of thumb”? That comes from a running joke that started in the 1600s, and was still around in Fourier’s time, that said it was okay for a man to beat a woman with a stick as long as it wasn’t any thicker than his thumb."

this is a myth actually. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thumb#Origin_of_the_phrase http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thumb#Thumb_used_for_abuse I actually knew it was a myth when I posted that and meant to point it out, but I forgot to do so, so that's a mistake on my part.

"The point is that women and things associated with women have been given a lesser place in society and we want to bring those things up to a place of equality. The focus is on the feminine because that’s what’s being pushed down."

generally speaking, this isn't so true anymore. not to say sexism against women has been entirely eradicated but a lot of it's gone, in the first world at least. It's true that it's not quite to the extent that it was say, 50-60 years ago, but it is still an issue in many aspects, and it doesn't just apply to first world countries.

"Men are belittled and called “less of a man” anytime they portray a trait that is associated with femininity."

this is the kind of thing we should be focusing on; equality on both sides. women being able to do stereotypically masculine things, and men being able to do stereotypically feminine things. if we just focus on one or the other, the stigma against the other not being focused on isn't going to change at all. instead, most of these two paragraphs focus on how women should be risen to the level men are on... but once this point is brought up, isn't it kind of apparent that's not the only thing that needs to be done to achieve actual equality? It is about equality on both sides; for masculinity and femininity. There's an entire movement about masculinity in feminism but I don't really associate myself with it because it's typically among the more SJW side of things.

"If women and the feminine were equal to men and masculinity then that wouldn’t happen. Feminism is about raising up things associated with females to have an equal place in society as the things associated with males. It’s called feminism, not equalism, because the focus is on raising up not tearing down. Equalism would suggest that male things need to come down to a lower level so that female things can meet it in the middle. That’s not the point. The point is to raise up the feminine so that it’s on the same playing field that the masculine is already on. We don’t want men to lower themselves, we just want them to make room for us."

in particular: "Equalism would suggest that male things need to come down to a lower level so that female things can meet it in the middle."

not at all. why can't everyone be raised up? there's not just one scale of equality, there's a lot of different areas to be worked on. in some, women have a harder time than men, and vice-versa. back when feminism was just beginning to be a thing, men obviously had a stupid advantage, but these days this isn't so much the case. for one thing, i'd like to be able to display emotion, get excited about things, or care about other people without getting weird looks or being accused of homosexuality. Those are indeed issues, and again the point of feminism is dissolving gender stereotypes and I'd say it covers those things for the most part. Usually it seems like the ones to ignore such things are SJWs, radicals, etc, but still the point is equality no matter what the case.

"If you still disagree with feminism, I don't really want anything to do with you."

not that i "disagree with feminism" but this could only serve to infuriate anyone who does, making them less receptive to, you know, anything you say. And once again the point is equality - I can't understand why anyone would disagree with that regardless of whether they consider themselves feminist or not, I don't care, they don't have to. But to say you disagree with the core purpose of feminism is to basically say you disagree with equal rights for all, and that's what I don't understand.