Feminism vs. "Feminism".
So a little while ago, my cow-orker came into my office and told me the story of one of her friends, who had said something to the effect that she did not think of herself as a feminist. My cow-orker could not comprehend why a woman would not be a feminist. "Don't you believe in equality for women? Don't you think that we should be allowed in the work place? Don't you think that we should vote?"
It got me to thinking, though. Why wouldn't a woman consider herself a feminist? So I posed the question to the Murloc. "Do you consider yourself a feminist? Why or why not?" "Um, not to the full extent of the word," she replied. "Sure, I'm female, I do feel we should be treated equally and should have the same rights. I think that we can be just as effective in the working environment, but I'm not about to go commando or anything. O_o"
But if my cow-orker's friend didn't consider herself a feminist and the Murloc did only partially, what do these women have against feminism?
Well, firstly, let's define feminism. I asked the Murloc what she thought feminism was: "Well, I guess feminism is an innocent word in and of it's own. I take it to mean that I am female; I have goals and aspirations; I try to strive for those goals and aspirations without losing my female persona."
Good answer, good answer. Google defines feminism as:
1. Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.
2. The movement organized around this belief.
Since Google never lies, I guess we can go with that definition. So why do some women not think of themselves as feminists?
Well no doubts when you saw the headline of this post, you thought of more than just the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. Perhaps it brought to mind things such as bra burnings, The Vagina Monologues, and quotes of Barbara Boxer talking about Roe v. Wade as a great advancement for the Feminist movement. But what about women who don't associate with these things? Are they not feminists?
I've been spending a fair amount of time on what I will call "girly" websites lately, in research of this issue. No, no, not that kind of website, perv. I mean, websites for girls, like FeministsForLife.org and ModestyZone.net. You know, the ones Mrs. Pickles links in her sidebar. Sheesh. Anyways, it seems that there are many women who call themselves feminists, who openly reject many things that we associate with the feminist movement. In fact, many of these women insist that they are the true feminists, the ones standing up for the values put forth by the early feminists, like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Anyways, it seems that there is a dichotomy between what many women believe and the ideas associated with the word "Feminism". As the great John C. Wright once wrote (and I cannot find the quote, for the life of me; an imaginary bag of marshmallows to whoever can; all I know was it was in one of his comments on what another commenter said on his blog), "most errors in philosophy come from the association of two completely different ideas with each other." This has lead me to conclude that there really are two kinds of feminism. There is what I can only think of as pseudo-"feminism", which is what we tend to think of when we hear the word. The extreme "feminism" that, in actuallity hurts women and drives them away from the word. And then there is True Feminism. The kind that not only seeks the social, political, and economic equality of women, but also strives to preserve the dignity of femininity, whereas "feminism" seems to seek equality of women by turning them into men.
Anyways, I've catalogued my observations about some of the differences between these two contradictory, but unfortunately identically-named, ideoligies on key issues.
Marriage:
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"Feminism"
Marriage is optional, at best, an encumbrance at worst. A woman doesn't need a man to achieve her goals of raising children and a commitment to one will only tie her down.
Result: There is a corresponding rise in single motherhood; without the support of a husband, women find themselves struggling to maintain a career and family; children grow up without fathers; boys grow up untaught how to behave towards women; mistreatment of women increases, ranging from sexual mistreatment to physical violence; divorce becomes more common, and similarly hurts women and children. Also, children become a commodity, a "right" of parents to have, simply because they want them; this leads to practices such as IVF, selective implantation, sex selection abortions, and other forms of child abuse.
Feminism
Marriage is intended for the protection of women and children. A husband is necessary to provide a woman with the best possible conditions to raise children. A father is necessary to provide children with the best possible environment for development.
Children:
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"Feminism"
Children are a burden that get in the way of a woman's goals of career and financial independence. A woman should achieve these things first before enslaving herself to children.
Results: Many women miss out on the opportunities of motherhood. An increased reliance on artificial birth control methods leads to increased infertility rates; this leads to "forced" fertility such as IVF, and eventually to the commercializing of children, as listed above.
Feminism
Children are a blessing. Motherhood is one of the greatest experiences any person can have.
Sex:
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"Feminism"
"Free" sex is empowering to women. A sexually active woman is "in control" of her body. It is not harmful, and perhaps beneficial, for a woman to be promiscuous.
Result: Women are devalued; they become sexual objects; men are much more easily able to misuse women; a man can sleep with, then discard, a woman at will, with no need for commitment; try as we might, the results of sex can never be truly disassociated from it, and women are the ones who have the burden; with no commitments, the man can walk away, leaving the woman on her own, or pressure her into having an abortion; this leads to an increase in single mother hood and the problems listed above. Unable to ever completely disassociate emotions from sex, women become emotionally repressed and suffer from loneliness and low self-esteem.
Feminism
Men value least that which they obtain most easily. The marriage covenant exists to protect women. A woman should not sell herself cheaply, but demand a life-long commitment of love.
Pornography:
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"Feminism"
Pornography can be liberating for a woman. Rules of modesty place an unfair burden on women and teach them that they should be ashamed of their bodies.
Result: Women are trivialized as sexual objects; men are taught to view women as objects and become incapable of showing them respect; there is a corresponding rise in sexual harassment; men develop an unhealthy view of sexuality, which no reality can satisfy; they become incapable of loving a woman or maintaining a faithful relationship; marriages are destroyed and lives are ruined.
Feminism
A woman's body should be treated with dignity and respect; modesty protects this. The body and the soul cannot be separated; any devaluation of one will affect the other; as such, it is impossible to objectify a woman's body without objectifying her.
Abortion:
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"Feminism"
Abortion is a woman's choice. It concerns only her health and reproductive freedom.
Result: Life is devalued; it becomes a commodity; the dismissal of the termination of a human life as a mere "choice" leads to an increased ambivalence towards violence at other stages of life. Women are hurt; as an act of violence against women, abortion takes a toll on them; this leads to very high instances of depression and other psychological and emotional problems in post-abortive women, including post-traumatic stress and attempted suicides. As an act of physical violence, women pay a physical price, including increases in infertility, and an increased risk of breast cancer and ectopic pregnancies. Since the majority of women who obtain abortions are morally opposed to it, this indicates that abortion is not a choice, but something women do when they feel they have no choice; woman primarily obtain abortions under outside pressure, which only increases the psychological problems caused by it.
Feminism
Women deserve better than abortion. It is a tremendous act of violence against a mother and her child that leaves emotional and physical scars for years to come. Abortion violates the basic feminist principles of equality, justice, dignity, and non-violence for all. True Feminists refuse to choose between mothers and their children, instead seeking liberty and justice for all woman, born and pre-born.
You left out man-hate. Much of the "feminist" movement (I will refer to them as feminazis), simply have a loathing and a hatred for men. Feminazis believe all masculine traits are some kind of abomination, that all men are predators and that the world would be better if women could breed without men.
ReplyDeleteFeminist has become a bad word because of those who hijacked it. Similarily I don't claim to be a civil rights advocate because it links me to racists like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. I'm way more of a civil rights advocates than they are now.
What you also have to remember is that people in our generation and those that come after us have no concept of the need for feminism. To these women, it's a guarantee that they'll go to college, not because they have to fight for it, but because women go to college. They understand that they'll have maternity leave if they choose to take it because it's the law, but they don't understand what it took for that to become a law. They don't understand that wearing pants didn't use to be a right, it had to be worked for. And what they take to be modern feminism is the femininazi, a brand of woman who will turn things around and inside out because their mindset and logic is so warped. I am a huge feminist (1st and 2nd wave feminism that is) and I can't see their logic.
ReplyDeleteI hope that we can find a way to teach our children the importance of the equality of the sexes/genders. Equality is immensely important and everyone- regardless of race, sex, gender, religion, sexual orientation, hair color, eye color, height, weight-deserves equal pay for equal work, equality under the law as well as respect amongst their fellow human beings.
Thanx Joe!
Devin - well said.
ReplyDeleteI think what we see these days are examples of what Rush Limbaugh sometimes describes as a social/political pendulum: there exists a genuine problem, and people set out to correct it, but are often overzealous and enact reforms which go too far and create a new set of problems. Further solutions to these new problems sometimes go too far the other way, etc. I think affirmative action is an example of the pendulum swinging too far, from the civil rights movement seeking equal rights for oppressed minorities, to actually penalizing people for NOT being a member of a formerly oppressed minority (e.g. hiring quotas).
My biggest beef with the modern "feminist" movement is that it confuses "equal" with "identical," and seems to think that a difference in innate ability between genders implies that one gender is inferior to the other. All people are of equal value, regardless how easily they perform various tasks. True Feminists should cherish the natural qualities and abilities that come with being female, and recognize them as positive attributes. The modern "feminist" movement essentially says, "women who can't perform exactly as well as men are inferior," which seems to be exactly the sort of sexist mentality the movement (rightly) seeks to eradicate.
I think Joe's post is right on, and the ideologies he attributes to True Feminism are correct. I also believe history has demonstrated them to be correct, and that most people at least in part instinctively know them to be true.
Agreed Dave.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the True Feminist recognizes the choice in the matter. If a woman wants to stay home and raise a family, that is her choice. Many of the modern feminists would try to get her to leave her home, but the reality of it is that women have the choice of whether to do these things, just the same choice that men have.
Think "I am Peter, Hear Me Roar."
What a great post for my birthday! You make a great apologist, Joe.
ReplyDeletebtw one of my favorite sites is called "Ladies Against Feminism" -- by which they mean they reject the modern movement "feminism" which seems to despise true femininity. There's so much I could say about this, but I think you already pretty much covered it! I think I'll just go and continue to outrage "feminists" by wasting my education by being a SAHM, spending my time barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen, seeking ways to serve and please my husband, and liking it!
I once insisted to a great apologist that I was a "true feminist," one who strove to adhere to the lifestyle and philosophy of truly feminine women, most notably the Blessed Mother Mary. He was very quick to correct me, however.
ReplyDelete"Never label yourself a feminist, or attempt to re-define a term that has already been defined by pro-abortion liberal women for decades. What you are is a Catholic woman, and that definition is the proper and true one. Any secular term ending in '-ist' or '-ism' takes away from your Catholic feminine identity."
After some discussion, I had to agree.
Why do we seek to rescue the terms "feminist" and "feminism" anyway when we have more accurate terminology to describe us?
-Cari
PS: Anywhere you use Feminism without the quotes, you could replace the term with "Catholic Womanhood" or "Christian Womanhood" and be more accurate.
ReplyDelete-Cari
Cari: what do you call a non-Christian woman who believes in the principles of equality, justice, and non-violence for women? Do you call a Jewish woman who stands for all these qualities a "Catholic Woman"?
ReplyDeleteNote that at no point did I invoke faith, God, or religion in the description of True Feminism. It is merely a common-sense, secular definition. Applying a religious label to a non-religious concept only excludes many of the women who would otherwise be on your side.
Joe, the beauty of the Catholic faith is that its truths are universal. So, a non-Catholic woman, such as the one you described, is still living according to the lifestyle of Catholic Womanhood.
ReplyDelete-Cari
Not necessarily. She may be living out these particular feminist principles, which are not specifically Catholic, but still be living in a particularly non-Catholic fashion in other ways. It would be inappropriate to call her a "Catholic woman", even though she is living according to True Feminism. At best, you can say she has certain things in common with Catholic women.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. True labels are independent of what their adherents would call themselves. The noble pagan living out a Christian lifestyle, albeit without knowing about Christ, is still living a Christian lifestyle. A woman can adhere to the philosophy of Catholic Womanhood without embracing the label. But that does not change the truth about the lifestyles or the labels.
ReplyDelete-Cari
Calling someone a "Catholic Woman" implies a great deal more than saying someone is living "Catholic Womanhood." I think the second term could be applied accurately in the way Cari describes, although depending on the parties to the conversation, it may not be advantageous to do so.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with attempting to rescue a label when it is being applied in a way grossly incompatible with its apparent meaning, however you'll obviously have to use phrases like "True Feminism" or "Real Feminists" to distinguish from the modern political movement, which I suggest be relabelled "Masculinism."