DISCUSSION FORUM:
feminism and its influence on the portrayal of sexual power



This is an archive page for July 99.

Where reader comments are of interest or where they raise significant points I will publish my response in dialogue pages such as this one. Reader comment excerpts are in black and my replies in red.
Please send your scathing critiques and observations to the email address



From: karen kmflan@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 1999

I am a woman who happens to think that our society OUGHT to be MORE patriarchal. Feminism seems to have had good intentions, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I am married with 4 children, and I stay at home. I worked as a nurse for 7 years, and I was thrilled when our financial situation afforded me to stay home. I take care of the house, delegating chores to the children, cars, put out the trash, and mow the lawn. Yes, it is hard work, and I do feel under- appreciated at times, but are we women so self-absorbed so as to think that men never feel that way? My husband willingly works two jobs, and still finds time to play hide-and-seek with the kids running through the house once a week or so. We have family night on Friday night, and Sunday morning is reserved for church. We are not the Brady Bunch, but we do take our marriage and parenting seriously. I believe that there is something in a man that desires to be a provider, protector, and leader. And there is nothing wrong with that. Women have done both sexes a tremendous disservice by assuming a role they are not designed to fulfill. I do not mean to say that a woman cannot do a man's job, or vice-versa. I do mean to say that the sexes are inherently different. We are different in every way imaginable. And it is our differences, when combined into teamwork, that make society function well. Feminism has created a generation of men that no longer feel "needed". They have no vision, and "where there is no vision, the people perish." Feminism has resulted in both parents not parenting. I do not mean to sound harsh. I realize that some people, like my own mother, who was a single parent, have extinuating circumstances. However, coming home from work, when one is already spent, and trying to sqeeze in some "quality time" parenting for a few hours before bedtime while also doing laundry, cooking dinner, preparing tomorrows lunches, etc really isn't acceptable to us, is it? It shouldn't be. We can't possibly expect to have a foundational and influential relationship with our children or spouse under these circumstances. These are the circumstances that feminism has helped to create. Let me ask you, women, has it been worth it? I say, no, a most emphatic no! I have no daughters, but If I did, I would do my best to influence her in the opposite direction of feminism. I do have 4 sons, and I will do my best, with the help of God and my husband, to raise them to be great patriarchs. The pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. As you can see, your web site struck a cord with me. I don't know what your spiritual beliefs are, but you might be interested in a magazine called "Patriarch". Happy reading!

Skip to next entry or continue with my reply.
I will let your comment stand as a legitimate personal account that presents a dose of reality. I actually don't object to women today having a career if they can achieve that, and not all can. It provides what is often a good satisfying job that pays well and allows women to participate in important decision-making activities or in areas that are creative. However one significant problem remains the fact that many of these young women are not fully aware of the sacrifices that come with these ambitions and what the future has in store for them. I see women who have achieved "equality" complain of 60 hour working weeks inthe corporate sector as lawyers and accountants. They ask themselves how they could possibly fit in child rearing. Almost insidiously some of these corporations are quite keen for these women not to have children at all, or to ensure that they can have a baby this week, offlaod it onto the mother or child care centre, and spend another 10 years earning mega-bucks, while never having even a free weekend. There may be a way forward without resorting to a return to former times. I think that you should think seriously about teaching your daughters to be repelled by the new regime. "Traditional" lifestyles may become very difficult to sustain in the coming decades and in addition they may not necessarily provide fulfilment. The best thing is if children are brought up with a good understanding of their options and most importantly, without delusions as to the hardships and sacrifices that they may face. There is good and bad in all choices and there is scope still to take the best out of the current sexual regime.

For young women with university level education (college) there will usually be a period spent in a career, until she finds an opportunity to marry. Whether she then remains a housewife due to collective family choice or whether she decides to again work part-time or full time are decisions that might be made without duress. However encouraging greater flexibility to ensure greater contact also by the father seems to me also something to work towards.


From: Mary marykmac@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999

Thought this article made an interesting response to the intellectual dynamite of Daniel Lagos 'Men are Quite Simply Better Than Women, So That's That' email. Personally, I think we should lock him and WeiRdGuRL5 in a room together and see what they make of each other. OK, OK, we get them, they give us both a bad name!!

The article is at Newsunlimited

It's from the Guardian (national British broadsheet, leftish to the extent that anything can be in Britain under New Labour). See what you think of it. Meanwhile, I'm preparing a fairly comprehensive response to your site.

You will find my response to your website at Sparks
....that's the place to be.

Click through and you will find a link especially for you on the contents page.

Skip to next entry or continue with my reply.
The Sparks page she refers to is an extended critique of my history page. It should only be read after having read my history page.

The critique is much appreciated and takes issue with most of my claims. Anyone wishing to follow the debate is warned that it involves about 20 pages of my text and 10 pages of hers.


From: Olivia oliviad@is.co.za
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999
Just want you to know that there is no doubt that women have a hard time. However, I don't negate any of men's problems, but unfortunately in a world run by a patriarchal society, women tend to get the short end of the stick. The day I see men walking around with paint on their faces and stilts on their feet, I will say they have as much of a hard time. Lets be honest, men are not judged by how they look (the precedent for women: blonde, firm toward big breasts, tiny waste, muscular legs, no flab absolutely nothing except for the breasts - very weird). Men can look like trash and still be respected. Damn, I would love men to clean up their act and parade around for my aesthetic pleasure (and other pleasures).

By the way, I'm not a fat ugly woman - they normally say that women who are interested in feminism are just jealous of the pretty ones...

From: LoveFool97@aol.com
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999

As a feminist I find this web page completely insulting and degrading. If only you knew what women have to put up with everyday of our lives. Since we finally got the right to vote after decades of protesting as citizens of this country, we were able to work outside the home as equals, but we were'nt treated as equals. Women have to work twice as hard to be considered half as good as a man. When a woman is hired as a CEO of most major companies, her salary is one fourth less than a man starting in the same position, with the same qualifacations. Your web page is misleading and full of lies. Women have to work very hard to be considered equals to men. We go through more to get where you get by just being men. You should take this website and throw it in the trash, because that's what it is.

Skip to next entry or continue with my reply.
I am not sure I can reply to comments such as these. They are displayed to indicate the passionate and diverse viewpoints that the site elicits. I do however find them moralising and are frequently so hysterical that they do feminist credibility no good.


From: WeiRdGuRL5@aol.com
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999

I would just like for you to think very hard about what your page is about. It is anti feminism,and do you have any idea what females have to put up with? You may say,"why yes, I do."But unless you yourself are a female, you havent the slightest idea. We have to go through life with many more problems. Just to name a few: PMS, labor, AIDS, (and I know that men get AIDS too but it is a proven scientific fact that more females get AIDS more than either heterosexuals or homosexual men), we tend to have more emotional problems, we have to deal with people like you who think we should be in the kitchen 24/7, just for your bottomless pit you call a stomach, except of course we "should be let out of the kitchen" when you want sex. God did not put us here to be your slaves. We are here to live an equal life. We should at least have the right to vote,and have a job (which I might add ,we dont get near as much money as males in these "equal times".) And if you think that I am just complaining, what do you think your web page is dedicated to? Complaining about feminists,that's what. You must me living in the 19th century. Women have rights now, face it and get over it and for God's sake, shut up about your anti-feminist views and filling America's minds with lies.


Read my reply or Skip to next archive (June)
The defence rests.


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