Crisis talks

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

This is an archive page for July 2001.
Where reader comments are of interest or where they raise significant points I will publish my response in dialogue pages such as this one. (Private comments are not published.) Reader comment excerpts are in black text and my replies in red text.
Please send your scathing critiques and observations to sarcasmo@bigpond.com

From: selinvict@tscnet.com
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001

I would like to offer my compliments on your website. Keep up the good work!

I fully agree with your implied position that feminism is "rotten to the core". Somewhere in the inner sanctum of the Feminist Temple is an altar behind a curtain, and upon that altar lies a mysterious parchment scroll -- the Holy of Holies as it were. Have a close look at that scroll. What does it say? It says: "S.C.U.M. Manifesto"!

In earlier years I was a feminist sympathizer, naive enough to suppose that the women's movement only wanted to create a kinder and gentler world by ending the rule of the Alpha Male. When I first heard the infamous joke about fish and bicycles, I merely chuckled since I was sure they were talking about someone else - those jocks and goons over yonder, not nice soft-spoken intellectuals like ME!!

Of course, I had never read any feminist literature....but since I was a bookish fellow , I figured I was automatically "cool", so what difference did it make?

Without dwelling on the stages of my transformation, let's just say the shit collided with the turbine circa 1990. That was when I first became aware of "political correctness", in which feminism plays such a overshadowing role. From there I soon discovered the actual lay of the land, whereupon I shook my head ruefully and wondered how I could have been so bamboozled. Oh well, life is for learning...

The more I study feminism, the less I respect it. I am convinced it has NO redeeming merit, and NO purpose for being in the world whatsoever. It is pointless to separate "nice" feminism from the nasty brand; without the latter, the former would have no real animating principle, no organizing center -- it would fall apart and scatter as fluff in the wind!

Feminism, like a bloated monopoly, needs to be "trust-busted". It should be discredited and ultimately, dismantled -- by whatever means ingenuity may suggest. All of the good work that feminism supposedly accomplishes, or aims to accomplish, should be reallocated under a different set of categories. And above all, the very word "feminism" itself should be unceremoniously dropped from the language! (If only!)

The best longterm antifeminist plan is to discredit the "patriarchy" concept, to debunk the questionable stats regarding male violence and privilege, and to demonstrate by various forceful means the female capacity for Evil -- which is precisely equal to the male capacity.

Having accomplished all of the above, it will be far easier to challenge feminist encroachments within the legal system and the academic realm.

From: Asciolis@aol.com
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001

I understand your feelings against feminism. Before I knew anything about feminism I always thought it was a bad thing. However after a while I got interested in the subject and I discover many things which changed my mind. The first thing that strikes me about your webpage and your comments is that you are not very well informed on what feminism really is and what is going on in America and the rest of the world. Subtlely you seem to imply that feminism is all about "hating men". I think that is not so. Of course there are some extremists feminists who do hate men, but I think they are a minority in the feminist movement. I think the main point of feminism is simply that women are equal to men and should be treated with the same rights. I am sorry to say that even today women do not enjoy the same rights as man do. I think there is not enough space to list all the horrible injustices that women have to suffer daily even in the "superior industrialized countries" such as ours. I think it is your responsibilty, since you want to argue against feminism, to actually do an extensive research and learn what feminist are really fighting against (which is not men). In this reply I just wish to coment on few such injustices. In your introduction you mention that women can easily "get away with murder". First of all, very few women in comparison to men actually kill. And even if it is easy for them to get away with it (which I doubt), I think you should ask yourself why? My opinion is that in our culture it is so common to have husbands beating up their wives (sometimes to the point threatening their lives) that we accept it as "normal". Therefore, if a woman says she killed in self-defense, nobody has trouble believing her. That might be why it is easier for a woman to get away with murder than it would be for a man who killed his wife in self-defense. It is much less common (and therefore believable) for a man to be killed by a woman than vice-versa. I still think you take too lightly our justice system, it might not be perfect, but judges and juries generally are not stupid or gullible.

In summary: yes, maybe some women have gotten away with murdering their own husbands, but that is no valid reason to ignore the hugely widespread physical and mental abuse of husband against wives. I think our culture still views wives a "property" of men. That explains why laws against domestic violence and marital rape are so leniant (in some states there are no such laws at all!). Sadly the church is one of the major supporters of sexism, teaching (even in the Bible) how the woman is inferior and her only goal should be to marry and to bear male heir for the husband. This may sound absurd, but it is true. There are many extremist Christian organizations such as "The Army of God" which go around bombing abortion clinics and murdering doctors who give abortions. Even the Vatican says that the embryo is more important than the woman and if giving birth means certain death to ill women, the church says we should try to save first the child then the mother. This is all to prove that women have less rights than men. They are considered as objects to be exploited. Even in the eighties there have been cases of women being denied abortion and being forced to have a cesarian operation against their will (incurring into their death and the fetus's) in health clinics all because religious groups were pressuring the doctors to "kill the woman to save to embryo".

These are just some of the issues feminist are trying to fight. I think you should learn more about it before you attack the feminism. You might want to research how the media, our present and past literature and even the Bible implicitly portray rape as a desirable and acceptable activity or look into the history of how doctors planned a campaign to estinguish midwifery so that they could have more pregnant women to study (at the beginning of the 20th century). After a while you will begin to see how what we think is a normal woman (housewife, weak, emotional, child bearing, maternal person) is in reality a very unnatural stereotype ingrained into women by our culture.

From: Rachelle7782@aol.com
Subject: Re: I'm probably saying something everyone here would understand
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001

Hello and thank you for the place to vent and also the feed back! I don't feel that I need to argue what I experience everyday. I will in any way I can, change the way women are regarded in society. The light they're put in is false. I am not the typical girl, I understand. I have had a complicated and tough life that has forced my eyes right open. Most women do not see that we are playing the roles and "bazaar rituals" that were instilled into us way back when we had barely any rights. They do not understand that we're restricting ourselves. I understand that men play a part given to them too. I understand and am quit aware of the complexity in these mistaken ways of the past. That's why I'm trying to help free women and men from sexiest barriers. Some men are fearful and are unwilling to change these patterns. Some women are too! Just by watching the roles they except in movies today. But we have come a long way. We are at a turning point. We're living in a great time. When like the slaves who gained their freedom but were still restricted to and judged as the slave, now we all have a chance to have are words not only heard but also regarded as significant. This is because there are men and women alike that are making the effort to eliminate our limited beliefs for those difficult but critical freedoms. Yes there are hurt feelings and anger in both the so-called victim and the perpetrator. But I understand that it is just a matter of facing oneself, forgiving our ancestors, and moving on. Why do people find this healing process so difficult? These ways we treat each other have roots in the past. They are taught to children. They are so subliminal. They are based on core beliefs. A major problem is the sexist barriers that exist between women and men. Being blind to them does not make them go away. It is not strength or love. We are coming toward a time when we are above and beyond these mistakes. We'll teach our children real mutual respect, true love, and compassion. Also wisdom and knowledge not egotism, which is so rooted in fear. Fear of facing our past and making the necessary changes. Fear is limiting. Sexism is not always easy to detect. Sometimes the cause of an action, ritual, or whatever, was started from a sexist belief or perception in the past. Sexism started out of egotism and that of course is a form of fear. There have been many of them in our time. There are different faces and phases in nature. There is not one without the other or opposite. We are learning and growing individually and collectively. We're working every generation toward higher and more challenging goals. If we face problems with enthusiasm and faith we always find a solution. There is a need for people to realize the importance of personal healing because what good is someone to the world if they have not worked on themselves. They end up making everything worse. I try to target my passion toward the goal of truth and freedom and that is all. What I aspire to as you said is still a mystery just like all of nature. Hopefully there will be necessary changes, we have taken the steps to get where we are today and I have a feeling that we'll take it all the way. My children can have peace of mind and dignity on a much grander level. They'll live life to the fullest beyond the limits of selfish materialism, sexism, racism, and whatever. Atleast I hope. They'll then be able to see the decline in violence and crime. I believe that starvation, poverty, and crimes are all cries for change. So are the less obvious issues but just as deteriorating to human kind. I know that I have a lot to vent about. It is all very personal and extremely important to me. Well actually to all of the world. I know that sounds kind of self-centered. But every thought, word, action has a domino effect. We're all connected in this weird way. Like we're one or something. You know the whole philosophy that each person, plant, river is like a piece that makes up the whole pie.

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