DiscreteElite_ wrote:Do these bad apples represent the majority of modern feminism? If so, I can't take them seriously because they heavily focus on issues that aren't sexist (manspreading, mansplaining, etc.) in which they are butthurt about it. I'd take them seriously if they were rational about it, but they resort to ad hominem attacks far too easily and won't use evidence.
Sadly, I'd say so... At least in (most of*) the western world. There are plenty of genuine womens-rights issues and activism going on in other parts of the world. But women do have equal rights to men here. (as far as I'm aware.)
Most 'Feminists' are trying to fight an impossible (incredibly improbable) battle, and come across as very authoritarian about it. They're trying to fight assholes (and often, falsely-brand decent individuals sexists/rape-apologists/misogynists/etc.)... It's like saying "There shouldn't be murderers!". A very 'no duh' statement. We condemn, and punish those who murder (-cough- as long as it's not in a slaughterhouse -cough-). It's against the law. And so is discrimination. Yet, there are always going to be people who don't care about the law, and break it. How can you fight that? (aside from education/mental-health-research/etc.)
Many 'Feminists' will use the wage-gap as evidence for gender-discrimination. However,
we don't know if the wage-gap is accurate...
The method in which the wage-gap is calculated is by taking the median of salaries for each occupation and gender, and comparing them. Now, the first problem is that, getting the median for an occupation isn't very helpful. There is no "set-legal-wage" for each occupation. It's up to the employer, and usually already advertised before-hand. It would be just as easy to say that women generally are applying for lower-paid jobs than men. (I'm not saying that, I'm just saying that it's an equal possibility unless we get more data.) Neither is each job/job-requirements equal. It would also be just as easy to say that women are generally getting lower education than men. The analysis of the gender-pay gap by the Department For Culture, Media and Sport (UK) actually even acknowledges this, and writes:
The gender pay gap can be seen as a measure of gender equality in the workplace. However, there are several more factors to consider (labour market participation, educational attainment, and more). It is important, therefore, to look at more than just the gender pay gap when drawing conclusions about gender equality.
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https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... ay_Gap.pdf]
'Feminists' will also use gender-stereotypes as evidence for sexism against women. - The problem being that, there are gender-stereotypes for both genders. And both are sexist. It's not exclusively a women's issue.
So I'm not sure what exactly 'Feminists' in the western world are fighting for.
*My knowledge of government law doesn't really spread further than the UK, or the EU.