Stupid Feminist Comments

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Re: Stupid Feminist Comments

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RedAppleGP wrote:I think I over worded it, my bad. Caught in the heat of the moment you know what I'm saying?
brimstoneSalad wrote:This is the danger of politics. Rhetoric shuts down the portions of the brain responsible for critical thinking; iirc, on FMRI you can see them go dark with reduced activity.
Point taken.
RedAppleGP wrote:And I know what I know true Scotsman is, & I don't really see how I'm making one here. I'm just saying, in this particular situation, someone who is complaining about men sitting in a weird position on the subway, is not a feminist at all, or rather someone who's just complaining about something so idiotic. Also a women who believe they deserve better rights than a man or what not are not feminists because they don't believe in equal rights. Maybe I'm missing something, I don't know.
brimstoneSalad wrote: Is a Christian who bombs an abortion clinic not a Christian?
Is a Muslim who hijacks and plane not a Muslim?
Is a Vegan who commits arson not a Vegan?
Is an Atheist who promotes religion and hates atheism not an Atheist?
A situation is a no true scotsman when the claim can not be clearly demonstrated (this could apply to any other fallacy for that matter). Feminists are interested in the rights for both men and women. In gender equality, you can focus on the rights of both, and that's what femisists are, for lack of a better word, clearly attempting to accoplish. A person that is advocating only the rights of one gender isn't a feminist. I'm pretty sure we got different definitions of the word "feminist".
brimstoneSalad wrote:At what point do we get to define people for them, based on what we think they should be doing? At what point do we get to deny them title to an identity they openly claim, because we don't think they represent that identity properly?
Like I said, we got different definitons of the word "feminist". But we can make words mean whatever we want them to mean, since we are the ones who concieved them in the first place. I guess you can call a woman who is advocating woman's rights to be a feminist, but you gotta remember that there are movments out there attempting to find are hoping to achieve equality for both genders. Focusing on the rights of only one of.. wait.. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooh I see what you're saying. Women are attempting to achieve rights for themselves, and yes, they can be considered feminist. I never said that they can't only focus on their rights.
RedAppleGP wrote:If you pay attention to feminist movements, they don't only focus on womens rights, they believe that men and women deserve equal rights.
Oh. i'm pretty sure I confused "obtaining social equality" with "advocating rights if both men and women". Okokokokok I realized my screwup.

So if you made any sense of this, tell me what you think.
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Re: Stupid Feminist Comments

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RedAppleGP wrote: A situation is a no true scotsman when the claim can not be clearly demonstrated (this could apply to any other fallacy for that matter).
Which is the case here, since there are a wide array of views and beliefs under the umbrella of the feminist movement. Saying somebody isn't a true feminist because he or she doesn't fit into your view of the ideal feminist is pretty much textbook no-true-Scotsman.
RedAppleGP wrote: Feminists are interested in the rights for both men and women.
Some of them are, but not all of them. That's like saying fruits are apples. Some fruit are apples, but not all.

Many people identify as feminists, and you don't get to set the definition in such a way to deny a large group of people their identities willy-nilly.
There are "equalists" who identify as feminist, and there are "man hating bitches" too, who want men groveling for mercy. There are people who identify and act within the feminist movement you may not like.

The only thing that defines feminism is fighting for women's rights (which is the ONLY common denominator, whereby sets the bar for what it means to be a feminist). There is no clear point at which the definition says it's necessary to fight for men's right too; it's just not part of the scope of the definition in any rigorous sense. Some may or may not also do that, but it's optional.

Feminists are advocates for women. MRA (Men's rights Advocates) are advocates for men.

This is as it should be.
Some people try to play both sides, but I have explained several times why not only is this not necessary, it may not even be desirable at all (it may be counterproductive).

Are you familiar with the concept of the adversarial justice system?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adversarial_system

Please read that. Also, please go back to the prior page and read my previous post.
RedAppleGP wrote: In gender equality, you can focus on the rights of both
You can try, but you'll fail.

Note some of the examples I gave where logical equality is impossible.

By comparison, consider "logical opposites"; in most cases, those don't exist either.
What's the opposite of a cat? Is it a dog? No.

There are situations that, by their natures, are asymmetrical and have no clear answers, no precise opposites, no mathematically correct values to balance.

In terms of equality:
Voting was a no-brainer. Property rights. The right to file for divorce. These were obvious things.

Women have all of the obvious rights now in first world countries. Women even have the right to walk around outside topless just like men do (although just having the right doesn't automatically mean people respect the right).

Beyond that, there are very complicated issues like pregnancy which are inherently unequal. Men can't get pregnant, so what are their rights with regard to how their DNA is used? What are the rights of fathers?

Once you reach issues like these, functional equality is a crude bargaining game, and in that context, you need adversarial discussions.
RedAppleGP wrote: A person that is advocating only the rights of one gender isn't a feminist. I'm pretty sure we got different definitions of the word "feminist".
That is the proper definition of feminism; advocating for the rights of women.

A feminist, as a person, may or may not only advocate for the rights of women in practice. You are precisely wrong that such a person wouldn't be a feminist. He or she certainly would be, assuming that gender being advocated for is female. But not all feminists think that way. Just like all MRA don't just advocate for men. And all vegans don't just care about non-humans (as many are charged with).

You can be a feminist, AND other things too. As human beings, we are more than a single ideology we may be labeled by.
RedAppleGP wrote: Women are attempting to achieve rights for themselves, and yes, they can be considered feminist. I never said that they can't only focus on their rights.
You did in the quote prior to this one.
RedAppleGP wrote: A person that is advocating only the rights of one gender isn't a feminist.
That person is precisely a feminist if that gender is female. And that person is an MRA if that gender is male.
It's as it should be.

However, that doesn't mean that all feminists (since people are usually more than a single ideology) only advocate for women. But, if they are advocating for men's rights in addition, or LGBT rights, they aren't being exclusively feminists -- they're also being something else in addition to being feminists Which is really just saying that those people are more well rounded and realistic human beings. Rarely is anybody guided entirely and exclusively by a single ideology.

But Feminism, as an ideology and movement, is about women's rights.

Men can also be feminists. And men can also be exclusively feminist, only advocating for female rights.

RedAppleGP wrote: Oh. i'm pretty sure I confused "obtaining social equality" with "advocating rights if both men and women". Okokokokok I realized my screwup.
There's no such thing as equality when two things are made inherently unequal by biology.

You can get close, by fixing all of the obvious things. But once you fix those, there's no clear path forward to true logical equality.

Does that make sense?

Feminists are (and need to be) women's advocates in the social battle over these complex issues. MRAs are (and need to be) men's advocates in the social battle over these complex issues. We need them to fight, and argue, and come to compromises. It's how the marketplace of ideas works.
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Re: Stupid Feminist Comments

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Sorry this took a few days; I don't really like writing more complicated responses with multiple quotes and stuff on my mobile.
Kyron wrote:I probably should have clarified more. By "insensitive" I mean, in the context of say, a male who's poor, had a bad life etc. To still call someone privileged.. It doesn't really think of people on an individual level. - Of course everyone has certain privileges - However, I find it a little counter-productive to label a specific group "privileged"
Why does it need to be about people on an individual level? Male privilege doesn't mean that every male is more privileged than under-privileged, just that males as a group have more privilege than females in respect to sex.

But if you thought otherwise, I still don't see why you'd say that the idea of male privilege holds males in contempt for actions that aren't their own, and promotes prejudice against them. To me that suggests that you thought/think male privilege = males should feel bad because as a group they are more privileged than females with respect to sex, or something.
Kyron wrote: In general, to say "you're privileged because you're male"... I don't really understand that point of view, in a society that has inequalities for both sexes, and in terms of legality and rights, both sexes have it as equal as it can get.. I don't think any philosopher, scientist etc. has ever listed off every gender-based stereotype, stigma, etc. in society and compared them in a way that would suggest that one is privileged over the other.
Ok, but what about it is insensitive, and how does it hold people in contempt for actions that aren't their own? And how does it promote prejudice against men? :?

How could labeling a sex as more privileged in comparison to the other in respect of sex possibly do those things?
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Re: Stupid Feminist Comments

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EquALLity wrote:Male privilege doesn't mean that every male is more privileged than under-privileged, just that males as a group have more privilege than females in respect to sex.
For exampleee...?
EquALLity wrote:But if you thought otherwise, I still don't see why you'd say that the idea of male privilege holds males in contempt for actions that aren't their own, and promotes prejudice against them.
I'll just quote brimestoneSalad's good explanation from a different thread:
brimestoneSalad wrote:Privilege is real, but it is a factor of all adjectives, and depends on the context.

Somebody might be more privileged for being white, more privileged for being male, less privileged for being short, less privileged for being an atheist, more privileged for speaking English, less privileged for being bald, etc.
And it depends on the cultural context.

The sum total of what we are, or are perceived to be, factors into the net privileges we have over or under others in the social pecking order. Some variables are more or less weighted than others. Some may seem more or less just.

The trouble comes in making assumptions about people's net privileges based on one or two limited qualities.
And worse, using rhetoric like "check your privilege" as an ad hominem fallacy against others' arguments.


Obviously not everybody who uses the word "privilege" makes those mistakes, but at least on the internet, the word has picked up those connotations, so you should try to be understanding of why some are wary due to misuse of the concept.

The word "privilege" is so contaminated by rhetoric, that at a certain point (if you're looking to educate) it may be more useful to use different terminology.
equALLity wrote: How could labeling a sex as more privileged in comparison to the other in respect of sex possibly do those things?
In the same way stereotypes do. All stereotypes are is a generalization of common things among a group. And as you're aware "male-privilege" is not supposed to mean, every male is more privileged that any female. It is a generalization of men and the view that men are "generally" more privileged than women. (which again, I'd like to see some reasoning behind this.)
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Re: Stupid Feminist Comments

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Kyron wrote:For exampleee...?
Are you asking me for an example of male privilege?
Before, I wrote:I'm not even saying that there is male privilege; I'm just confused at why you got so offended by the idea of it.
I'm not talking about whether or not male privilege is a thing in the west, just asking why you're seemingly personally offended by the idea of it. And there I was just saying what it means, because you seemed to be saying that male privilege = saying all men are more privileged than under-privileged, and that this isn't always the case, so therefore it's insensitive to say male privilege exists to very under-privileged men.

I was just saying that since it doesn't actually mean that that it isn't insensitive.
Kyron wrote: I'll just quote brimestoneSalad's good explanation from a different thread:
Yeah, I saw that, but I don't think it addresses what I'm saying.

I took that as brimstone saying that if male privilege exists, that it still wouldn't be right to say that all males are necessarily more privileged than under-privileged. But saying that male privilege exists doesn't say that all men are more privileged than under-privileged, so I don't see why that quote is relevant., especially when you're now saying that you don't think male privilege = all males are more privileged than under privileged.

It really seems to me that to say that the idea of male privilege does those things, you'd have to think male privilege = males should feel guilty about the privilege (especially the part about contempt towards men for actions that aren't their own.).
Kyron wrote:In the same way stereotypes do. All stereotypes are is a generalization of common things among a group. And as you're aware "male-privilege" is not supposed to mean, every male is more privileged that any female. It is a generalization of men and the view that men are "generally" more privileged than women. (which again, I'd like to see some reasoning behind this.)
It's just the idea that men are more privileged than women, sex-wise.

I still don't see valid reasoning for saying that the idea of male privilege promotes prejudice against men and holds them in contempt for actions that aren't their own etc..

This seems like a mess of interpretation. o_O
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Re: Stupid Feminist Comments

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EquALLity wrote: Are you asking me for an example of male privilege?
Kinda. I'd like an example/reason to believe that male privilege and female privilege does not?.. Nobody really gives me any reasons and I genuinely don't understand it in western society. As I said, everyone is privileged. But what reason is there to believe that male privilege > female privilege?
EquALLity wrote: I'm not talking about whether or not male privilege is a thing in the west, just asking why you're seemingly personally offended by the idea of it.
I'm not personally offended. Honestly. xD
I do not understand the reasoning behind it, and I think using it in the way it commonly is used, is insensitive, and incorrect.
EquALLity wrote: It really seems to me that to say that the idea of male privilege does those things, you'd have to think male privilege = males should feel guilty about the privilege (especially the part about contempt towards men for actions that aren't their own.).
Yes, that's what I'm talking about - "for actions that aren't their own" - generalization. From what I actually do understand about male-privilege, the .
Kyron wrote: It's just the idea that men are more privileged than women, sex-wise.

I still don't see valid reasoning for saying that the idea of male privilege promotes prejudice against men and holds them in contempt for actions that aren't their own.

This seems like a mess of interpretation. o_O
... I don't know how to explain it any better.
Even if it were true - on an individual level, a man may be less privileged than a woman. However, because "male privilege" is a stereotype/generalization, it can be viewed from a distance that he's more privileged, and thus people may use that against him in the same way 'Feminists' often do today. The idea that "you don't have a right to an opinion because you are a privileged male"..
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Re: Stupid Feminist Comments

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Kyron wrote:Kinda. I'd like an example/reason to believe that male privilege and female privilege does not?.. Nobody really gives me any reasons and I genuinely don't understand it in western society. As I said, everyone is privileged. But what reason is there to believe that male privilege > female privilege?
Well like I said, I'm not saying it does or doesn't exist; I'm just confused at your reaction to it.
Kyron wrote:I do not understand the reasoning behind it, and I think using it in the way it commonly is used, is insensitive, and incorrect.
I don't know which way it is most commonly used, but I'm not talking about that anyway, just about what it actually means.
Kyron wrote:Yes, that's what I'm talking about - "for actions that aren't their own" - generalization.
But how does it promote contempt towards men for actions that aren't their own?
Kyron wrote: From what I actually do understand about male-privilege, the .
:?
Kyron wrote: ... I don't know how to explain it any better.
Even if it were true - on an individual level, a man may be less privileged than a woman. However, because "male privilege" is a stereotype/generalization, it can be viewed from a distance that he's more privileged, and thus people may use that against him in the same way 'Feminists' often do today. The idea that "you don't have a right to an opinion because you are a privileged male"..
Is your problem maybe that you think male privilege = males are generally more privileged than women, and that that is insensitive?

Not sure why that would promote contempt against men though.

But that's not what it means, just that males are more privileged than females pertaining to sex. It's not really about net privilege.

I think that what they're saying about that is, that since men don't have personal experience with certain issues they believe women only face, that their opinions on them don't matter. Not that that makes sense (fallacy from genetics), but I don't think they're saying anything like "fuck you 'cause you're privileged". The people who say that stuff don't just have this attitude towards men from my experience, also; it's about only people of certain groups having valid opinions on issues they solely deal with in general.

It's like, "Oh, you're against abortion? Well, you've never experienced pregnancy or given birth, so your stance on the issues isn't relevant."
Of course, that makes no sense, but I don't think it's an attack on men.
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Re: Stupid Feminist Comments

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Looking for Proof of Male Privilege in Your Daily Life? Here Are 7 Undeniable Examples

May 4, 2015 by Jon Greenberg

Person in a suit with their arms crossed
Source: iStock

Author’s Note: This article is written from a White, cisgender, straight male’s perspective – in other words, from my perspective. Throughout, I discuss primarily experiences and research involving cisgender men and women, but I must acknowledge the limitations of such a perspective. For more insight into trans, genderqueer, and non-binary perspectives, I encourage you to start with the work of Everyday Feminism contributing writers, Adrian Ballou and Kaylee Jakubowski (to name a couple).

Let me tell you a fascinating story:

Thirty minutes after waking up, I zipped to the school at which I teach and experienced a damn fine day of teaching. Upon my return home, I headed out for a run on an unseasonably warm March afternoon.

After a family dinner and tagging out of the bedtime routine for our four-year-old, I walked to a coffee shop, where I finally started this article, an achievement I rewarded with a short dose of Netflix.

What’s fascinating about this story has little to do with the less-than-scintillating ways I spent my time, but it has everything to do with the staggering display of male privilege this story reveals.

Let me break it down, starting with the alarm clock.

1. I Have the Privilege of a Short Morning Routine

(“Harp” alarm noise.)

To my obnoxious alarm, I lithely woke up, as the weight of an entire culture – male-dominated, market-driven – does not rest on my physical attractiveness.

Advertisements do not routinely divide my body into tiny increments and then proceed to tell me that each increment fails miserably (unless, of course, you buy some product).

They do not paste to the inside of my eyelids an unattainable image of beauty for my gender (that consists of a body type that only about 5% of women have – even fewer if you consider that this image is nearly exclusively White).

Because I can, for the most part, evade advertising that preys on and nurtures insecurities, I can sleep in and enjoy more time in the morning.

To perpetually tired and overworked women making ends meet, these privileges might trump the extra money I’m likely to make (according to one study, even my home – “liberal” Seattle – has one of the worst gender pay gaps of “50 major metropolitan areas in the US”).

I can roll out of bed, leave the house with my short hair still wet, and arrive to work at 8am, makeupless, shoving my shirt into my pants – without any repercussions.

In contrast, many women must meticulously ready themselves for the day.

Even the morning routines of some of business’ most powerful women, according to Forbes, include cooking breakfast for the family. (I wonder how many of 355 men on the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list integrate into their morning routine a round of eggs for the family.)

At the 2015 Golden Globes, Tina Fey called out the unfairness of such imbalanced routines:

“Steve Carrell’s Foxcatcher look took two hours to put on, including his hairstyling and makeup. Just for comparison, it took me three hours today to prepare for my role as a human woman.”

2. I Have the Privilege of a Gender That Confers Authority

I work damn hard at teaching, and such dedication certainly accounted for much of my “damn fine day of teaching” that day in March. But hard work is rarely, if ever, the sole driver of any success story.

Long before students reach my classroom, they have been trained for the past 17-18 years to think of my gender as the authority.

They might have learned it at an early age when assertive girls were smacked down with labels like “bossy” – a reality that recently spurred the Ban Bossy campaign.

They might have learned it from watching media that rampantly objectifies women, often blurring the line between mainstream media and pornography.

They might have learned it from consistently seeing men overrepresented and women underrepresented in positions of power.

And I benefit from all of these lessons as a male teacher.

(Heck, it wouldn’t surprise me if male teachers were the original mansplainers, as men dominated the field long before women replaced them as far cheaper labor.)

And the research confirms my upgraded status as Mr. (not Ms.) Greenberg.

A New York Times column reports that women professors are rated consistently lower than male professors, based on a study of 14 million reviews on RateMyProfessors.com.

Another study of online courses – in which men and women professors gave erroneous genders – led to similar results: Teachers with male names consistently came out on top.

On the topic of work, I also have the privilege of evading scrutiny of my work-life balance, a luxury that even celebrities like Jennifer Garner are unable to enjoy.

Garner recounts constantly being asked about how she manages motherhood and acting, while her husband, actor Ben Affleck, instead gets asked about the “tits” of one of his much younger co-stars.

3. I Have the Privilege of Easy Bathroom Access – Even When There Are No Bathrooms

Between my two-hour classes, I needed to pee – an urge, I’m told by female colleagues, that a penis is able to keep at bay longer (yet another privilege, though physiological and cisgender-specific, to add to the list).

An open urinal or stall was waiting for me, as always.

Such availability is not the norm for many women’s bathrooms, a fact I learned in the late nineties at an Ani Difranco concert – when dozens of women stormed the near-empty men’s bathroom – and one I often see confirmed in airports and at sporting events.

Pee privilege also extends to the outdoors, as it’s not uncommon to see men urinating in public.

While doing so is generally frowned upon – Hamburg’s nightclub district has even invested in urine-repellent paint to discourage the practice – many men still fire away.

I know I do from time to time during my longer runs. But is my ability to dash behind a girthy tree to urinate in an upright position, at least mostly hidden from passersby, simply another physiological advantage?

Or have we just accidentally tinkled on more evidence of a patriarchal culture?

While studying abroad in Kenya, I routinely took long bus trips during which the side of the road was used as rest stops. I routinely witnessed both men and women pee on the side of the road.

Yes, the women wore dresses and sarongs that concealed their lower regions, and, no, I am not arguing that Kenya represents the pinnacle of gender equality.

Nevertheless, women squatting to pee in public can be a cultural norm. Just not for American women.

Thus, here in the US, not only do cisgender ​men have the physiological luxury of holding it longer, they also have the patriarchal privilege of releasing it sooner (using a penis that is far cheaper to maintain and care for than a vagina).

Probably not the most important privilege that I almost didn’t notice that day, but privileges come in all sizes, and even smaller ones deserve attention.

4. I Have the Privilege to Show Skin

Having finished teaching and feeling an uncharacteristically warm breeze through the classroom window, I bolted home as early as I could.

On this March day, the temperature broke into the 70s, possibly for the first time in 2015. Not unlike that one Portlandia skit mocking sun-deprived Pacific Northwesterners, I did what any runner would do: I took off my shirt during my run.

Except that not everyone can – not without breaking laws and attracting unwelcome attention (not to mention harassment and even violence).

My nipples, as wonderful as they are, apparently pose far less of a threat than women’s nipples.

This unequal nipple treatment has led to nipple activism – two words I don’t commonly associate with each other.

Yet the #FreetheNipple campaign is gaining traction, as many – from an Icelandic teenager to comedian Chelsea Handler – refuse to house their nipples in the kitchen of undergarments any longer.

Trained for so many years to view women’s breasts as near-magical vessels of sexual arousal, I confess that I struggle in retraining my brain for this paradigm shift.

But I know that I can contemplate the shift shirtless in public without repercussion.

A topless woman would unlikely feel safe to do so.

5. I Have the Privilege to Move About Without Fear of Harassment, Assault, or Rape

After (barely) winning the nightly pajama struggle with my four-year-old, I left my family for a coffee shop at 8:15 pm, long after sunset, and traveled one-and-a-half miles along Seattle streets, many of which were poorly lit.

I did not once consider the possibility of street harassment or violence. Even the sight of a shadowy figure on the sidewalk ahead didn’t elevate my heart rate.

Women rarely share this privilege, regardless of the time of day.

According to a study conducted by the advocacy group Stop Street Harassment, 65% of women have experienced street harassment “at some point in their lives.”

Of those women, 41% reported that the harassment included “being followed, touched, flashed, or forced to do something sexual.”

In smaller numbers, men also experience such harassment, but very few of them are straight men like me.

street-harassment

And how does law enforcement treat crimes that primarily target women?

Ask Julia Marquand from Seattle, and you’ll likely get a very negative response. She took a picture of the man who groped her, and when she showed it to the police, the cops dismissed it.

So Marquand turned to social media, posting his picture on Twitter and subsequently attracting a fair amount of media attention, enough that other women came forward with similar stories about the man pictured.

That’s what it took to finally get this man arrested in the fall of 2014.

If Marquand’s story is sobering, then the recently released report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should keep you on the wagon indefinitely:

It revealed that one in five women in the United States has been raped or had experienced an attempted rape. (For a visual of what such a number per year looks like, see this graphic by Vox.)

But this 20% figure obscures the disproportionate crimes that many women of Color face: “51.7% of American Indian or Alaskan Native women, 51.3% of multiracial women, and 41.2% of black women are violently abused by an intimate partner at some point.”

The Gender, Violence, and Resource Access Survey shows that transgender people also face similarly high rates: 50% of transgender people have been “raped or assaulted by a romantic partner.”

And let’s not forget the roles class and nationality can play. Rates of rape for girls and women crossing into the United States from Central America run as high as 80%.

In contrast, men are so privileged that they don’t even have to know what rape means. One study found that many men – 32% – didn’t know that “[forcing] a women to [have] sexual intercourse” counts as rape.

6. I Have the Privilege to Enjoy the Internet Without My Gender Being Assaulted

Once I arrived at the café, following a walk during which nobody asked me to smile, I got to work writing and researching. Like the streets, the Internet is another realm through which I’m free to travel without attacks on my gender.

And I have met a few Internet critics in my time, from White Supremacists to trolls with a Sith-like attraction to the Star Wars trilogies.

Yet not one of these attacks targeted my gender.

Sure, White Supremacists took note of my Jewish last name, but they omitted derogatory comments about my appearance. They didn’t once threaten me with rape.

In contrast, many women face such attacks on a regular basis. But don’t take my word for it. Learn more here and here.

Or ask Ashley Judd, whose tweet about a college basketball game – a fucking basketball game – led to an online onslaught of sexism: “bitch,” whore,” “the c-word,” and threats of rape.

Or learn more about the work of Anita Sarkeesian, who has dedicated her life to eradicating the rampant sexism in video games and gaming culture – but don’t expect to read any YouTube comments for her video web series.

They had to be disabled because of what she describes as a “massive online hate campaign.”

7. I Have the Privilege of Seeing Myself Widely and Positively Represented in the Media

Tired from a long day that included teaching, running, family-ing, and writing, I treated myself to some Netflix time while the rest of the household slept.

Scrolling through the Netflix queue, protagonists of my gender abounded. Not just of my gender, but of my gender and age (42).

Women, on the other hand, tend to disappear as protagonists when they reach my age.

The Huffington Post reports that a woman’s average salary in Hollywood steadily increases until she hits the ancient age of 34, at which point it “drops off rapidly.”

The peak salary for men extends to the age of 51, so I have a few years before the media makes me feel devalued and unimportant.

With media whistleblowers like the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s The Representation Project, such gender-based discrepancies and sexism have been widely documented and exposed, but they persist, nevertheless.

Which is precisely why I was going to get to sleep later the next morning than most women also due to start work by 8:00am.

***

Of course, I’m only scratching the surface of male privilege. I’m sure many women could find many privileges I overlooked. In fact, they already have: here, here, here, here, and here.

Oh, and here, here, and here.

And here.

If it takes a man to tell you that male privilege is real and ubiquitous, then you just proved its power.

But before we can dismantle systems of privilege, we must first understand how we unknowingly hold them in place, which means we must make male privilege far more visible.



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Jon Greenberg is a Contributing Writer for Everyday Feminism. He is an award-winning public high school teacher in Seattle who has gained broader recognition for standing up for racial dialogue in the classroom — with widespread support from community — while a school district attempted to stifle it. To learn more about Jon Greenberg and the Race Curriculum Controversy, visit his website, citizenshipandsocialjustice.com. You can also follow him on Facebook and Twitter @citizenshipsj.

This forum is currently limited and any links shown in this article (such as where it says 'here' and 'here' etc ) will have to be viewed on the website 'Everyday Feminism', a very informative site covering many social issues.
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knowledge is power
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Re: Stupid Feminist Comments

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Another good article.








Here’s a Breakdown of Some of the Sexist Sh*t American Women Have to Deal With Daily

March 31, 2015 by Zerlina Maxwell


Originally published on Mic and cross-posted here with their permission.

1

The immense popularity of the #YesAllWomen hashtag on Twitter has helped create a new space for the important and ongoing conversation regarding the daily doses of sexism all American women deal with every single day.

While some men continue to express skepticism when women “complain” about the microaggressions, implicit biases and gender discrimination they face on a daily basis, the experiences of women speak for themselves, and the hashtag continues to offer a window into these experiences and a demand they be taken seriously.

Male privilege dictates that there are simply certain things that men do not have to think about before venturing out into public spaces.

Young men often appear puzzled when I question them about their outfit choice, asking them whether they experience a moment common to women do when they do an assessment of how much street harassment their clothing may generate that morning.

Indeed, according to a recent report, nearly two-thirds of women (65%) have experienced street harassment, while 41% have experienced aggressive forms of the harassment.

As the weather gets warmer on the East Coast, this becomes even more of a challenge, as higher temperatures require less clothing. Less clothing often means an increase in daily harassment — but it shouldn’t be that way.

Everyone should be able to walk around in public, free from harassment. And any harassment, even if minor or simply a nuisance, is a problem we need to address.

From morning to evening, sexism and discrimination pervades culture in large and small ways, dictating choices and influencing actions.

Below is a brief summary of a day in the life of a typical American, urban woman.





1. 7:00 a.m. — Wake up and pick an outfit.

2


One of the first things most women do in the morning before leaving the house is assess whether or not their outfit is “appropriate.”

With businesses and schools nationwide drawing fire for dress codes that suggest women’s bodies are somehow shameful or unprofessional, it’s no wonder why most women can’t simply put on and outfit and go outside.

Recently, a Nebraska federal judge landed in hot water himself by suggesting women clerks not dress like “ignorant sluts.”

In describing one of his clerks, Judge Richard Kopf said, “She is brilliant, she writes well, she speaks eloquently, she is zealous but not overly so, she is always prepared, she treats others, including her opponents, with civility and respect, she wears very short skirts and shows lots of her ample chest. I especially appreciate the last two attributes.”

The problem here isn’t that women are inappropriately dressed for the office, or for school, but that men and boys are simply given a pass for “not being able to control themselves.”

If we demanded professionalism and respect from men and boys that resulted in consequences for those who do not abide by these basic tenets of human decency, we could do a lot to make the workplace a little less sexist for women.



2. 9:00 a.m. — Leave the apartment.


Street harassment is finally getting the national attention it deserves, especially in my neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

As the national report on street harassment shows, a majority of women have experienced street harassment in their lives: “23% had been sexually touched, 20% had been followed, and 9% had been forced to do something sexual.”

One-quarter of men have also reported being harassed, and LBGT men are more likely to be harassed than heterosexual men.

In 2010, I stopped working out at the gym in an effort to avoid sexual harassment during the walk there. I’ve been called a bitch when I responded back with a hello, when the man wanted more than a hello back, and I’ve been called a bitch when I’ve ignored explicit comments completely, pretending as many other women to do to listen to music.

In my early 20s, a man approached me and commented on how we had the same type of cell phone. I said, “Okay,” and turned to walk away, but he grabbed my hand and began dragging me up the block demanding that I talk to him.

As horrible as this sounds, my experiences are not unique, and Stop Street Harassment’s report is finally validating what so many women have been reporting on sites like Hollaback! for years.

“There is a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about what street harassment is,” Stop Street Harassment founder Holly Kearl said in a recent interview. “A lot of people think of the stereotype of a woman in a short skirt walking by a construction site, when it’s so much more than that. It really has a negative impact on harassed people’s lives.”



3. 10:00 a.m — Take public transportation to work.
According to Stop Street Harassment report, 23% of street harassment occurs when people are on public transportation like buses and subways.

As a long time New Yorker, I’ve been groped multiple times, both on crowded subways, walking up and down the steps at the station, and when even on an empty Subway can men always seem to find their way to your side.

The old school notion that street harassment only happens to a woman walking by construction workers is belied by the fact that sexual harassment happens everywhere.

When so many Americans are unable to move freely in public spaces, we have a serious problem.



4. 2:00 p.m. — Interact with colleagues.
Mansplaining is when men explain things to women that they already know, rooted in the belief that men are more knowledgeable than women. Women at every level have to deal with mansplaining, at work, at home and everywhere in between.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had to deal with a full day of mansplaining when she testified in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January. In a room full of at times overtly hostile and patronizing men, Clinton put on something of a tutorial that all American women could learn from.

Certainly, there are appropriate moments when colleagues who happen to be male explain things to other colleagues who happen to be women — this isn’t labeled mansplaining, it’s just a collaborative work environment.

But men should also be able to assess whether they know more about a topic than the person they are talking to before they assume they are in control of the conversation.


5. 5:00 p.m. — Attend happy hour.

Happy hour is that great moment at the end of a long work day when you can go grab a drink with your friends and colleagues to relieve stress.

Unfortunately, for too many people happy hour can quickly become decidedly unhappy if you are put in the position of having to turn down an admirer.

One of the most popular tweets during the #YesAllWomen campaign was, “Girls grow up knowing that it’s safer to give a fake phone number than to turn a guy down. #yesallwomen.”

Recently, a young woman was stabbed to death for turning down a man’s invitation to prom.

Smartphones and a more aggressive dating scene in general means it’s no longer as simple as giving an-overly attentive bar patron a fake number.

More often than not, women today are having to reject men, with no way of knowing how they will respond.

And yet it’s also risky to say yes. Comedian Louis C.K. nailed the problem on the head recently with his spot-on description of the risky calculations women make every time they agree to go out with a man.

“The courage it takes for a woman to say yes [to a date with a man] is beyond anything I can imagine,” the comic noted in his routine. “A woman saying yes to a date with a man is literally insane, and ill-advised.

How do women still go out with guys, when you consider the fact that there is no greater threat to women than men?

We’re the No. 1 threat! To women! Globally and historically, we’re the number one cause of injury and mayhem to women.

We’re the worst thing that ever happens to them! If you’re a guy, imagine you could only date a half-bear-half-lion. ‘Oh, I hope this one’s nice! I hope he doesn’t do what he’s going to do.'”

6. 11:00 p.m. — Travel home late at night.

After happy hour it’s time to head home. If it’s past a certain hour, I would normally hop into a cab in lieu of taking the subway, because it’s been drilled into me by both the media and society at large that walking home alone late at night or taking the subway alone after a certain time is dangerous for a woman like me.

Unfortunately, taking a cab or car service is not always safe either. Women have come forward repeatedly with stories of being molested or even raped by their taxi drivers.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, an Uber driver was arrested for a driver was arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly kidnapping a drunk female passenger.

This is only the latest in a long string of alleged incidents, however, causing some women to rethink the car service model.

But even if the cab or private car driver does everything right, there is also the risk you might be assaulted by someone else, including the police.

In 2011, two NYPD officers were acquitted of raping a woman after being called to help her to her apartment by a cab driver. The woman was intoxicated, and like so many others, took a cab home. The cab driver called the cops to help her inside her building, but instead she claims the officers raped her.

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Zerlina Maxwell is a political analyst, speaker, and contributing writer for ESSENCE Magazine. She writes about national politics, candidates, and specific policy and culture issues including feminism, domestic violence, sexual assault, victim blaming and gender inequality. Check her out on Twitter @ZerlinaMaxwell and on her website.
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Re: Stupid Feminist Comments

Post by knot »

^
You can quickly make a list of female privileges that will make those two lists look quite tame
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