Feminism

Feminism-

the Feminist movement in the 60's and 70's actually did more harm to women's rights then it helped. It forces women into the workplace that didn't want to be there. some wanted to do it and that's great but a good number didn't. women are still expected to do everything they did before and all the stuff that men did as well, it's to much work for one person.. Plus the niceities are gone (Women used to be treated with respect). The Feminists went about things the wrong way and made the world a lot meaner place.

Radical feminism emerged simultaneously within liberal feminist and working class feminist discussions. The use of consciousness raising groups (CR groups) in advanced Western countries brought intellectual, workers and middle class women together. Regardless of their political or social position, during these discussions women noted a shared and repressive system. It was not only the middle class nuclear family that repressed women, but social organisations which claimed to stand for human liberation (like the counter-culture, SDS or Marxist political parties). Often Marxist feminists found that their own parties effectively silenced them, and that the methods used were patriarchal. Women in counter-culture groups related that the gender relations present were very much those of mainstream culture. All of which was true and those things needed to be adressed.

The feminism which emerged from these discussions stood first and foremost for the liberation of women, as women, from the gender roles of society. which is where they went to far, we didn't need to be liberated from our natural roles in society, expanding those roles was needed though.

This feminism was truly radical in both a political sense, and in the sense of seeking the root cause of the oppression of women. Radical feminism described a totalising ideology and social formation which dominated women in the interests of men. This formation was called patriarchy (government or rule by fathers). Which is a faulty concept.

As the analysis intensified during the 1970s, radical feminists began questioning institutions like child-birth and child-rearing. Lesbianism became a serious sexual and political issue for radical feminists, and heavily divided some radical feminist collectives. Occasionally heterosexual women were perceived as "sleeping with the enemy." Additionally, lesbianism was important as it was perceived by some radical feminists to be a woman centered and woman initiated sexuality [2] (http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/womid/).

Radical feminists have generally formed small activist or community associations around either consciousness raising, or concrete aims. Many radical feminists in Australia participated in a series of squats to establish various womens centres, and this form of action was common in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During the mid 1980s many of the original consciousness raising groups had dissolved, and radical feminism was more and more associated with loosely organised university collectives. Since that period, radical feminism has generally been confined to activist student ghettos, inspired in part by famous intellectuals. However, occasionally, working class groups of women have formed collectives dedicated to radical feminism.

Radical feminist theory and ideology

Radical feminists believe that society is an oppressive patriarchy, which primarily (or solely) oppresses women. Some masculists hold that patriarchy also oppresses men. Radical feminists seek to abolish this patriarchy. Some strands of radical feminism advocate replacing patriarchy with its opposite (matriarchy). Because of this, some observers believe that radical feminism focuses on the gender oppression of patriarchy as the first and foremost fundamental oppression that women face.

Patriarchal theory is not always as single sided as the belief that all men always benefit from the oppression of all women. Patriarchal theory notes that dominant men use violent hierarchical social power to control non-dominant men as well as women. Additionally, patriarchal theory analyses some societies (like contemporary Western societies) as allowing women to play an active role in patriarchy, by taking over the role of dominant male. In these forms patriarchal theory maintains that the primary element of patriarchy is a relationship of dominance, where one party (almost always male) is dominant and exploits the other party (generally women) for his own benefit.

However, critiques of the above view have resulted in a different perspective on radical feminism held by some which acknowledges the simultaneity or intersectionality of different types of oppression which may include, but are not limited to the following: gender, race, class, perceived attractiveness, sexuality, ability, whilst still affirming the recognition of patriarchy. [3]

Pop feminism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Pop feminism is a variety of feminism related to misandry. Its proponents believe in the moral or other superiority of the female gender and cite it to promote social attitudes that favour a matriarchal society, where women enjoy superior rights and men are marginalised. Some groups believe that pop feminism has already instigated the creation of laws that discriminate against men, particularly in the fields of criminal and family law and sexual harassment civil codes.

The term "pop feminism" refers to two separate ideas:

the popular perception of Feminist doctrines as anti-male
the expression of such concepts in popular culture.

For example, the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer features a heroic female main character who battles evil characters who are mainly male. Pop songs such as 'No Scrubs' by TLC and 'favourite things' by Big Brovaz also sport vaguely misandristic lyrics. Some also associate Girl Power with pop feminism.

In "pop fem" influenced entertainment, men are typically portrayed as some combination of pathologically violent, irrational, incompetent, imperceptive, arrogant, unprincipled and dominated by sexual impulses. Fathers often get particularly negative treatment.