Here is this one woman's perspective on the topic at hand.
The above quoted word FEMINISM shows two separate meanings. The root of the word Feminism would be Feminine which is only one side of the sexes. In other words "for the female". Nowhere in the very word itself is equality, only in the first definition is it stated. From what I have observed, on the whole, Feminists proclaim the first meaning - "equality of the sexes", but act only on the second meaning - "women's rights and interests" - exclusively.
As for it being the same definition on both sides of the pond only shows that both sides of the pond are hypocrites. Where the US penalizes women for the same infractions as men at 1/4 the same severity, England is trying to do them one better by doing away with women's prisons entirely.Where worldwide studies show that women are as capable as men or more in violence, because women draw in male cohorts to assist and absorb most of the blame, women are getting a pass based on their sex and their reproductive organs only. The best of Feminism at work. Valerie Solanas would be so proud.
Here are only a few quotes I've found on the internet in researching Feminism and how they exemplify my point:
"If life is to survive on this planet, there must be a decontamination of the Earth. I think this will be accompanied by an evolutionary process that will result in a drastic reduction of the population of males." - Mary Daly (from a 2001 interview with What Is Enlightenment magazine [referencing] Mary Daly, Quintessence...Realizing the Archaic Future: A Radical Elemental Feminist Manifesto, Beacon Press, 1998)
"I feel that 'man-hating' is an honorable and viable political act, that the oppressed have a right to class-hatred against the class that is oppressing them." - (Robin Morgan, Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement, Vintage, 1970)
"I want to see a man beaten to a bloody pulp with a high-heel shoved in
his mouth, like an apple in the mouth of a pig." (Andrea Dworkin, Ice and Fire, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1987)
"Heterosexual intercourse is the pure formalized expression of contempt for women's bodies." (Andrea Dworkin, Letters From a War Zone, Dutton Publishing, 1989)
“[Rape] is nothing more or less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear.” (Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, Secker & Warburg, 1975, p. 6)
"When a woman reaches orgasm with a man she is only collaborating with the patriarchal system; eroticizing her own oppression." - Sheila Jeffrys
“Politically, I call it rape whenever a woman has sex and feels violated. You might think that's too broad. I'm not talking about sending all of you men to jail for that.” (Catherine MacKinnon, Feminism Unmodified: Discourses of Life and Law - A Rally Against Rape, Harvard University Press, 1987)
"In a patriarchal society all heterosexual intercourse is rape because women as a group are not strong enough to give meaningful consent." - Catherine McKinnon
"Ninety-five percent of women's experiences are about being a victim." (Jodi Foster, New York Times Magazine, January 6, 1991, p. 19)
"The male is a domestic animal which, if treated with firmness...can be
trained to do most things." -- Jilly Cooper, SCUM (Society For Cutting
Up Men, started by Valerie Solanas)
"The more famous and powerful I get the more power I have to hurt men."
-- Sharon Stone; Actress
“The proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10% of the human race.” (The Future–If There Is One–Is Female, 1982)
"Men who are unjustly accused of rape can sometimes gain from the
experience. They have a lot of pain, but it is not a pain that I would have necessarily have spared them. I think it ideally initiates a process of self-exploration." - Catherine Comins
"I claim that rape exists when intercourse occurs when it is not been initiated by the woman out of her own genuine affection and desire." (Robin Morgan, Going too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a Feminist - Theory and Practice: Pornography and Rape, Random House, 1974)
"All men are rapists and that's all they are." (Marilyn French, The Women’s Room, Summit Books, 1977)
"Women, though saved by the noble sacrifice of men, were in the equally hard position of having to see the ship go down." - an unnamed Suffragette when commenting on the Titanic sinking
"It cannot assumed that men are bound to be an asset to family life or that the presence of fathers in families is necessarily a means to social cohesion." - British MP and feminist Harriet Hartman
"It is now well recognized that a misplaced conception of equality has resulted in some very unequal treatment for women and girls." - Supreme Court justice Judge Baroness Hale also of the UK in her judicial order judges must now apply leniency in female sentencing.
"Women have always been the primary victims of war." - Hillary Clinton
And my favorite video showing Feminists at their best is part of an advertisement for plays put on for children in the public grade school system in Sweden. Advocating that women do their part which results in... well I'll let you watch it yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArX1hkPUMCQ
Wonderful article on Male-Bashing by feminists:
http://www.forbes.com/2011/04/26/eno...e-bashing.html
What is needed in this society, if it is to proceed into the future, is Egalitarianism, not Feminism. As stated by my insertion from the Merrian-Webster dictionary is the ideal. Equality in all that it stands for, not Women having all the privilege and none of the responsibility.
I could go on but I know that to expound on this topic any further, in a way that neither one of you would accept, would only bring the same rhetoric I've seen from the both of you that says - not in exact words but in meaning - "You don't know what you're talking about", "You misunderstood what was written", or (my favorite) "I'm not listening because you're not saying what I want you to say." et al.
As Jack Nicholson said in As Good As It Gets when asked how he writes women so well, "I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability." Now you should make this statement a lie by reason and accountability into the Feminist movement.
Bookmarks