Anyone like to help me with a politics exam?

[YouMakeMyDreams]

After sitting through a politics lecture on feminism last week and muttering bollocks a lot I've decided the is feminism still needed. Discuss. Type of question is one of the two I'm going to tackle.
I want to make up some notes with bullet points to form my short essay around. Any suggestions for what I should tackle in it?

[thatstoast]

I graduated from my politics degree 10 years ago so I may not be up to date but do they still have those book things? There used to be big buildings full of them and you could learn things from them. It's sort of like Wikipedia but with more walking around.

[PoochSmooch]

Toast

Any of the topics on the front page here might help you out, OP.

There's so many topics within feminism, you'd need to be a bit more specific. Are you talking western, developing world, worldwide? Socially, politically, personally, culturally?

You could start with the wage gap, or FGM, or reproductive rights...the world is your oyster really.

But opening your post with "I was muttering "bollocks" while hearing about feminism" is quite a rude way to open a post on a feminist forum, don't you think?

[DeviTheGaelet]

If you can't formulate your own argument you probably shouldn't be taking the course. Seems you might fail it, which would be a shame.

[M0stlyHet]

I think OP should go the tried-and-tested route of cutting and pasting from wikipedia. It's not like they'd ever spot the blatant plagiarism.

[YouMakeMyDreams]

Well for one I was muttering bollocks at some of points some of the male students were making.
Secondly wow books! Why hadn't I thought of that? Oh yes I have some was just looking for some personal opinions.
I am perfectly capable of forming my own argument it's why I already have a degree and am retraining later in life and funnily enough how I got on this course coz you know like I can read and everything.
Some of the replies here are a fantastic example of why this board has the reputation it has. I'm a grown woman. Identify as a feminist and feel stringer about things the older I get. I am capable of passing this and any exam all by myself and was under the misapprehension that this board was frequented by intelligent eloquent people. Not people that feel they need to be insulting to make themselves feel good. That says far more about all of you than me.

[T2K]

So from your post the questions is ''Is feminism still needed/relevant?''

Consider basing it off countries in the middle east/Africa where Feminism is slowly making ground to re-balance the currently anti-women vitriol they produce? Very much needed there?

Use Wikipedia & the sort to research the different groups out there, their headline achievements and what they are trying to focus on no, then use news reports to show there is still more to do?

Or use Trump's victory as a sign that Feminism is still needed as a form of lobby group to ward off any of his particularly prickly policies? US has lobbyists for everything & sadly it seems most of the country is run by them, Feminism needing their own?

Just ideas!

[TheVermiciousKnid]

To be fair, YouMakeMyDreams, your first post was a bit muddled and not very clear. It did look like you were muttering 'bollocks' to feminism.

There are still so many reasons why feminism is needed. Violence against women, wage gap, division of housework & childcare, under-representation of women in politics, boardrooms & elsewhere, 'gender-blind' medical research, attitudes to rape & sexual abuse, access to contraception, abortion etc. It's a depressingly long list.

Good luck with the essay.

[MrsDustyBusty]

Why didn't you explain any of that in your OP, OP?

It read like the regular borefest where some lad comes along bellowing that the so-called "ladies" who post here should convert him to feminism, because right now he's totes not into it.

[Xenophile]

Had you been clearer in your OP then you might have got a different response. As others have said, and as you would know if you read this board rather than listening to others who don't's opinions on it, then you would understand that recently there have been a spate of posts similar to your OP which have been removed for trolling.

As a small indicator of why feminism is still needed, women have been working for free for the last few days and will continue to do so until the end of the year due to the pay gap.

As you've already got a degree, I'm sure you laughed wryly at advice to look at wiki though

[thatstoast]

What are you retraining to be?

It's great that you already have the capability to construct your own argument on why or why not feminism is still needed. Do come back and share it.

[almondpudding]

I would start by defining what feminism is... a political movement for women's rights (not 'equality'). I'd then state what some of the women's human rights are by stating a variety of articles from CEDAW. I'd then give examples from around the world of feminist activists fighting to get those rights because many women still don't have them.

[PoochSmooch]

Oh, come off it, OP! Your OP wasn't at all clear. OK, the first response was a bit snidey, but the second post (mine) wasn't. I think I was quite helpful, given the fact that the OP really did look goady - "After sitting through a politics lecture on feminism last week and muttering bollocks a lot " - that reads as if you were saying "bollocks" in response to the lecture, because you don't mention that it was in response to the male students. How on earth were we meant to know that??

Wind your neck in, have a cup of tea, think about some of the bullet points you might want to use, then come back and we'll help you. Don't be so touchy.

[Leila78]

The OP said that she believed feminism is still needed. And so what if she did think the lecture was bollocks? What if it was bollocks? Why are people taking that as a slight?

[thatstoast]

She didn't say that in her op. And we're taking slight as this forum is trolled regularly so maybe we're a bit suspicious.

[SexTrainGlue]

There's a 'homework corner' topic for people who want assistance with their education.

It's not meant to be sprayed all over other boards (as this is a chat, not a tutoring, site)

[Leila78]

Just think some of the responses were a bit snide. I'm respectfully assuming english isn't the OP'S first language but 'I've decided the is feminism is still needed' is clear enough to me. She said nothing wrong.

[thatstoast]

As I said, we get trolled a lot. So I probably jumped to the conclusion that she didn't think feminism was needed based on her OP. Her second post has helped a little bit. It would still be nice if she came back and added her thoughts to why feminism is still needed.

[PoochSmooch]

Not sure I agree, Leila, I had to read it a few times before I understood as the sentence construction isn't clear - I interpreted "'I've decided the is feminism still needed. Discuss. Type of question is one of the two I'm going to tackle" as "I've decided that the question I'm going to tackle is: "Is feminism still needed? Discuss". Which again, doesn't automatically read that the poster is in favour of feminism.

As we get posters here in bad faith with questions that read just like that just about every day, the first instinct isn't to try to dissect them and say "Well, it sounds like this poster is saying feminism is bollocks, but let's suppose I've misunderstood they post, and they aren't".

[Leila78]

I've decided that the question I'm going to tackle is: "Is feminism still needed? Discuss".

What's wrong with that? There's no implication she thinks it isn't needed. People are so touchy on here. Even if some MRA wanker does sneak it I'll sure we'll all cope.

[Leila78]

And just one more thing: suppose the poster isn't in favour of feminism? Don't you think it's good to engage with such people in debate? Nothing will come of a load of people in an online bubble adhering to a consensus. I personally enjoy debating with anti-feminists, Tories, Brexiters and all sorts of other people whose views I'm not in agreement with. Heck sometimes, you can persuade people through a process of debate that feminism is urgently needed. Then someone goes away thinking differently about power and gender in this society. Isn't that what it should be about? I'm a big girl - I get told to fuck off by teens with behavioural issues on a daily basis. Someone disagreeing with my feminist politics on an internet forum is quite survivable. Of course you do not want some arsehole completely hijacking the thread, but then the MNHQ do a pretty good job of kicking them out.

But there's too much 'oooh, someone doesn't agree with us. Rather than engaging them in debate let's just bully them out'.

And also, we don't know anything about this woman. It sounds like she's not a good English speaker and she wanted some help. We should give her the benefit of the doubt at first. If she does turn out to be a he on a troll mission, then we'll deal with that then.

[VikingVolva]

Lella, I agree with you.

But I also think that this is a chat site, not a 'do my homework for me' site.

[TheVermiciousKnid]

That's not what it originally says, Leila. That's with punctuation added, which makes the meaning clear. The original post was not clear. (And no, I'm not a pedant asking for perfect punctuation, but sometimes meaning gets lost completely without punctuation.)

[PuertoVallarta]

I have been (mostly lurking) on this board for years and I have never, ever, ever thought there was anything to the accusations that FWR can be unduly hostile...until this thread.

OP, I understood what you meant the first time. I can't even roll my eyes hard enough to express how I feel about the thought that one must never mutter "bollocks" about a "feminist" lecture. There are scores of women calling themselves feminists who make me not just mutter but scream bollocks. Umm, Everyday Feminism website to pick an example most posters will be familiar with.

And also, people crowdsource ideas on Internet forums all. the. time. OP was hardly asking us to do her homework. FFS seriously.

I don't care too much for drama and not trying to stir it up. Just letting OP know some people got it.

Sorry I haven't got any suggestions. I don't have a fancy degree and not even sure what people do at university exactly. I can't picture anything except high school, where we never wrote our own exam questions.

[VikingVolva]

Ok, my bad and stand corrected.

She was asking for exam prep and essay help, and that may or may not be homework.

[M0stlyHet]

The day this thread was posted, there was another one going about "Why do we need feminism?" started by a troll who then started sock-puppetting. This was the deletion message: "Message from MNHQ: This thread has been removed as the OP was talking to themselves under various names on the thread" We get multiple such threads every week. Even when sensible threads are started, they get trolled. I'm not going to apologise for being shirty with someone who posted in such a stupid manner in the first instance. I'm not on here to give trolls the benefit of the doubt, I'm not on here to do people's homework (and I have worked in higher ed and know exactly what sort of student does this sort of thing instead of getting off their arse and going to the library). This is not me being a mean girl feminist, this is me being a human being who has had enough of online shit and takes no prisoners any more.