Ilovemyself,
Ok, so this isn?t going as well as was hoped but never mind, you?re still here and claiming to be interested so I?ll try and help out.
I think we need to go back to the basics before we get into feminist theory because if you don?t know why feminism still exists today, there?s no point in getting into the nuances of it all.
I?m pissed off and angry but you have to understand that the frustration isn?t aimed at you as an individual man but at a society that is largely controlled by men to the detriment of women and that the injustice is worldwide. All the little injustices that feminists are accused of getting their knickers in a twist over all accumulate and I get worked up about them because they are indicative of the view that women are viewed and consequently treated.
Think about it, I don?t know how life is for someone in a wheelchair so I might think well, you?ve got the legal rights to accessible facilities, you have a chair, it?s tough but not really all that much of an issue. I don?t have to consider that someone in a wheelchair can?t just get up and go out for the day. I do it without any planning so I might just assume that they do as well. I don?t really think that opening a door might be an issue, I don?t really think that they might be invisible and ignored. It?s not really a problem to me that someone in a wheelchair might find it really difficult to find a life partner. I don?t need to consider that in my day to day life. I have however had to convert my workplace to ensure that it complies with the DDA and at expense to me and yet I?ve never had someone with a wheelchair come into my premises. Maybe if I stopped to think about it, the reason why they haven?t come in is because we were previously unaccessible. It would be easy for me to think that the DDA is in force, they have protective legislation in place so what?s the problem.
Now, I?m not comparing wheelchair use to being a woman but it?s something that most people can easily comprehend. And when you understand how tough life can be for someone in a wheelchair, you don?t think ?but what about me ? I don?t have a fancy automatic door?, a normal human being would just be pleased that life is being made just that little bit easier for them. Feminism acknowledges the numerous ways in which women, as a biological group, are disadvantaged and is then confronted with men and other women who react badly to having those facts pointed out to them. The tired old argument is that the equality legislation is in place so what more do we want ?
What feminism wants is to do away itself. It want to be unnecessary but it hasn?t yet achieved that.
Feminism recognises that life can be awful for some men, that it can be even worse for some men than for some women but generally, it focuses on the issues of women. If we could address those issues, then the lives of many men would improve. It?s not about improving the lives of women at the expense of men, it?s about ensuring that from birth, women have the same rights and opportunities that men have. In the UK some of those issues may seem trite, in other parts of the world , it?s about the right to life.
As a man, and particularly in the UK, and especially so if you?re a white, educated, middle class man, you start life with many unseen advantages. You are likely to be told from birth that you?re strong, that you?re brave, that your little sister is somehow more fragile and needs looked after. You?re encouraged to be a protector of the weak and the innocent ? that would be the girls and women in your life. You?re encouraged to be physical, you?re allowed to get dirty and climb trees, you can be loud and bolshy and that?s ok. Now think of the different message that society, not necessarily you, sends to girls.
So you grow up. You?re encouraged to take science classes. The older you get, the more likely your teachers are to be male. You?ll have visited the doctors and chances are that the doctor is male and the nurse female. You might be watching the news and may not even have noticed that the Prime Minister is male, more importantly, most of his Cabinet is male. It may not have occurred to you that most business leaders interviewed are male. Maybe if you?re younger you might not even have noticed that the lead in cartoons is invariably male. Obviously there are exceptions but do you see where I?m going with this ? as a young boy turning into a young man, you have plenty of male examples. You?re seeing men in important roles everywhere.
Let?s turn to your home life. Growing up, most boys will have seen their mothers responsible for the majority of childcare and household tasks while Daddy works at the very important office which affords the family the nice things in life. So what does Mummy do ? well, she cleans the toilet or does the school run. Maybe your sisters are taught how to iron or how to cook while you boys do the physical tasks.
And you?re not even a man yet. Now think about what a teenage girl has gone through, where are her positive examples ? What is she expected to think her role in society is ? Now bear in mind that we?re talking about the basic stuff, not the sexual pressures, the fear of rape, the constant verbal and low level physical abuse that women face once they enter puberty. And again, so far we?re talking about nice, middle class UK.
If you?re with me so far and having a little bit of a lightbulb moment, let me know and I?ll get to the real bones of it.