to hide the feminism topic?

[CerealOffender]

the thread titles are all so serious and worthy and make me feel frivolous and unsisterly.

YANBU to hide it if you want to!

I really like the feminism topic and it came just at the right time for me as I "discovered" feminism following watching the BBC4 documentaries and then had a bit of a search around the internet for things.

I certainly have found and do find some of the threads there difficult and I apologise if I have upset anyone.

I take on board the criticisms such as:

'FFS, stop coming in a derailling our conversations' and surely someone asking a relevant question isn't necessarily trying to derail the thread?

Of couse in the heat of the thread these things can be forgotten?

If anyone here is secretly interested in Feminism then you might want to read one of the 3 books which have been published this year on Feminism:

The Equality Illusion

Living Dolls

Reclaiming the F Word

Also worth a look is the F Word website.

For me feminism has become a way of looking at the world, a focus for my politics, an umbrella for various interests,campaigns etc.

I can say that I have genuinely changed my mind on a lot of things since viewing with my new feminist eyes.

I would really really like to persuade people wrt to my points of view and I don't want to "scare people off".

I know lots of people are campaigning for the same things as me whilst not wanting the label "feminist". .

Five minutes of your time to view this preview for this film called "Misogyny in Media & Culture".

I am pretty sure that there are more people on MN who would not identify with the label "feminist" than those who do - hence the reason for the topic!

I have a theory about the shades of grey. I think that in order to 'recover' from the trauma of for example sexual abuse/rape it is necessary to see things in black and white. Shades of grey would possibly make it more difficult to build up one's self esteem. I could be wrong, as I said it is just a theory.

Good post tabouleh!

Its a real shame you feel that way BrightLight.

'Living Dolls' looks interesting, thanks for the informative post tabouleh.

I might buy it to read on holiday. I'll just be sure to cover up my highlighted hair and my pink painted toenails, and leave my Cath Kidston apron behind! (Am I everything Natasha Walter is writing against?)

The feminist boards have put me right off. They are putting off huge swathes of women I suspect.
When I read them what I see is aggression and anger.

If that is what being a feminist means I'd rather not be one. Who wants to live their lives being as angry and self righteous as some of the women on those boards?

Some/many ( of course not all) feminists on those boards are doing the sisterhood a huge disservice and I would not want to be associated with them quite frankly. They are living up to every cliche you might have of feminists as lunatic unbalanced man haters.

Yes, it's the implicit requirement to see men in a certain way that puts me off too, kittywise. I feel guilty when I go on there for liking most of the men that I know and not feeling comfortable with demonising them as rapists/oppressors/abusers.

crazycatlady - have you seen the front of Living Dolls - you might need the apron to cover it up with

Yes just having a look at the Amazon page! DH will get all excited and think I'm reading something roooode

tabouleh, I'm not secretly interested in Feminism, or hiding in any way. You have suggested some very accessible books that I hope people will choose to read and think about.
Sexual Politics, Pornland, Reclaiming the F word, Female Chauvinist Pigs, Living Dolls are all fascinating reads, and I like debating with a mixture of other views being held, no matter how far from my own they are, it all makes me think, and deepens my own understanding of why I hold the views I do. Sometimes I modify or change my opinions based on another's convincing argument. Never in response to being told I'm wrong just because.

I dip in every now and again. Sometimes it's a bit too shouty and aggressive for my tastes, and I nearly always come away feeling intellectually inferior.

However, it's always full of clever people, is interesting and gives me plenty to think about.

crazycatlady

"An inclusive, forward-looking, positive agenda to discuss the role of women in today's world would be interesting and relevant, but that's not what the feminist forum seems to be all about."

Honestly I am sure there are some "inclusive, forward-looking, positive agendas".

Here are some such threads:

Maternity Care.

Why is equality so elusive in the boardroom

Come and start a thread!

Goblinchild and other Feminists of the 70's/80's can I tempt you to come and tell me all about it on my new thread?

MNers who were woman-ing the barricades and burning bras to enable us to win the right to have oral contraceptives, rights at work and the rest - come and tell me about Feminism in the 70s and 80s!

I am sure there are some, you're right tabouleh but honestly just scrolling down all the thread titles in the feminism section is generally pretty depressing.

A selection from today's front page:

'abusive relationships/rape in schools'
'Is the fact that men view women primarily as something to have sex with innate or learnt?
'rape as a mechanism of mass oppression'
'the aftermath of rape'
'what does oppression look like'

It's the sheer volume of these threads that puts me off going over there. And yes I know it will only change if lots more people post about lots of other subjects, but I don't feel the need to go to the feminism area to discuss those things! Hence the fate of the section will probably remain a self fulfilling vicious circle of being dominated by abuse stories, man hating and 'strident' viewpoints.

Thank you for the invitation though, I will think about it.

'it would take too long'.... you mean you can't because those things were never said.

It is complete rubbish to suggest that even Dittany would tell someone it was not their right as a woman to wear make-up or look nice.

NBU.I don't hide them but many posters there irritate me. As one poster on this thread already mentioned if you don't conform to one idea of what feminism is then they get all pissy with you and start throwing accusations of being a troll or a man about.

I'm a sex positive feminist so you can imagine how well that goes down there. Ha ha!

I also lol at the threads were they are battling with mumsnet members who are/have been whoring. The implication being that these women either a) dont know what they are talking about or b) are trolls.

fucking funny those

I need to stop lurking on the feminist threads for teh sake of my marriage 'cos I always come away angry at the injustice meted out to women and beat Dh about the head with it. And he's on my side!

this is a thread about a topic, which has mutated somewhat. i have no opinion on the hirsutedness or otherwise of the posters on the topic. why get so excited?