to find some modern aspects of feminism patronising to women?

[glitterkitten]

I say "modern aspects" as i am more than aware that historical feminist activism has led to my being able to work in a professional job, has given me choices, has improved the general quality of life for women since etc etc.

An example of what i find patronising to the extreme is the recent protest by feminist groups at the opening of the Playboy Club in London.

wild haired, wild eyed women waved placards and protesting about how playboy exploit women, how evil men were manipulating women and that essentially, women who worked within such industries needed to be saved.

how can these women think that they need to save other women, who are simply exercising their right to make independent choice regarding how they make a living?

these women will deny / ignore the fact that some women working in such an industry (in all its guises) CHOOSE to earn a living that way. they earn a good wage, shock horror, they may even ENJOY it!

i find it so patronising. Intensely.

as i said above, i work in a professional career. i have no issues with strip clubs, lap dancing bars, playboy etc. i have accompanied my husband to such clubs on occasion. those women if anything, are taking advantage of the men who sit and dribble at them. the women have the last laugh with the money they make which is undoubtedly higher than the national minimum wage. would a feminist seek to tell me i am wrong??

Here's a post from a Danish Newspaper from 2009. Prostitution is completely legal there. Note the accusation of discrimination against the female mayor from the female leader of the sex workers interest group who will of course have been deprived of a good education, financial prospects etc. Probably just hasn't read the right books, eh.......?

Copenhagen prostitutes offer freebies to climate change delegates.

Posted By Joshua Keating Friday, December 4, 2009 - 3:09 PM

Der Spiegel reports that Copenhagen's mayor has sent postcards to local hotels asking delegates to the upcoming climate conference not to patronize prostitues during their stay in the city. But the city's sex workers are not taking this...er...lying down, and have made it known that they will offer free sex to any conference delegate who can produce one of the postcards:
According to the report, the move has been organized by the Sex Workers Interest Group (SIO).
"This is sheer discrimination. Ritt Bjerregaard is abusing her position as Lord Mayor in using her power to prevent us carrying out our perfectly legal job. I don't understand how she can be allowed to contact people in this way," SIO Spokeswoman Susanne Møller tells avisen.dk.

routinely exposing your cunt, arse and breasts... Sorry but this is too much, completely unnecessary.

I was quite interested in the subject but, like so many feminist topics, it gets aggressive and argumentative. Flying Onion has a point, I think.

StayFrosty... Your only other contribution to this thread seemed to be some kind of 'passing wind' noise, it had the distinct whiff of "You are sooo dumb".

I don't feel a need to 'label' myself or anybody else to have an opinion about issues that affect people. I don't much like ranty threads, nor appreciate responses from posters who just like to ridicule those they seem to feel are beneath their contempt.

"routinely exposing your cunt, arse and breasts... Sorry but this is too much, completely unnecessary."

What do you mean - "too much, completely unnecessary" It surely doesn;t coma as a surprise to you to discover that that is what sex workers do for a living?

it gets aggressive and argumentative? This was a thread that started with an OP going on about 'wild haired, wild eyed women'!

i have a friend who put herself through cambridge with the proceeds of her job as an 'exotic dancer'. alarmingly, one of the tutors was recommending the job to the poorest students as a way of making extra money.

she still maintains it was all fine and dandy. has a number of stories about customers which are deeply unsavoury. ten years later she still suffers from anorexia and has a breakdown every four or five months. i have no idea whether she was initially a vulnerable person and so found herself in an exploitative situation, or whether she was a robust person whose mental (and physical) health was detroyed by her nice little p/t earner.

one of those women in the clip was wearing lipstick btw. surely one of the proper feminists will have a word with her? i mean, it's taking the piss really. how are we supposed to maintain our wild and unkempt imagery with that sort of nonsense being broadcast by the media?

she says a female one. but she's a bit cagey about the whole thing. there were about four girls recruited at the same time.

probably the same one that started the pole dancing club... better get the gels to get a bit of practice in, first.

Do you know what I find most concerning. That there are people on this forum who are asking for this topic to be confined to feminism as if it doesn't concern the "AIBU" crowd.

This needs to be openly discussed that the sexualisation of children and objectification of women is acceptable in our society and unless we open our eyes to it, the rot will continue. MTV is banned in our house as I do not agree with the soft porn that passes for music videos. However on seeing some of the children dancing at school parties in such a suggestive manner it is clear that other parents are happy for their 5 year olds to dance like a prostitute. Apologies for changing topic slightly.

For those who think this is a load of twaddle please take the Bechdel test and think about the results

For a start, I haven't followed her about the board. If I was going to do that, I'd pick someone who had something interesting to say. Secondly, if you read back, I have participated, as have others who have challenged this kind of patronising and self righteous guff. You may not approve of my contributions which is fair enough but then you don't seem to approve of women making choices that don't fit in with your view of their place. Clearly, neither does she.
I actually was the one attacked initially; "MRAtastic" is about as asinine as it gets.

p.s. In the time I spent posting that, I now note that the can is rattling anew. Must be a windy night.

Dittany,

I did read what Madwoman said. I suggest you go back and do likewise as she did quite not state that. Perhaps she will come back and clarify. It appears you may be projecting your gender hatred again.

tyr, i thought my contribution was quite interesting.

a woman who appeared to epitomise the rational intellectual female making an informed choice to earn money to put herself through cambridge. total belle du jour. thought it might have been worth pointing out that the reality might be slightly different.

as i said, chicken and egg though. she certainly has anorexia and very complicated mental health issues, but goodness knows what came first, 'exotic dancing' or fragile mental health.

i'm actually all up for a sensible discussion about the sex industry, but it gets really boring when it starts off with stereotypes about feminists. it can't really get any better after that. and certainly can't hope to achieve rational debate, which is presumably why 'glitterkitten' decided to post it in aibu.

if you dig hard enough, you'll find lots of posts where i discuss work colleagues and their use of prostitutes around the world. i'm uncomfortable with it, but i'm interested in other people's opinions. (including the prostituted)

i don't think the op is interested in other people's opinions though. not as individuals. she seems to have inadvertently lumped anyone identifying as a feminist under the 'hairy and wild' umbrella (however hard she tried to background about the weather), and wasn't listening to what they had to say, just wanted to start a ruck. in aibu.

so hey ho, enjoy your ruck.

i don't fancy one myself, so i'll go and find a nice babynames thread.

I agree with the OP to a certain extent elements of the feminist movement who have very extreme views on certain issues. Fortunately they have as much influence as my dog so they're not worth worring about.

Is it the kitten drowning that irks you, wikolite?

They are a very small separatist group and I agree that they are not worth bothering with.

who are these elements Wikolite? Are they real or did you make them up?