To ask you to define modern feminisim?

[Cocoflower]

There is much talk on MN about modern feminisim.

Its not been something I have ever given much thought about until now.

So can I ask;what exactly is and isn't modern feminisim?

Cocoflower yes. We built our house. I designed it, knew every nook and cranny of the finished blue prints, DH and I discussed every aspect of it, and made joint decisions. And yet almost every single workman we encountered would only work to what DH said. I was just blocked out. It was very frustrating.

stewie I didn't realise you had to be a lesbian, in order to have feminist values?

That sounds awful Stewie.

George Clooney is 50! If you were posing this question to men, as an example of men who didn't like sex, I doubt you'd be suggesting a 50 year old woman as the most attractive possible person.

Sounds grim Psammead.

for me, at the moment, making sure dd isn't negatively impacted by the sexism around her is more important than the way it might impact on me.
I hate the fact that we live in a country where someone thinks it's a good idea to make a mobile phone cover that says 'I'm too pretty to do maths!'

Cocoflower - working in a job that's way below my skills and capabilities, because I'm a mother and knowing that all my female colleagues are in the same boat while the men who are the bosses and the younger men who are our colleagues all have wives who will enable them to forge on with their careers at the expense of the careers of their wives.

Being raped.

Being paid less than my male colleagues for doing more and better work than them when I worked in the private sector.

Not running exactly where I want to when I want to when I'm out on a run, in case I get raped and murdered. Knowing even when I choose the other route, that I'm being irrational because the chances of that are so low as to be negligible, but not running that route anyway as I'm so brainwashed.

Being told by a driving instructor to not choose a car only for its colour, but to look at its mileage and engine size.

Being called a slag, a whore, a tart, a slut, a slapper etc. for walking and being a woman.

But I'm not 20 - so I don't want to have sex with 20 year old men.

Do you know many men who don't like sex? I don't know many women who don't. Only the extreme-feminist I saw on TV over the weekend who tried to tell me that men who liked sexy women were evil and doing a dis-service to most women everywhere (it was about Playboy / Hugh Heffner). From her interview, she inferred that sex was something women put up with in order to make men happy.

Which in my personal experience, is a load of crap.

Oh I'd shag George Clooney, 50 or not. Some of you are just plain fussy.

I know we had Making Things Up Sunday, but there is no law to say that it has to last all week, diabolo.

I love sex. In fact, I'm doing it right now.

One of those statements may not be true.

Diabolo who was this woman and what did she really say? Do you have a link?

LOL AR

Are you having cyber sex with all of us?

Is this a cyber-orgy?

It's quite tame, isn't it?

Don't have a link sorry - it was an interview on Sky News (Saturday or Sunday) for Hugh Heffners birthday with various feminist comments following. Most made perfect sense, but one lady went way overboard - again just a personal opinion.

Queribus, have you read "Maternal Desire"? I am reading at the moment and I think it addresses some of the issues around being a woman and a mother and wanting to work really well..

There are some cultures where they dont believe women should enjoy sex is there not?

My memory is fuzzy but I recall some horrific documentary about young girls aged about 9 getting their clitoris removed as,I believe, it was wrong to enjoy sex.They cut it off under no medication in a hut, the screams were haunting. I cannot recall which country this was.

Im not sure if they thought it was ok for boys to enjoy sex or not.

As a writer/academic, I've only really encountered "modern feminism" through feminist literary criticism, which I find to be about as conducive to equality as eugenics.

I think there's a big gulf between feminist theory and feminist activism Obamaniqua.

Activism has taken off again in the last few years and there has been a wave of books like The Equality Illusion that don't really say anything new in terms of theory (so they are not on the radar of many academics) but describe the state of gender equality in the UK at the moment and outline why we still need feminism.

Is "modern feminism" a recognised term then?