To be a bit dismayed if 4 million women visit this site,why are there so few posts on the feminism threads?

[Scarletohello]

Ok so I know there are lots of lurkers but if there are really millions of women who go on MN, why are so many threads on the feminism section consisting of so few women? It doesn't make sense to me as so many issues that
women post about on many different topics are actually feminist issues when it comes down to it...

I've been lurking on this thread so just de-lurking to say BRILLIANT post by cailindana, sums up how I feel about things, I just wish I could express myself as clearly. I shaved my legs this morning btw, if that's relevant, and call myself a feminist

Yes 85,000 per year in the UK. And that's a conservative estimate.

I have started threads there and contributed. Never been 'savaged' but maybe i'm not that sensitive .

I think that sometimes having the blinkers removed can be a confronting experience and the temptation can be to shoot the messenger.

Plus, the politics threads are shark tanks, but who cares?

I agree that what is important is that women do not have real choices or autonomy over their own body.

i am back to 18th century in my family history- women changing their name has not been a problem and I haven't 'lost' anyone. Very easy to follow.

I find that when I'm attempting to stalk find people on Facebook, it's often hard to find the women, because of name changes

We don't come over 'en mass' because we don't know anyone- I don't know anyone on MN and certainly wouldn't belong to any FB groups or follow on Twitter or meet up etc.

cailindana - good post. I would agree with you - mostly. Everything you say is true.

My view though is that many of these things are a reflection of society as a whole and there are equal pressures on boys and men - just different. (I have argued this one out with Hak on the "small penis" thread)

I want to see women free to go out without make-up and men able to like trains without being automatically branded nerds with no hope of a girlfriend.

I'd like the whole "woman as man's property" idea to be stamped out completely and utterly and forever. But I would also like to see the "children as womens' property" idea stamped out too. ( I have more than one wonderful man friend who has been almost totally pushed out of his kids life on divorce)

We will do better if we work together for the good of us all. That's my view.

Yes I agree it can be hard to find women you used to know on facebook, before they married. Easier to find the men.

I wouldn't look for anyone on FB unless I had met them very recently.

You're probably not as stalky as me then, Mehitabe. I'm thinking about people from school, over 20 years ago. It's obviously not a big problem if I can't find them, but it does happen.

My mum when she retired, looked for old friends she had lost touch with. She has made contact with some old friends, and they are enjoying socialising together. They lost touch when they were all busy bringing up families.

I disagree with you on that last point engeika because how it appears to me and I think most feminists is that while the society we have now has disadvantages for both men and women, on the whole men benefit in terms of having more access to money, less likelihood of being raped, less judgement in terms of looks etc. Less than 100 years ago women had no vote, no right to property, no ability to get a decent job. Only 40 years ago women, under law, could be paid less than men. Up till 1992 it was legal for a man to rape his wife.

Women and men are not equally disadvantaged. The balance of power is tipped towards men, who own most of the wealth in the world and run most of the business and governments. That is what feminism wants to tackle.

A huge advantage not to be found in FB! If I wanted to keep in touch I did.

I don't think I posted on this thread originally but I read it at the time and thought that the OP got a very hard time for a clumsy faux pas. She was patronising but essentially well-meaning IMHO.

I haven't re-read the thread but I believe she apologised. I think some posters didn't exactly cover themselves in glory once they scented blood.

I lurk on FWR and very occasionally post. I find some of the posters extremely informed and informative and witty with it - who'd have thunk it?

I find that the aggression on FWR comes from MRA. On Chat and AIBU women are more than capable of taking care of it themselves

I deregistered from friends reunited when they gave the present name without asking- I don't want to be found! I have now realised a huge advantage of name changing that I hadn't realised before today!

A definite advantage! But presumably not why you changed your name, if you did?

I use a completely false name on Facebook

The one thing that is showing up is that the majority of women don't post- it seems to me that it shows up a huge problem and it needs to become a friendlier board- if it wants more posters as opposed to the 'right sort' of posters.

cailindana - you are right about women being more disadvantaged worldwide but I don't see it in the UK in 2015- I see the opposite in fact.

That is not something I would argue though. What concerns me is the approach to put this right - and I don't like to see men belittled, ridiculed, pushed out, told that they are not needed in the family - that does not help any of us.

I changed it before FB but it has highlighted a huge advantage

Do you feel that feminist belittle ridicule and push men out engeika?

The reason I think women in the UK are still disadvantaged is that there is still not a 50/50 representation of women in the government or in big business, the judiciary or any positions of power. Women still earn less than men and are still lose their jobs due to pregnancy. They get promoted less and end up leaving jobs due to discrimination. Women get raped and killed in their thousands by men whereas women don't do the same thing to men.

"I don't like to see men belittled, ridiculed, pushed out, told that they are not needed in the family"

Do you think feminists do this?