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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To dislike "Radical Feminism"

985 replies

InternetPerson · 25/09/2015 21:15

I've got nothing against feminists that fight for womens rights and genuinely want the best the best for everyone and don't hate anyone, but "RadFems" tend to be full of bitterness and hatred. And I'm not just talking about kids, these are high profile, intelligent women with power and influence. Do you think it's unreasonable to dislike something where most people think men are inherantly evil and to be feared? Or do you think their hatred is fair and we should respect them for their good work in trying to make humans hate eath other even more?

Like, I said, I have nothing against Feminism, it's done a lot of great work down the years and still does, but "Rad Fem" and "Feminism" are too completly different things in my opinion. Is this a wrong conclusion?

AIBU?

OP posts:
Autumnnights1 · 26/09/2015 00:09

Lynda, times change, its not about lazy short hand, its about the word. we dont do radical.. and rightly so. I can spurt things i didnt think were offensive 2 years ago.. they are now.

MinecraftWonder · 26/09/2015 00:14

Lynda...are you seriously arguing that it hasn't?

PoundingTheStreets · 26/09/2015 00:17

I think the trouble feminism really has is that most people don't really think about it until they're on the sharp end of not experiencing equality. I'd say that most women who aren't being actively discriminated against (to their knowledge) wouldn't bother to investigate what radical actually means. They have no reason to in a world where there are 1001 other demands on their time. People only bother with things that have a resonance for them. A lot of self-identifying feminists wouldn't actually be able to define radical feminism because they've assumed like many others that it means 'extremist'.

I only became interested in feminism when my life as I knew it collapsed and I realised that because I was a female I had to overcome a huge number of setbacks that the average male couldn't even begin to fathom. Certainly my DC's father didn't have to consider them and was free to start a new life without the constraints of 24/7 responsibility for children while trying to keep financially afloat and rebuild a life, and could actually do no more than turn up once a week for 4 hours playing disney dad and be labelled a great dad even though he paid no maintenance (couldn't afford it). I OTOH would have faced social condemnation had I done the same thing.

Autumnnights1 · 26/09/2015 00:20

YANBU OP.. Hope this thread hasnt shut you down..

Things are still unequal.

Do I class myself as a "radfem" certainly not, it incites aggression and makes a "them and us" situation that i personally want no part of.

LyndaNotLinda · 26/09/2015 00:21

Yes, I'm seriously arguing that it hasn't. Well, not in the world I operate in anyway. Let's see:

"We're proposing radical reforms to the way the school deals with termtime holidays."

"The failing hospital needs a radical overhaul in the way it managed patient care."

"This winter, break the mould with your kids and do something radically different to get them off the computer!"

Nope. Not seeing how that's a dirty word.

LyndaNotLinda · 26/09/2015 00:22

manages, not managed

Original poster
InternetPerson · 26/09/2015 00:24

A lot of people are totally missing the point I was making, maybe I wasn't articulate enough or my defintion of "Radical" is incorrect.

www.pinterest.com/pin/546835579728016112/

You think those quotes are perfectly fair? They are the opinions of what I'd consider "Radical Feminism" If I'm wrong then I'd be quite happy to be educated on the issue. I found them from google and it looks like that person has the same opinion has me. If we are wrong, or ignorant, then fair enough

OP posts:
LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 26/09/2015 00:24

Thing is the 'radical' in radical feminism isn't that radical. Not these days.

It's like in Scotland, where the SNP have somehow managed to build this reputation as 'anti-austerity'. They aren't. They are just 'a little bit less austerity than everyone else'.

Emily Davison was a Radfem. She threw herself under a fucking horse. That was radical. It directly contributed to y'all getting the vote, but hey, don't let that stop you bumping your gums OP. Haterz gonna hate, after all.

Autumnnights1 · 26/09/2015 00:26

It depends how the word is used. It is no longer necessary to be fair and could quite easily be left out of every single sentence you have stated.

We are proposing reforms
We are overhauling the hospital
We are doing thing differently with the kids this year

The word radical depicts something very major and gets peoples backs up, its not necessary.

MinecraftWonder · 26/09/2015 00:27

What is the first thing that pops into your mind Lynda, if I mentioned a group of Radical Christians? You would have no fleeting pre-conceptions at all of what exactly may make them 'radical'? (even if those pre-conceptions were wrong).

If not, you're a better person than most.

PoundingTheStreets · 26/09/2015 00:30

InternetPerson - a lot of those quotes have been taken entirely out of context and mean something quite different when viewed in the correct context.

Autumnnights1 · 26/09/2015 00:32

I am not a "radical" feminist... I am a feminist. Its very simple.

Radical groups depict no compromise, no solution.

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 26/09/2015 00:34

The word radical depicts something very major

I think we need something very major.

GiddyOnZackHunt · 26/09/2015 00:36

Ffs you can search any body of work and pick out oddities. Various trolls have quoted 10 year old MN threads out of context to portray the site as man hating. Without stopping to think that a lot of us are married or cohabiting with perfectly decent men and/or are the parents of boys or men who we love beyond measure.
You can pick and choose quotes to suit any purpose. Lies, damn lies and selective quotes.

Autumnnights1 · 26/09/2015 00:36

what do we need thats major Lonny? other than a change of behaviour in some aspects.

Lweji · 26/09/2015 00:37

People are using Pintrest as source of quotes about feminists? Have we gone that low?

Autumnnights1 · 26/09/2015 00:39

Pintest? is that a wide known reading? Lweji.

Autumnnights1 · 26/09/2015 00:40

Or is that particular to your group of people?

GiddyOnZackHunt · 26/09/2015 00:40

Radical Christians actually makes me think of something different to fundamentalist Christians. Radical implies change whereas fundamentalist makes me think regression.
BUT I have been castigated on here by a tiny minority over a difference between a right to choose and a duty to refuse which was odd.

Autumnnights1 · 26/09/2015 00:41

dont even think about getting me on the spelling... it must be pintrest then. I still havent got a clue what you are talking about.

LuisCarol · 26/09/2015 00:41

Can I be a radfem ally? Is that a thing? This thread makes me want to be it, even if it isn't.

My son has girl friends as much as he has boy friends.

Mine too! He never gets called bossy, though.

Autumnnights1 · 26/09/2015 00:44

Radical in most peoples minds means big change. It means unrest. It means revolution about something and is not appropriate.

Lweji · 26/09/2015 00:44

Sorry for the spelling. Pinterest. (which you also got wrong)
I think Pintrest is probably more adequate.

But I was referring to the link by the OP as source of quotes from feminists:
www.pinterest.com/pin/546835579728016112/

"your group of people" - are you on glue?

Autumnnights1 · 26/09/2015 00:46

does he get called radical Grin luis. Only in a funny dispute and thats the way it should stay. A funny ridiculous word of the past.

Autumnnights1 · 26/09/2015 00:47

Why are you being rude lweji?

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