To lol at the feminism threads....

[Hannah4banana]

Seriously are people constantly looking out for a way to be offended first world problems!

Sorry to hear that black cherries, was that recent or some time ago?

Why do we all have to identify as feminists with a label. Can't I just be a strong independent woman in my own right?

Because that is actually being a feminist.
In a patriarcal society, women will NOT be allowed to be independent or strong. That's a role for men.

I think tneissue here is that you are associating feminist with extreme what I would call extreme feminism. Plus you probably don't even realise how some stuff is so biased against women (I know I do, when you have heard some stuff so many times, they end up looking normal. You don't even question it).
And you don't have to agree with EVERYTHING either, like every movements, not everyone defend exactely the same ideas.

If I was you, rather than dismiss everything with the same brush, I would listen, even to those first word problem or eternally offended people, and try and see things from their POV. You might well learn something, change your mind or actually decide that yes it was indeeed being offended for nothing. But at least, this will be a thought out decision rather than a 'oh these feminists, they are just always offended about anything and everything'

I honestly don't understand, girl.

I thought you would like the fact that I am agreeing that the system is bad for boys and men too!

OP it was a while ago, yeah

To be fair to Bertrand, that boys are discouraged from reading is hardly controversial. So far DS1 loves books, but it's been an expensive and time-consuming journey to get there - most publishers seem to have quiet little girls in mind- and who knows if it'll last when he gets to school.

(Yes, I know not all little girls are quiet)

girl at my dcs school, bouts are told they cant do literacy and it's normal if they aren't good at spelling.
I know because the teachers told me that much when I said something needed to be done abut my boys spellings....
Said teachers also told me it was normal for girls to not be good at maths. And actually refused to believe me when I proved to them this had nothing to do with being a boy or a girl but everything to do with the way they treat boys and girls.

My other favourite one is this

Men get shamed for going to Thailand or having a SE Asian wife and get told that the patriarchy makes them have preferences. How dare they not be attracted to an overweight woman from the West

Meanwhile women 40+ are going abroad for sex tourism but that's just empowering and liberating

Sorry Bertrand - i was pointing out that if someone wants to make IME a false statement like "boys are told books are for girls", when society self evidently reveres intelligent men, then it would reasonable to ask them for evidence to support that claim. You seemed intent on asking for evidence for a number of similarly style statements.

I agree the system is bad for men and boys, whatever that system is. However it is being made worse - e.g. see Larrys post about 35% more likely that women will now attend uni that men, it doesn't take a genius to see how this will affect things in the future I don't think.

And YY about the fact that it's bad for men and boys too.

But then I suspect that some women are quite happy to not challenge those ideas.
When men are supposed to be the bread winner and not women, it give women a freedom that men do not have. The one to chose what they want to do: being a SAHM, working part time, full time. The choice is are according to what they feel like doing, not around the idea that earning the money for the family should be their sapinsibility too.
You can see that all over MN as soon as there is a thread about going back to work etc etc.

And actually OP that for me is also about being a feminist. As in accepting that wanting equality in treatment between men and women mean that men need to take on some responsibility that they didn't use to (e.g. Parenting but it also means women need to talk on board responsibilities that they didn't have before, e.g. Earning money.

Yep, all mn feminists - hell, ALL feminists - think the 'empowering and liberating' women going abroad for exploitation are in the right.
You go, sisters.

"most publishers seem to have quiet little girls in mind"

Really? There are loads of books for adventurous boys. The most successful series of books and films of the last 2 decades has centred around the adventures of a boy with a bookish girl as his sidekick.

Marjorie,

I can embrace what you call feminism but that is not the version on the FWR board here.

To be fair to Bertrand, that boys are discouraged from reading is hardly controversial. So far DS1 loves books, but it's been an expensive and time-consuming journey to get there - most publishers seem to have quiet little girls in mind-

Albertcampionscat ... I'm intrigued by this because my perception of the mainstream oeuvre of children's lit is that the central character / hero is usually a boy or male animal. i guess i'm curious re what books you mean -so I can read them-.

I agree Misswatch that there are some shocking double-standards employed by feminists to justify sexual behaviour in women that would be condemned in men.

girl at my dcs school, boys are told they cant do literacy and it's normal if they aren't good at spelling What kind of bloody school is that?

I think one of the major conundrums that we face on our path to equality is how to square the reality that many women do have a biological imperative to look after their children with a capitalist setup that runs on money and penalises women for doing so.

Our society couldn't function without the unpaid labour that it relies on yet that unpaid labour is not respected.

Of course. Older women are allowed a young bit of stuff but a man wanting a younger woman in her fertile years? Not allowed

Keeping in mind it is evolutionary. It makes logical sense and it's backed by science that younger women have less chance of having a baby with birth defects

Who is it who is shaming men for marrying SE Asian women while celebrating sex tourism for women? Who is doing that? Where?

I have never seen a thread about that anywhere on MN to my knowledge, and certainly not on the feminist board.

If it helps, that's not in my Big Book of Feminism for Meanies as a Thing. If you're going to have a pop at feminists, you might at least make an effort to have a pop at things feminists do or say

Men get shamed for going to Thailand or having a SE Asian wife and get told that the patriarchy makes them have preferences. How dare they not be attracted to an overweight woman from the West

Meanwhile women 40+ are going abroad for sex tourism but that's just empowering and liberating

I'd dispute either.
As you're misrepresenting both.

"Of course. Older women are allowed a young bit of stuff but a man wanting a younger woman in her fertile years? Not allowed"

Which one do you think happens more in real life?

Men get shamed for going to Thailand bloody hell yes lets not shame the men for using prostitues or shopping for a poor wife

I don't recognise this society where women don't have a sense of responsibility for earning money, marjorie. Have I misunderstood?

I don't know any women of my generation, and broadly also of my parent's generation, who have not at one point or another been the main breadwinner for either themselves or their families.

Men get shamed for going to Thailand bloody hell yes lets not shame the men for using prostitues or shopping for a poor wife

What if they are not using prostitutes or wife shopping?

There are prostitutes in the West and mail order brides

When has anyone ever said sex tourism is empowering?

Lessthan- well said!