This board is the most frightening .

[fangbanger]

Apparently.

I am a little saddened that a forum mostly used by women, has decided that the feminist boards are the most frightening of the forum.

Why do we feel that is? What can be done to prevent people from feeling so intimidated that they are too scared t post?

jess - it's not distancing. it's about identifying. we all label ourselves and i label myself differently to you. its not bad or negative - just different

"Personally I expect women to have feminist views if not to be activists. I would hope that most men too would agree with the basic tenets of feminism, in the same way that I would hope that most people aren't racist.", nooka, you say this.

Nope. that doesn't happen, not in the slightest. Reminds me of teh Chinese diplomat who was asked recently what he thought about the effcts of the French Rveolution. He answred "it's too early to tell".

I do know that the hope of the planet lies with our young people, and how we best prepare them for this task. They will ahve decisions to make much younger than our genearation ever had. By banging into their skulls lessons of equality MAY make a difference. I hope it does with my dds.

Beautiful post, WWIFN. Thank you :)

Dittany I know the Fabian society helped found the Labour movement! But their politics were never as radical as the Labour movement became. That was exactly my point; that posters who call themselves feminists and have feminist principles in the way they lead their lives are still saying that they feel intimidated or scared about posting here. I think that's a shame. I don't want to "tell anyone off" either, because that is exactly the sort of behaviour that puts posters off, I think.

You didn't say anything about Labour party conferences. Your reference was about why regular posters on this board should welcome people with opposing views, using the analogy that we wouldn't expect the Labour party to invite the BNP in. You see, just like I always felt that political parties should start a dialogue with people whose views might be unpalatable and extreme (Sinn Fein in the 1980s for example) I think this board would benefit from a range of different feminist perspectives; those not sure of what feminism is, those who have modified their views (becoming either less or more radical) or those who just want to debate feminist issues.

I don't know anything about the poster who started this thread. I did see the "scary board" thread that spawned this one and I felt very sorry that this board appears to be off-limits for so many female posters, while understanding why that might be so.

I should add that your knowledge and viewpoints have greatly added to my own learning about feminism Dittany but I write from the perspective that we should all be able to post on here without feeling hectored or that a debate is going to degenerate into an argument.

So the feminist bit has become insular. Exclusive. Irrelavant. Prersonilised. Devisive. Boring. Where the vocab drives people away. something should change.

dittany - i don't understand what you want from me. honestly. Are you saying that i shouldn't post in the feminist section if i am not a feminist.

just let me know

SalandersBro Sun 27-Feb-11 01:28:05
?So the feminist bit has become insular. Exclusive. Irrelavant. Prersonilised. Devisive. Boring　. Where the vocab drives people away. something should change?

Oh the irony! There's a reason why you're reading the feminist topic and we're not reading the fishnet topic.
I hereby request that you make the fishnet topic more interesting for me. May I suggest you make it more feminist to draw in members. Thank you.

lol. Good point sakura. There are lots of sections of mumsnet that have no interest for me, and that's fine. there are probably sections that I don't even know exist. One of the great things about MN is that there is so much on offer.

I didn't even know there was a Feminist board until I saw the Chat thread
As a Feminist, of course I want to now join, but I understand the retiscence of those who feel somewhat intimidated.
Over 30 years ago, I stood outside a National Assembly of Women (NAW) meeting; too scared to go in. I was young in years and my feminist principles had developed in isolation up until then. Some of the Women were seriously scary, the "worst" one being an eighty year old hard line militant who literally dragged me in eventually.

I was only 16, and it was baby steps for me, but I had the benefit of all this experience and it has enrinched and shaped my life.

So now it's an internet forum instead of a door to a meeting; but every journey begins with the first step.

Anything that relies on 'exclusivity' rings alarm bells for me. If you think 'feminist' issues are only for 'feminists' to discuss then you really can't have a problem with men only clubs that exclude women etc. etc. etc.

Surely equal opportunity for all is what everyone rightly strives for, so trying to achieve that by behaving in the oppoasite manner is illogical and self defeating.

Inclusive rather than exclusive.

I'm getting confused about what all the non-feminists want from this board. And I still don't know how they would describe themselves or why they don't like to use the label 'feminist'.

This is the feminist discussion section. If you're not a feminist, I can only imagine one would want to come on this section to learn. If you're not here to learn, are you here to tell feminists they're wrong?

Isn't that like a carnivore going onto a board for vegetarians and announcing you aren't a vegetarian and they aren't being inclusive enough? Or going to a board about dogs and saying actually, you don't like dogs but prefer cats. If you want to learn more, fine, but why would anyone join a board called feminism/women's rights and then declare they are not a feminist and that other posters aren't doing enough to include them?

I'd still like to know why some are saying 'I'm not a feminist'. Do they not believe in the basic tenets of feminism?

Btw, I do there is a difference between those who are new to feminism and may not use the term yet but who are keen to learn more and those who aren't new to it and aren't interested in learning more or using the term.

But at the same time hymie - that is precisely what has derailed a lot of interesting discussions on here because I don't think this topic should be about defending feminism and that's what ends up being discussed if there are a lot of people who are just attacking feminism's core values.

It's probably worth a separate thread for people to discuss why they don't self-identify as feminists. I'm still no clearer after the rest of custardo's posts

Or - what Engelbert and Jess said :o

Feminism is something of a "dirty word".

Lots of mis informed stereotypes, Butch lesbians in dungarees, men haters, burning bras etc.

I have actually pre fixed conversations in the past with "Apologies, I'm an ardent feminist...." WTF ?

Feminism for me is that men and women are entirely equal; we just bring different things to the table.