I've got quite a simple question that I just can't answer - why would a woman not be a feminist?

[MarionCole]

Surely everyone wants equality of opportunity, don't they?

Would appreciate the opinions of those feminists far wiser than I.

I'm not a feminist for one simple reason, Feminism promotes better/more rights for woman.

I don't want better/more rights, I want equal rights, I want everyone to be the same and not judged on sex at all.

Thus I am an equalitist not a feminist.

Ryoko - I think you're wrong there. Feminism is about promoting more right for women until they are equal to men's rights. It is in no way about putting women above men, and absolutely about equality for all.

PS - until I learned more about feminism I used that same argument myself so I do understand your point.

I remember arguing that too

now I think of it like this.

imagine this is men
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and this is women
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put them together and you have
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now, to get women to be equal with men, what needs to happen? Where does change need to happen? who needs more/better rights?

I agree that we need to get to a place where everyone is the same and nobody is judged on sex. But how do we get there?

We don't get there by ignoring the fact that women suffer discrimination and inequalities and are generally very disadvantaged and if we want to change that, we need focus on how we can change things for women

oh, it's also like saying that you believe in equality for all, so you won't support race equality because that is working on reducing discrimination against people based on race.

I simply do not think things like all female shortlists and the like are the way to go about things, that just compounds the view that the woman is there because of sex rather then experties and that would never go away no matter how good they do the job.

In fact I think a good way to start would be to equal maternity pay and time off, need to start going towards the view that parents are responsible for kids not mothers, that would have a knock on effect in workplaces the chances for woman with kids to get training/education in new and more interesting careers.

"In fact I think a good way to start would be to equal maternity pay and time off"

Ryoko - and most of the feminist movement would heartily agree with you there. Making it easier and more acceptable for men to stay home with their children will make it easier for women to do so too. Everyone wins.

[ I found this useful] Especially her views on women's bodies in advertising and how that leads to sexual violence.

Well that didn't work.

Yes, she's very good and very insightful. I'm making my way through the "series" now.

Wow! Some of those images are powerful and really made me a bit uncomfortable...especially the scenes of violence. It's incredible that they get away with it.