A thread to ask basic questions about feminism

[EatsBrainsAndLeaves]

We havent had one of these threads for a while. This is a thread to ask basic questions about feminism. It doesnt matter how silly or trivial you think your question is. This is the place to ask it.

Flat pack do you consider that male strippers and male escorts are empowered?

(I'm new here, so please be gentle). My question I suppose is quite a basic one- do you think in todays society 'Feminism' is a dirty word?

I ask, because I have always thought of myself as a Feminist, although as I get older, I am only just beginning to understand what that means. It seems increasingly apparent to me that many women of my generation see Feminism as irrelevant, but to me it seems more relevant than ever. Out of many women friends of mine, only a few recognise the importance of Feminism, and yet so many don't get it and a few look down their noses. Is this indicative of the general consensus?

Hi kash, welcome, yes I do think some see it as a dirty word (cf humourless feminists).

EAtsBrains i'm new, never considered myself a feminist before but lots of little things have been adding up that way recently, so I want to learn as much as possible :)
I'm looking to read anything at all, I have no idea where I stand on the rad/lib scheme of things yet

EAtsBrains I didn't consider myself a Feminist in the 'formal sense' until the latter part of my 20's. I remember being called a Feminist by a boy in A-Level English, and it was meant as an insult and at the time I took it as one, as all I'd known about Feminism was in a dry academic and mostly historical context.
It's only once I'd had a chance at life and realised that gender inequality was alive and well in our society that I realised that boy was not wrong, and it's only now I speak about it and want to learn more from other women who feel the same way.

finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/the-faqs/faq-roundup/

This blog answers basic questions about feminism as a whole.

That's brilliant. I just read the 'Yes You Are' Post. Love it.

Thanks.

TheDoctrineOfSnatch

Flat pack do you consider that male strippers and male escorts are empowered?

I don't 'consider' them one way or t'other. I think that the idea that anyone can tell anyone else whether their job is 'empowering' is pretty pompous.

My point was that EatsBrainsAndLeaves was wrong in her claim. Again.

It is a biological fact that testosterone is what makes a person into the masculine gender, and starts in the womb. A male has around 300 units of it in his blood and woman about 28, I read. Testosterone gives the males the face hair, strong muscles, infact everything that is biologically male, including the surge of it during the sex act, and also energetic exertion. And aggression, but only in some men. My DH did not have an aggressive bone in his body, but he was in the minority of men. Aggression does not always have to appear in violent brutality, it can be in his demeanour and tone of voice. - threatening, argumentative, stubborn, bigotted etc . We see aggression in the animal males, as they have to defend their territory. Human males are expected by society to curb any of these still innate instincts by using self-control, except during sporting events, of course. Also on record is that the majority of aggressive criminal acts by women were committed during their PMT days - yes- meek and mild me did have sudden rages until I went on the Pill . They called it an imbalance of hormones at that time of the month, but actually I discovered later it was an increase in a testosterone derivative and a decrease in oestragen !!!!!!!

I went to one male strip evening with girls from work in my late 20s, but found it distasteful - yuck, infact. I watched one guy who was a brilliant dancer and admired his strength and agility but had nothing to do with finding him sexy. There was a group of gorgeous greek god type men from US, forgotten their name, anyone remember? i saw on TV on stage in 70s-80s and WOW they were so seductively sensual and actually took my breath away at my reaction !!!

ps. just remembered " The Chippendales" , think they were trained dancers the way they could move their bodies so sinuously