Can you be for gender equality but not a feminist?

[TanithDaUnicorn]

I am completely for equality of all people ragardless of gender, sexuality, race, etc. But I don't like being a "Feminist" Mainly because in my opinion it focuses on Gender above anything else, and the fact that there are a lot of double standards when it comes to it.

What is your opinion? Am I sexist simply because I don't want to be considered a feminist?

I was pretty horrified recently to see some comments from fb "friends" - male and female - on an article about women's retirement age/pensions being postponed until they are 65, but only having been given warning of this around 2 years ago (i.e. very close to when they thought they would retire).

It was all this vitriol about wanting equality when it suits "us" and that its our own fault for "banging on about equality" but not liking it when we finally get it. And then claiming to support equal rights.

The thing is, the article was simply critical about the fact that a decision had been made in 1995 yet women were not informed of these changes until sometimes just months before they'd expected to retire. Women who had worked most of their lives being paid less than, having fewer opportunities than and far more domestic responsibilities than their male counterparts.

I'm not sure how the inequalities in retirement age could have been addressed fairly but it did feel like a double blow to these women who would have been sorted into needlework and housewifery school as 12 year olds.

The supreme court has recognised it as a personal right of woman to choose Parenthood, in other words, if a Man wants a baby and a woman doesn't, tough shit, if a man doesn't want it and the woman does, tough shit.

This isn't exactly equality, and I would like you to cite the study for this so called "Wage gap" Because I haven't seen a reliable study so far showing accurate results. Also, bodily autonomy? What do you mean by this?

OP, just considering a few of your points...

Child custody: I think there has been quite a lot of progress towards equality on this aspect of separation, but agree there is some way to go, however, surely any inequalities were a hangover from the expectation of women to be domestic servants in the first place? And if there is still that expectation (which I think there is) then it would follow that child custody goes in their favour?

Reproductive rights (To choose parenthood) - I don't think women have equality here at all. Many women are denied access to contraception and have absolutely no choice in pregnancy/parenthood, which is a far greater biological and sometimes social burden to them.
Genital mutilation protection: Are you saying women are protected against this?
woman can access federal and state programs: not sure what you mean?
and vote in elections without agreeing to die: ?
More leniency in courts, especially when it comes to sexual assault: Do you mean as perpetrators? Assuming it gets to court are women as victims of sexual assault more or less likely than men to see their assailant convicted?

For child custody: in most (51%) of cases, both parents decided on their own (out of court) that the mother was to receive full custody
in 29% of custody cases, the decision was made without any third party involvement
in 91% of cases, the decision for the mother to have custody was made without court involvement
of those who go to court, 70% of men who seek custody of their child receive it
of those 70%, 1/3 of the cases cited domestic abuse as part of the reason for divorce
women who mention having been victims of domestic abuse in court are less likely to receive custody of their children than women who didn’t

Reproductive rights? What reproductive rights don't men have? Women have far less reproductive rights than men. Especially in the US. What child 'custody' right don't men have? (It isn't called custody any more. Children aren't possessions).

No idea about federal and state programs (whatever they are).

Feel free to fight for banning circumcision. Won't get any argument here. But it isn't the same as FGM.

Hahaha omgosh.
In what way do women have more leniency in courts, especially when it comes to sexual assault On which parallel universe do you live?

to vote in elections without agreeing to die
MRA Brainwash alert on overdrive.

You do understand that to have a baby it has to grow inside a woman? Of course they should get to choose whether they have one . Otherwise it would be rape and forced birth.

Oh and you are sounding like EXACTLY every other MRA.

Not to sound like an MRA

Sorry you are obviously an MRA.

Why bother yourself on a feminist internet board. Go busy yourself with man's rights.

I don't think I understand, OP- what rights is it that women have. That men don't?

Bodily autonomy = the right to choose what happens to your own body.

And yeah Ophelia leniency in sexual assault - are you kidding me? Men get away with raping women all the time.

I see where I have made mistakes, thank you, but I stick by my statement of Reproductive rights, women have the overall say so if she wants to keep a baby or not, a man has no (Legal) control over that, whether men force women either way domestically is not what I am talking about.

If you got pregnant and you decided you didn't want it, you can legally terminate it. No matter how much your boyfriend/father to your child wants to have a baby. Again, if you want it, but your boyfriend/father of the baby does not, he has no say so. And, in most cases, they are forced to pay money to the child even if they don't want any contact with it.

Women however can give up all responsibility of a child legally, and have no legal repercussions of it. At the moment I am referring to legal rights ONLY, not "Well in most cases this happens" Maybe so but that does not change that the rights are.

And for the pay gap there has been studies, although it's usually attributed to women not going into high paying sectors or roles, usually due to children.

I was looking at this salary survey the other day however, skip about 3/4ths of the way down and it shows the pay gap within the same role. I know this is only one career, but still.

www.marketingweek.com/2015/01/28/salary-survey-2015-reasons-to-cheer-and-despair/

OK, I was deluded enough to think the OP wanted an actual discussion. Now I see they are a goady fucker.

So are you suggesting that men should be able to force a woman to carry and give birth to a baby against her will?

Yes, I can imagine sad circumstances where a man might want to keep a baby but the woman doesn't, but there really isn't any way round that- biology being what it is........

If you got pregnant and you decided you didn't want it, you can legally terminate it. No matter how much your boyfriend/father to your child wants to have a baby. Are you suggesting that a man should be legally able to insist that a pregnancy continues against the wishes of the woman who is carrying the baby?

Again, if you want it, but your boyfriend/father of the baby does not, he has no say so. And, in most cases, they are forced to pay money to the child even if they don't want any contact with it. If a man does not want to father a child, then he should use contraception or abstain. Should he be able to force termination on the mother of his unborn child?

Men get their say when they choose to stick their dicks into women without putting a condom on it.

So you think men should be able to force women to have a termination or force them to give birth? Is that what equality looks like to you?

So basically that survey only looked at Gender and nothing else? Life choices, position, experience etc. Just Gender? Or did they take a man and a women who made EXACTLY the same decisions, had EXACTLY the same work experience, Exactly the same education, and EXACTLY the same position.

If they were to do this to multiple pairs of people and got repeating results, THEN I'd take it seriously, but just looking at Women's salary and Men's salary at face value and seeing sexism is not what I see.

If a man doesn't want a baby he shouldn't have unprotected sex.
If he does want one he needs consent.

Quite simple really.

No wonder you were asking what bodily autonomy is

No I do not think Men should be able to force a woman to get a termination. However I do recognise that is is Inequality. And of course, like most feminists, you have an excuse for this inequality by blaming men for not "Putting a condom on" Why would the pressure be on Men to use contraception? Why shouldn't the female be on contraceptives as well?

Personally I believe that Teenagers should be offered free birth control before they leave school, so that everyone, boys and girls, are less likely to be in this situation.

Well it's the same position/role so it's not just gender. I think that graphics will get a little complicated if you start including whether they played an instrument in year 3 and what was for tea last night.

They look at trends and then ask the questions as to why that is.

Choice doesn't happen in a vacuum either.