Crappest arguments used against feminism on social media

[Echobelly]

What are the crap 'positions' against feminism you see most often, and how do you reply?

One of my 'favourites' is when men respond with loads of stats about male suicide, women getting custody of kids, military deaths, rate of men murdered compared to women, in a manner saying 'HA! So much for the Patriarchy, huh, HUH?!'

As if a) we didn't realise any of these was a thing, b) these weren't generally caused by the Patriarchy in the first place and c) feminism is about thinking that every single man has it better than every single woman.

You also get 'Trump doesn't hate women, look at these women he employed!' - uhm yeah, we're actually beyond 'employing some women' being a sign of being supportive of women in general.

Another popular one is to find some totally extreme feminist saying that all men should be killed, castrated etc and claiming that this represents all feminism.

‘Well I’ve never seen it.’ Oh well it must be wrong then

The majority of women don't support feminism!
When challenged links to a poll that shows women do support equality for women.

And 'Well some women have used sex to get what they want'... As though sleeping with a bloke you're not attracted to and may not even like in order to get something is some kind of superpower and not a sign of massive gender power imbalance, as we don't hear about men having to do it.

Also, can you imagine how many women were told or thought they'd get something by sleeping with a man who then didn't even give them what they were expecting in return?! Because the men know full well that the woman would feel too ashamed to complain to anyone, and he'll have got his end away with a woman he fancies.

You're just jealous is my favorite because it needs no response. It speaks for itself.

''You sound bitter.''

Oh yes 'Your ugly' (always with bad grammar) as if a feminist is going to base her entire self-worth on what anyone thinks of her looks, let alone a male troll!

I read Irish newspapers online. Literally EVERY article about anything to do with women’s rights or issues, will have comments, mostly the first comment. “what about the men?”, “ why don’t you write about domestic abuse of men?” And all the other things you mentioned, “ what about male suicide?”, “ what about boys getting lower grades than girls?”, or my favorite “ women do NOT earn less than men, they just work less than men”.

what about men?

You just hate sex need a good fucking

Then there are all the arguments about tbe feminisation of teaching and exams - the latter have been 'skewed' to favour coursework because girls are steady plodders unlike boys who are capable of flashes of brilliance. The same boys who will apparently kill themselves because there is no longer a role for men and all the male virtues have either been equally claimed by women (e g. strength, honour, justice, reason, fortitude, valour) or else discredited (flirting, assertiveness, plain speaking, anger).
Yeah, right.

Women should be actively fighting to work in mining and other hard, dirty jobs.

Generally making out that white males are really discriminated against now and not understanding why under-represented groups may get help with things

Claiming that sexism and racist just don't exist any more

My main focus is violence against women and girls so I do discuss it a fair bit. My absolute bug bear is women who get very defensive (why?!) and say either:

"Men get sexually assaulted too!" (yes, mainly by men)
"Women rape too!" (Nope. Wrong-do we really want that kind of equality anyway?!)

Oh, and I responded by saying those weren't IMO specifically male virtues. It didn't go down well. This and other run-ins on social media (including my unforgivable remarks about the reliability of a politician who wanks in the office (forgive me, I do recognise the remote possibility that a man may access a porn website for the pure purpose of appreciating physique and technique - and then say, nah)) - as I say, this and other run-ins have led to my being excluded from his Christmas email list. I am devastated. As you can imagine.

@ballsballsballs - yes, like all those men queuing up to be primary carers at home.

I often see the claim that lesbians commit as much DV in intimate relationships as men do to women (usually with a link to some US public health study). I've never been able to wrap my head around all the statistics involved in the report but I feel certain it can not be true. The same report apparently 'proves' that 40% of DV overall is committed by women. Again, I don't understand how they extrapolate that from the data, but it's a common thing I often see.

'We're not even allowed to look at women anymore!'

No mate, you're not allowed to harass and abuse women under cover of 'flirting' or 'complimenting' anymore. If you can't understand the difference between the two you've got a problem.

"proves' that 40% of DV overall is committed by women. Again, I don't understand how they extrapolate that from the data, but it's a common thing I often see."

Iirc it was the wording of the questions - included "nagging" as a form of abuse, on par with the more usual kinds that you would think of. Then there's the counting any amount of incidents between people as "DV" - so one person (sex unspecified for the MRAs...) is beaten black and blue six times and it counts once, versus one person (again, sex unspecified) who is slapped once in self defence and it counts once.

Kinda implies some sort of bias on the part of whoever wrote that research...

"Men are logical. Women are emotional."

Sexual harassment in the street is "female privilege" by MGTOW or incel types.

I find it hilarious (and a bit sad) when people claim to have been feminists but they are now not feminists because someone who said they were a feminist once said something bad.

Why on earth are feminists seen as some huge blob with a hive mind?!

Also a shoutout to the many many men who try to tell women how to do feminism, and the libfems who think we should centre male people else we are bigotted.

"I'm not a feminist, I'm an equalist." So that would be a feminist, then.

"Feminism isn't necessary anymore as women are treated equally." Even if you are deluded enough to believe that's true in this country, surely, SURELY you can see that it's not the case worldwide?

Lorelai, absolutely. And ironically one of the other crap arguments is: ‘feminism isn’t needed in the West because we already have equality. Why don’t you campaign for women in developing countries re FGM/child marriage etc etc’ (aka Western women are spoiled and greedy and should stfu).

Beyond, thanks you for explaining- makes perfect sense! It’s a claim which has always frustrated me- I’ve been unable to put up an argument against it as knew it couldn’t be as simple as it looked but couldn’t explain why!

Also a shoutout to the many many men who try to tell women how to do feminism

A very special mention to the brodudes who 'actually have a first in gender studies and a masters in structural discrimination so I think you'll find I'm right about that'

A very special mention to the brodudes who 'actually have a first in gender studies and a masters in structural discrimination so I think you'll find I'm right about that'

https://twitter.com/mattlodder/status/987485791545937920?s=20