DISCUSSION FORUM:
feminism and its influence on the portrayal of sexual power



This is an archive page for December 2001.

Where reader comments are of interest or where they raise significant points I will publish my response in dialogue pages such as this one. Reader comment excerpts are in black text and my replies are in red text.
Please send your scathing critiques and observations to Thinkbomb


From: Anna_pistol@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2001
Subject: Sexual Harassment False Accusation

Many laws today discriminate against men, in family law, custody law, harassment law, the list goes on.

A website describing false accusations of sexual harassment is: http://mensrights.bizhosting.com

There is a good section on defamation of character, some legal cases which innocent men can use in their defence, as well as a number of case histories, some eye-openers here. Perhaps you would put up a link.


From: ccantieri@austin.rr.com
Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2001

Your long diatribe about feminism makes one crucial mistake, which renders the entire page meaningless. What is feminism? The idea that women are people. At no point do you mention this definition, which is at the heart of feminism.

Women are people, just as men are. We have flaws, problems, grievances, hopes, strengths, weaknesses, etc. We are individuals, just as men are, and deserve to be treated so, just as men do. We are not life-support systems for sex organs or wombs, any more than men are life-support systems for penises and wallets. We do not exist for ornamentation or reproduction ­ we exist to exist, again, just as men do.

It seems a very simple idea, yet it draws ridicule, violent opposition or apathy from most of society. The concept that women could have minds, spirits and emotions as complex and varied as those of men is an alien one to many ­ including you. You've set up a gallery of straw targets and barely knocked them down, all the while claiming that you've done some serious research on feminism. But if you missed the idea that women are people, you haven't even begun to look. It's on bumper stickers, for God's sake.

There are massive errors of fact and logic in your manifesto, but the crucial error is that you do not consider the basis of feminism. In fact, given the tone of the whole work, it almost seems as if you don't actually consider women to be people yourself. Women are repeatedly categorized as dupes, manipulators, castrators, hate-mongers and other variations of the "bitch" and "idiot" stereotypes. To do so and then call yourself an egalitarian humanist is false to the point of obscenity.

Perhaps in the nearly two years since you originally published the page you've gained some perspective. Perhaps not.


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