I have always detested feminism - ever since the 60s when I was supposed to go along with it under the banner of equality.
I come from a family of very strong matriarchs who never considered equality was an issue. They were superior & acknowledged as such by their adoring menfolk. They were the heads of their families & their advice was golden. I guess that sort of protected me from any notion of femininity giving way to feminism. Thank goodness for that!
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Good to hear that you came from such a strong and progressive family. However to dismiss the need for feminism because you have been largely insulated from the circumstances that make it absolutely vital in large parts of the world, unfortunately seems like a very self-serving and privileged notion. I hope that is not the case. With all due respect it's like saying "protests against racism are foolish, after all no one was ever racist to me!" There are many many communities of women around the world who have been fighting relentlessly for basic rights for generations, often making very little headway. Ridiculing the notion of feminism helps no one.
I would encourage you to read more and broaden your perspective a little bit.
Have a good day :)
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Well, that is interesting because I have read a great deal & especially the writings & interviews with David Rockefeller who was proud to have been part of the think tank which implemented feminism for the express purpose of engaging women into work, when they were previously housewives. The reason he & his dodgy buddies did this was to extract more tax out of the working families & ensure that children were indoctrinated from a much earlier age. Given the consequent exhaustion of the women who were given this "advantage" we were noticing that we had less energy or time for our children, were losing domestic skills & ironically, we had even less money than ever before because, again ironically, childcare pre-school & during the school holidays proved to be astronomically expensive.
So what did feminism actually achieve?
My mother's generation lived past their 80s & cost the government for pensions for 20 years. After working all my life & now 65 I have to say that I do not think I will last much longer, saving the government a considerable contribution to my maintenance. Clever idea wasn't it? From a globalist point of view, of course!
But shhh don't tell the young women who are striving to achieve the glories of feminism, I wouldn't want to burst their bubble with the realities of my experience & book-worming.
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That's an interesting perspective. Thanks for the detailed response. Some of my ideas are certainly challenged. However, I think it ultimately comes down to a specific context. In certain countries, including India, the fight began from the right to be born - female foeticide was rampant and still is, then about education, which was somewhat successful but still has miles to go. At the same time, due to rapid and uneven economic and cultural change, sexual violence in fact seems to have increased, or at least has become a louder noise trying to disrupt the conversation. Casual sexual violence is commonplace in speech and in action, and horrendous cases of sexual assault are far too common. We haven't reached a point where workplace parity and equal pay is something anyone is even talking about. Which is not to say that is a necessary indicator of a woman's right to choose or every single woman must buy into the construct of working oneself to death. That would be equally oppressive. However at least in India the right to seek an education and seek work comes bundled with several other opportunities - the right to step out of the house unsupervised (literally), the right to physical activity and exercise, the right to better sanitation and healthcare, the right to choose a mate and the right to their own body and sexuality. There have been several fiercely feminist movements over several years and several social reformers who have been killed trying to balance these power structures, and it matters very little if they called themselves "feminists" or not - but in the modern construct yes they very much were. When I asked you to read more I meant about what is happening around the world, but surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, maybe), you seem to have contextualised and restricted feminism entirely to very specific aspects of its history in a few western countries. Yet again, I would encourage you to read about what is happening outside of your corner of the world.
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I am very grateful for the reply! I see what you mean about the treatment of women in a heavily patriarchal society.
Equality is a fascinating subject overall & you are right I have never physically left Europe & my experience is limited to what I have seen with my own eyes. Even between nations here there are enormous differences.
I live in the UK & for a time I lived in rural Spain. I was stunned to discover that women in my age group there had not been educated, even as far as reading & writing! However, the way that their family life was structured preserved the medieval & in some ways I saw it's advantages.
Women there were matriarchs & respected in that way. Younger women in Spain are fiercely feminist & highly educated.
I have read books written by Indian, Afghani & Chinese women & the struggles they are experiencing seem to create astonishing strong characters from what I can see.
In the UK we have every type of immigrant imaginable & that provides us with some insight into the way that different cultures work.
I love them all very much because they bring to us new skills & knowledge, an appreciation of our own circumstances & insight into where we go wrong.
One thing that strikes me about the Indian women we have here is their femininity. They have influenced the UK significantly with their love of ornament & colour but most particularly with their academic achievements.
We have a long way to go before we dispense with patriarchy completely, despite all our efforts!
Onwards!
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