The merits of feminism

[ruby sparks]

Ok, just for the crack, a thread in which only the plusses of feminism get talked about.

If you can't say anything good about feminism, please don't say anything. If someone else says something positive that you, be you male or female or whatever, disagree with, try to restrain yourself from disagreeing in any way and say something positive instead, even if it's something else. As a non-feminist myself, I will try to stick to this too.

Possible worst case scenario: someone says that the best thing about feminism is that it puts men in their deserved inferior place.

Walk away! Lol.

Ok this may not pan out, since no one's obliged to stick to my suggested rules.......but sure, no harm in experimenting. I'm hoping it should at least be interesting.

I'm happy to let posters define feminism (with or without a capital 'F') as they see fit, mainly because I don't want to get into a 'definitions' quagmire.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

I see two huge ways in which Feminism has been a big gain for society.

1. Productivity and creativity has soared. Imagine how many great minds in science, medicine, etc we lost out on because it wasn't considered "women's work". As Christopher Hitchens often put it:

The cure for poverty has a name, in fact: it's called the empowerment of women. If you give women some control over the rate at which they reproduce, if you give them some say, take them off the animal cycle of reproduction to which nature and some doctrine—religious doctrine condemns them, and then if you'll throw in a handful of seeds perhaps and some credit, the floor of everything in that village, not just poverty, but education, health, and optimism will increase. It doesn't matter; try it in Bangladesh, try it in Bolivia, it works—works all the time. Name me one religion that stands for that, or ever has.

2. It is another benchmark in overcoming prejudice and discrimination, and when kept non-toxic it paves the way for progress on other fronts, such as equal status for homosexuals (gay marriage), etc.

 

[prideandfall]

not all of these are things that are fixed, some of them are a work in progress, but it's feminism which makes them even able to be addressed whatsoever.
this is just the top 10 that i thought of off the top of my head upon reading the OP.

1. women are no longer considered property - they can go outside unescorted, drive, go shopping on their own, and generally behave as their own thinking entity.
2. women can vote.
3. women can live independent of men: ie, have a job and own property and be their own person not indentured to the male they were sold to.
4. birth control is a thing that exists, and that is readily available.
5. women own their sexual autonomy (at least in theory) - they can choose if they want to have sex, and with whom, and are not required or obligated to satisfy the sexual appetites of men simply by virtue of that man being nearby and demanding it.
6. the dynamics of family culture are no longer rigidly set in a static and uncompromising paradigm where men work themselves to death and women are shuffled quietly into baby-making and household slave labor.
7. ingrained cultural bigotry against women can be called out and exposed and hopefully corrected, including but not limited to: equal pay, sexual harassment (which btw isn't just assault or aggressive behavior but also persistent and unrelenting sexual pressure being put on you constantly from damn near every person in your personal and/or professional life), generally being listened to and taken seriously in myriad aspects of culture (ie: at the doctor, customer service, at the dentist, at the DMV, at the gym).
8. a change in cultural and social dynamics so that men no longer assume they can intimidate women out of being inconvenient - for example bulling over them and ignoring them when they say something is wrong or done incorrectly.
9. being thought of, looked at, and treated as a fellow human being worthy of respect based on individual merit, rather than ogled and then dismissed as an irrelevant sexual object with no function or purpose besides whether or not they give a man an erection.
10. women can dress as they desire and express their sexuality as they desire without being labeled as insane or hysterical, or having someone fumigate their vagina to "correct" the medical abnormality that they're horny, or have their bodies abused and exploited under the pretense of "medical care" that is just a thin facade covering up sexual abuse and perversion.

 

[southernhybrid]

People who identify as feminists have better sex.

https://www.livescience.com/1964-feminists-fun.html

College-age women who reported having feminist male partners also reported higher quality relationships that were more stable than couples involving non-feminist male partners.
College guys who were themselves feminists and had feminist partners reported more equality in their relationships.
Older women who perceived their male partners as feminists reported greater relationship health and sexual satisfaction.
Older men with feminist partners said they had more stable relationships and greater sexual satisfaction.
Overall, feminism and romance do go hand in hand, the scientists say.

As a woman who has been married to a self identified feminist male, I can testify that this is true, at least for us.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

The existence of feminists seems to really trigger and piss off misogynists. Regardless of the merits of feminism, that makes it worthwhile just in and of itself.

 

[RVonse]

Feminism drastically reduces and controls population without the need for wars.

 

[ruby sparks]

Ok mine are a bit selfish.

First, my partner, now wife, has been better able to pursue a career and thus contribute significantly to family income (roughly about the same as me but slightly more most years, especially since the recession caused me to lose my job).

Second, our two daughters have more opportunities.

Third, I am more free than my father was in terms of not having to conform to some sort of stereotype male role and all the responsibilities than went along with that for him, not least the financial burden of having to be the only breadwinner, but also in terms of not having to suppress my so-called 'feminine side'. Just generally less of the 'supposed' to do this and not 'supposed' to do or be like that crap.

Plus several of the ones others have mentioned above.

Oh. One more. In conversations and discussions I can expect as much from a woman as I can a man, so for example I can be critical or blunt if I want to, or just 'be on the level' without having to conform to 'rules' about tiptoeing softly softly.

I did say they were selfish. Lol.

 

[ruby sparks]

I like this one too:

10. women can dress as they desire and express their sexuality as they desire without being labeled as insane or hysterical, or having someone fumigate their vagina to "correct" the medical abnormality that they're horny, or have their bodies abused and exploited under the pretense of "medical care" that is just a thin facade covering up sexual abuse and perversion.

And, "having someone fumigate their vagina to "correct" the medical abnormality that they're horny." Lol. Nice way of putting it.



- - - Updated - - -

....paves the way for progress on other fronts, such as equal status for homosexuals (gay marriage), etc.

Good point, imo.

 

[Hermit]

The potential intellectual capacity of humankind is being doubled. Still "work in progress", but women are no longer limited to function as decorative accessories.

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS37SNYjg8w[/YOUTUBE]



Just imagine how many of her we missed out on because women were not regarded fit for university education.