Modern feminism and misandry: a healthy evolution?

[SympathysSilhouette]

A lot of the leading ladies of the modern feminist movement seem to equate feminism with some degree of misandry. Men are portrayed as useless, violent and evil, in various degrees.

Some quotes to illustrate my point:

"Marriage is an institution developed from rape as a practice."

"The penis must embody the violence of the male in order for him to be male. Violence is male; the male is the penis; violence is the penis..."

Andrea Dworkin

"He can beat or kill the woman he claims to love; he can rape women, whether mate, acquaintance, or stranger; he can rape or sexually molest his daughters, nieces, stepchildren, or the children of a woman he claims to love. The vast majority of men in the world do one or more of the above."

Marilyn French

"Men's sexuality is mean and violent, and men so powerful that they can 'reach WITHIN women to fuck/construct us from the inside out.' Satan-like, men possess women, making their wicked fantasies and desires women's own. A woman who has sex with a man, therefore, does so against her will, 'even if she does not feel forced.'"

Judith Levine

"And if the professional rapist is to be separated from the average dominant heterosexual (male), it may be mainly a quantitative difference."

Susan Griffin

To call a man an animal is to flatter him; he's a machine, a walking dildo."

Valerie Solanas

"MALE:...represents a variant of or deviation from the category of female. The first males were mutants...the male sex represents a degeneration and deformity of the female."

"MAN:...an obsolete life form... an ordinary creature who needs to be watched...a contradictory baby-man..."

Actually, the first one is true, from a purely genetic point of view. The Y chromosone is actually nothing more than an inferior X chromosone. Men are a mutation of women. However, to call us an obsolete life-form is just plain wrong...

This evolution doesn't as much anger me as it saddens me. Just in the last few weeks, I read that teachers are being killed again in Afghanistan because they teach girls, that female circumcision is on the rise again in Nigeria, that infanticide of female babies is becoming such a problem in India that it may create a shortage of over 100 million women. It seems to me that those are all much more valuable areas of interest for the feminist movement than the demonization of men.

[Taben]

wow... just wow...

i always knew feminists were nothing but angry lesbians...

If they wanna defend women's rights, good for them but i don't think the way they do it is the solution... i'm for equality, not for women taking control over men... they're preaching for what they're fighting against: the supremacy of one of either genders

[Baby]

This thread could be interesting but i think these quotes reflect nothing because the biggest part of readers don’t know these women.

I think Andrea Dworkin is an amazing woman. She Is born just after the second world war in a jew family so her freedom was something really important.

When she was young woman she protested against the Vietnam war and she make campaigns for the contraception and abortion.

Unfortunately, few years later she left the united states to live with her husband in Netherland and her husband became violent with her, he abused her and she left him. She became homeless and she needed to prostitute to live and to comeback in united states.

of course her feminist work had been influenced by her past. She was a victim and she tried to find a reason at all her problems.

Her war was the pornography because it’s hard to fight against the rape or the prostitution because that’s something “unknowns”, “mysterious” and it’s easier to control the pornography (during the 70’s and 80’s) than try to control the rappers…

But her war wasn’t really feminist because she though pornography was something created for men. as women couldn’t find pleasure with the pornography... women masturbation was a taboo and only with her behavior we can understand she wasn’t confortable with her/feminine sexuality.

As women couldn’t have pleasure by themselves and they need a partner... so there wasn’t this freedom in her sexuality vision and this is a big contradiction with the feminist movement.

Judith Levine is Andrea ‘s opposite. her war hasn’t the feminism but the sexual liberty… and even if Judith received a lot of good critic for her work I think sometimes she is really stupid. she try to make provocation to become an icon than she try to change the world.

When I learnt she argues for possession of child pornography I was shocked!!!

Yes teenagers have a sexuality, this is not the problem… but when we know how much they could be fragile.. they haven’t limits and they fight against the authority. it was always like this and it won’t change... our parents did it, we did it and the next generation will do it too… and I don’t think that’s a good thing to allow kids of 15 old to win money because they make a blowjob in front of a camera… and in same time ask them to have an education. If they can win 200$ in a day with the pornography and if they know, with a job after 5 years of school they could win 100$ par day what will be their choice ? ask them to continu to go at school to find a good job and win money. they could sold their .ss if they want but only after the school... when they have an education and are enough mature...

It’s hard to consider Marilyn French as a modern feminist when we know she was born in 1929...

Valerie Solanas has a similar past with Dworkin. She was a violence victim, she had been raped by her father, later she has been abandoned when she was 15 years old, she became homeless and she prostituted to live and pay her school.

I think it’s hard to judge this woman when we know her past... she wasn’t a woman who lost her time to critic men, but she was a violence victim… and I don’t think victims can be very “objective"...

Susan Griffin focus more on pornography than other thing… as Dworkin, she was against the pornography. She spend her time to critic it, and as I said for Dworkin, be against the pornography means to be against the feminine sexual pleasure.

Griffin is more a sexual deprived.

Sympathyssilouette you call a feminism “evolution” 5 sentence taken from I don’t know where without try to take care of these women’s past. this is not really nice too… and it’s a bit hypocrite...

These women don’t spend their time to critic men… they try to legalized the abortion, they protested against the Vietnam war, they try to “legalize” the sexuality.. and this is not nothing...

“This evolution doesn't as much anger me as it saddens me. Just in the last few weeks, I read that teachers are being killed again in Afghanistan because they teach girls, that female circumcision is on the rise again in Nigeria, that infanticide of female babies is becoming such a problem in India that it may create a shortage of over 100 million women. It seems to me that those are all much more valuable areas of interest for the feminist movement than the demonization of men.”

Can I laugh ?

You know, all these women are American and when you know in united states they are not able to be agree with a abortion’s law, in few states sodomy is a crime etc I think there are a lot of things who should be change in united states before than American feminist spend their time to try to change the world...

and what do you think that’s Indian, Afghanistan, nigeran politician could answer ? maybe something like “go back to our business! We are not perfect but united states is not perfect too”

yes theacher are killed in Afghanistan. yes babies girls are killed in India.

but in united states ProLife makes riots in front of clinics, they put bombs to destroy buildings, they hurt people and they kill doctors... and it’s always “better” (and easier) to critic people’s individual freedom in front of abortion clinics in united states and kill the doctors than to manifest in India, West Bank etc etc etc against the infanticide...

and about the female circumcision, yes that’s a problem and this is in their culture so it will take time to be changed and I don’t think to see American women try to change this problem should be something positive...