Poll: Are you a feminist?

[Evilpigeon]

A side point to throw to people who see themselves as egalitarians is this:
Are all people really equal? For example is the value of a person's life who is a rapist, pedophile and cannibal the same value as the life of a con artist and burgalar?

You're misunderstanding the meaning of equal in this context, nobody is born a rapist, murderer or burglar these are acts committed during your lifetime. Certain people are perhaps more predisposed to committing these acts than others but the idea of pre-emptively punishing people for crimes that they might not even commit sounds pretty fucked up to me. Everyone should be treated equally in that punishment or law in general should not discriminate based upon gender, race, religion etc.

The problem with this ideal is that for people to genuinely be treated equally everyone needs to start off on an equal footing which gives rise to awkward artificial methods of closing percieved gender/race gaps such as quotas and other tools. (less related to your post but still)

 

[Kahunaburger]

Yeah, you are telling the truth. But only in a strictly legal sense. You aren't biologically female, only legally. Thing is, most people don't give a shit about the legal part. Sadly a sex change isn't magic that actually makes you the other gender, all it makes you is your original gender mutilated to look like the other gender. I'm guessing thats his problem. You may officially be female, he however doesn't consider you female. Thus, for him to sleep with you would be much like sleeping with a man. It's a mental barrier and while complicated, I would also say that you not mentioning it is deceptive.

Suddenly, it doesn't surprise me that you're so defensive about people going "lol, MRAs" when someone interrupts a rant about feminism for a rant about transgender people.

do you visit /mr on reddit?

Oh, r/mensrights. Didn't they get declared a hate group by the SPLC?

 

[xplosive59]

I am all for equality in everything!

I hate feminazi's though, and by that I mean the ones who want men to be wiped off the face of the earth eg this ***** here...

http://thefemitheist.blogspot.com.br/2012/04/allow-me-to-introduce-myself.html

...Who believes that every man should be castrated, and should be executed if they refuse. (She isn't trolling either, she's got an entire youtube channel devoted to that stuff.

 

[dreadedcandiru99]

I find those definitions of feminism to be sorely lacking. Feminism is the crazy idea that everybody deserves to be treated like a human being, regardless of things like age, race, gender or sexual orientation.

Yikes. Who would believe in that kind of nonsense?

OT: Aren't there a couple of different varieties of feminism as well though?
e.g. the ones who think women are the superior sex, and want less rights for men, along with a couple of others.
I think I remember some sort of thread on the issue.

I'm sure there are some people who think that, but according to the Oxford definitions in OP's post, they're not feminists. If anything, they're misandrists, or maybe "female supremacists." And for the record, those people are just as dumb as any misogynist.

Personally, I do consider myself a feminist, because of course men and women should be treated equally.

 

[Realitycrash]

I don't identify as feminist because the word holds lots of different connotations depending on whom you ask, and I believe I shouldn't have to specify that I want the sexes to be equal. It should be the default position.

Sadly, a large chunk (Maybe majorty?) of the world still disagree. You know, with a large chunk of the world still being rigorously religious, and these religions often dictating how a man and a woman should behave themselves. This might not, de jure claim that they are not equal, but simply have different responsibilities, but it often de facto the case.

So yeah, you will probably keep having to state that for awhile.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Yeah, you are telling the truth. But only in a strictly legal sense. You aren't biologically female, only legally. Thing is, most people don't give a shit about the legal part. Sadly a sex change isn't magic that actually makes you the other gender, all it makes you is your original gender mutilated to look like the other gender. I'm guessing thats his problem. You may officially be female, he however doesn't consider you female. Thus, for him to sleep with you would be much like sleeping with a man. It's a mental barrier and while complicated, I would also say that you not mentioning it is deceptive.

Suddenly, it doesn't surprise me that you're so defensive about people going "lol, MRAs" when someone interrupts a rant about feminism for a rant about transgender people.

Considering how you think that post was grounds to (foolishly) try and start a personal attack against me, I'm sure you can point what I wrote there that is actually inaccurate, right? Or are you just, once more, spouting out incoherent bullshit?

Well, I'm pretty sure "mutilation" is not the most accurate term for sex reassignment (not to mention the transphobia.) And you appear to be getting sex and gender confused, which in turn seems to be preventing you from fully grasping the subject.

 

[Jonluw]

I don't identify as feminist because the word holds lots of different connotations depending on whom you ask, and I believe I shouldn't have to specify that I want the sexes to be equal. It should be the default position.

Sadly, a large chunk (Maybe majorty?) of the world still disagree. You know, with a large chunk of the world still being rigorously religious, and these religions often dictating how a man and a woman should behave themselves. This might not, de jure claim that they are not equal, but simply have different responsibilities, but it often de facto the case.

So yeah, you will probably keep having to state that for awhile.

And still I'd prefer to simply explain that I think men and women are equal, rather than say "I'm feminist" and deal with all the baggage that word carries with it.
The moment you attach a label like that to yourself, people start putting words in your mouth and ascribing opinions to you.

It's the same reason why I identify as non-religious, not atheist, even though I am atheist as well.

 

[Realitycrash]

Yeah, you are telling the truth. But only in a strictly legal sense. You aren't biologically female, only legally. Thing is, most people don't give a shit about the legal part. Sadly a sex change isn't magic that actually makes you the other gender, all it makes you is your original gender mutilated to look like the other gender. I'm guessing thats his problem. You may officially be female, he however doesn't consider you female. Thus, for him to sleep with you would be much like sleeping with a man. It's a mental barrier and while complicated, I would also say that you not mentioning it is deceptive.

Suddenly, it doesn't surprise me that you're so defensive about people going "lol, MRAs" when someone interrupts a rant about feminism for a rant about transgender people.

Considering how you think that post was grounds to (foolishly) try and start a personal attack against me, I'm sure you can point what I wrote there that is actually inaccurate, right? Or are you just, once more, spouting out incoherent bullshit?

The question one then has to ask is; "Gender, is it just a biological thing?". I have several transgender friends, some who I can't tell what sex they were to begin with, so why would that make them any less of a man/woman?
Honestly, is that half of a chromosome so important that it is what we use to judge when a woman is a "woman" and not a man, or vice versa?

 

[Realitycrash]

I don't identify as feminist because the word holds lots of different connotations depending on whom you ask, and I believe I shouldn't have to specify that I want the sexes to be equal. It should be the default position.

Sadly, a large chunk (Maybe majorty?) of the world still disagree. You know, with a large chunk of the world still being rigorously religious, and these religions often dictating how a man and a woman should behave themselves. This might not, de jure claim that they are not equal, but simply have different responsibilities, but it often de facto the case.

So yeah, you will probably keep having to state that for awhile.

And still I'd prefer to simply explain that I think men and women are equal, rather than say "I'm feminist" and deal with all the baggage that word carries with it.
The moment you attach a label like that to yourself, people start putting words in your mouth and ascribing opinions to you.

It's the same reason why I identify as non-religious, not atheist, even though I am atheist as well.

Well, yes. But that wasn't my point. My point is that a lot of people really don't think that equality is such an obvious truth, and that you would probably have to keep stating it, due to the state of the world. It might be the default position in some places in some societies, but it is far from an universally accepted position.

 

[Jonluw]

I don't identify as feminist because the word holds lots of different connotations depending on whom you ask, and I believe I shouldn't have to specify that I want the sexes to be equal. It should be the default position.

Sadly, a large chunk (Maybe majorty?) of the world still disagree. You know, with a large chunk of the world still being rigorously religious, and these religions often dictating how a man and a woman should behave themselves. This might not, de jure claim that they are not equal, but simply have different responsibilities, but it often de facto the case.

So yeah, you will probably keep having to state that for awhile.

And still I'd prefer to simply explain that I think men and women are equal, rather than say "I'm feminist" and deal with all the baggage that word carries with it.
The moment you attach a label like that to yourself, people start putting words in your mouth and ascribing opinions to you.

It's the same reason why I identify as non-religious, not atheist, even though I am atheist as well.

Well, yes. But that wasn't my point. My point is that a lot of people really don't think that equality is such an obvious truth, and that you would probably have to keep stating it, due to the state of the world. It might be the default position in some places in some societies, but it is far from an universally accepted position.

Of course, if I went to some different place, values might be different, but I'd rather keep stating that I think people should be equal than keep stating that I'm feminist.
Luckily, this isn't something I have to deal with where I live, so I can take it that most people I meet will assume me to be "feminist" without having to bring it up.

 

[naam]

I never realised how many people from these forums are politically and socially active in that way

 

[xplosive59]

I am all for equality in everything!

I hate feminazi's though, and by that I mean the ones who want men to be wiped off the face of the earth eg this ***** here...

http://thefemitheist.blogspot.com.br/2012/04/allow-me-to-introduce-myself.html

...Who believes that every man should be castrated, and should be executed if they refuse. (She isn't trolling either, she's got an entire youtube channel devoted to that stuff.

Uh, yeah, she is trolling and it's fucking obvious, she even has a list of Anti-Feminist Youtubers on the Sidebar.

Fair enough, I missed that before.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

By its strictest definition, yes.

But I can't say it out loud when things like "Women VS Tropes" happen on YouTube causing an absolute tidal wave of misogynistic hate comments and death threats immediately afterwards.

 

[templar1138a]

I am a (male) feminist. I'm subscribed to weareultraviolet.org, a feminist petition site, and I sign most of the petitions they send my way.

 

[Sylocat]

I believe I shouldn't have to specify that I want the sexes to be equal. It should be the default position.

It SHOULD be the default position, but it isn't. That's kind of the whole reason feminism exists.

 

[ms_sunlight]

these are nothing to do with feminism, also it's my problem. By the way I have reasons to not like traps (different topic, you can message me in PM, but since you are troll I doubt I will answer). Plus I am not from MRA, I am for equal male/female rights.

Transgender person != trap

That is a really unpleasant, derogatory term.

 

[dreadedcandiru99]

I'll call my self an equalist. I support the advancement to equality of everyone's rights.

I thought equalists were those guys who don't like bending [http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Equalists].

It sounds like you might be an egalitarian [http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/egalitarian], though. (And now that I think of it, that's what I am, in fact. I should've thought of that in my last post.)