Monday, September 19, 2011

Feminism, Evil?

When I was doing some research on feminism for the class, I encountered this website.
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Feminism/feminism_is_evil.htm
Although I was aware of how feminists get lots of criticisms for being radicals, it was my first time actually seeing this obvious and blatant hostility (even though it was through a website). I do not consider myself a feminist, but looking at this "attack" on the overall body of women made me upset. If you think about it, it is pretty natural for a group of people sharing same ideas to gather and pursue their interests... except for the fact that people had to come up with the name "feminism" and call a group of people, who happened to be women, fighting for their basic rights (at least for the first and second waves) "feminists" and radicals. Obviously, the website I looked at had a very distorted view of Christianity and religion; however, I do think that the concept of "virtuous" women as obedient, non-promiscuous, and passive beings has been accepted as a social norm overtime...

If it were men fighting for their rights to be educated, rights to receive financial support from government as a single dad, and rights to get paid equally without discrimination, would people call them radicals and condemn them for being "absurd"?

5 comments:

  1. I also don't really consider myself a feminist, although I do think that there are some areas where women are being treated unfairly, like in the workplace. I do not like when people use the word feminist with a negative meaning. It's unfair and women deserve the right to fight for what they feel. I completely agree with what you said about if men were fighting for their rights, no one would say anything about it, but because it's women fighting, it's a negative thing.

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  2. I do tend to consider myself a feminist, but with the meaning that I believe men and women should have equality and we have to fight to achieve that equality. I'm certainly not one of those radical feminists who believe all men are evil, or that you can't be a feminist and be heterosexual, etc. But it seems to me that this website is the exact opposite of that radical feminism - it is clearly stating that any woman who wants to make something of herself or be anything other than a housewife is a sinner - or, as the website explicitly says, "evil." The website states, "Feminism is a lie of the Devil." I appreciate the right of free speech and understand that these people are allowed to say what they feel, but this kind of blatant hatred is frustrating to me.

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  3. I totally agree with what has been said in the previous posts. I have always been a proud and vocal supporter of equal rights for women in all respects. I believe that women should have equality in the work place (with equal opportunity and compensation), the right to vote, to divorce her husband, and to make any other choice that will affect her life (for example: abortion). Like Brittany said, I think it is unfair that the word feminist carries a negative connotation. I also don't like that when a woman vocalizes her beliefs in favor of women's rights, in many instances she is automatically tagged and a crazy radical. It is always fascinating to me to see the gender divide in pop culture.

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  4. Thank you for sharing this website with us. I did not have the chance to read everything on the website but I had a chance to read one of the articles with the title "How The Rockerfeller's Engineered Women". It caught my interest because there are many conspricay theories that all come down to the Rockerfeller's and that they, simply rule the world, economy and politics, since they have shares in many important and powerful organizations. However, I never thought that feminism could also be tied to the same theory. Of course, you can all have different ideas about the theories regarding the Rockerfeller's. You can say that they make a lot of sense and they are true, you can say that it is nothing but people trying to look for something interesting or you can be undecided about the facts. What really caught my attention in this article is actually the mention of family and how it is trying to be ruined to make it easier for them to rule the world. Now that I know a bit more about feminism I guess I can make comments that are at least a bit more knowledgeable. I do believe in the family institution and I do see how feminism, not really 1st and 2nd wave, is harming this important institution. Of course, everyone is or should be free in making their own decisions regarding marriage; however I think that many ideas either coming from or paralel with feminism is making it easier for families to have weaker ties. I even think that some of the ideas might actually be causing more and more kids to grow up with divorced parents. I believe that most of our actions should be logical and away from the extreme as much as possible but some of the ideas in feminism are extreme. I do, to a certain extent agree with that particular article. I cannot make comments regarding the website as a whole since I haven't read much.

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  5. This is yet another example for those people who's literal interpretations of the Bible totally corrupts their view of the modern world. They forget that the Bible was written hundreds of years ago and most of their ideas just do not work in this day in age. It's disgusting that they quote the Bible in order to justify "male superiority". "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husband, as onto the Lord"...yes it's in the Bible, but that doesn't mean that God doesn't love women who desire equality. There is not a perfect person living today on this planet; not a single one who follows every word in the Bible. Humans are flawed, breaking the rules of the Bible each day, so if feminist are "evil" for not 100% abiding by the Bible, then so is everyone else on this planet.

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