... in response to Belated thanks to lapentier & doombu..., posted by Hoda on Jul 5, 2005I kinda wish the "Feli" twins were still here (Felinessa and Felicity). They were clearly smart ladies, and I was secretly rooting for Felinessa to stand her ground (except when she drifted into the warmonger accusations). In any case, they would have loved that Equality Now project.
But, I'm sure they and/or their supporters are out there lurking. Gathering "material". And plotting how to best castrate us. (Just kidding, ladies!!)
In case they're out there, here's a refresher on something called Third-Wave Feminism, and a dated--but still relevant--treatise that serves as a counter-argument.
First, the rant of the third-wave feminist:
"Feminism is not dead; in fact, it's on the rise again, but in a new form.
"We are the 20- and 30-something women who have always known a world with feminism in it. We are putting a new face on feminism, taking it beyond the women's movement that our mothers participated in, bringing it back to the lives of REAL WOMEN [presumedly, our mothers weren't real women] who juggle jobs, kids, money, and personal freedom in a frenzied world [notice how "husbands" is conspicuously absent from the juggling act]. Women may have been granted grudging access to the job market, but we still bear much more of the burden than men: it costs more money to be a woman, we have to work harder just to be considered competent, we do all the emotional maintenance work in relationships, and all the old stereotypes that keep us from being respected unless we act like men remain firmly in place.
"We've had enough!"
http://www.3rdwwwave.com/
The counter-argument is something I discovered after doing follow-up on Equality Now. It's for any guy who has ever been shafted in a divorce, accused of sexual harrassment, or been labeled a warmonger. It's titled "The Masculist Perspective: A Masculist Response to Feminist Claims." Rather than copy the entire article here (It's HUGE!), I'll just post its summary. If ever there were a document worthy of being read by all men, this is it. After reading just a few paragraphs, most of you will understand why:
The summary:
"A woman uses her sexual power to attract and allure a man. The man is expected to take the initiative, but if he misreads a communication, she can prosecute him for harassment or date rape. A woman has contraception power and can trick a man into becoming a father without his consent. Once pregnant she can steal his house and force him to pay 18 years worth of child maintenance. As a sign of his powerlessness, during a marriage proposal a man will symbolically get down on one’s knee and ‘beg’ the woman to marry him. When a woman gets bored with her husband and wants to divorce him the courts automatically award her the matrimonial home, custody of the children and maintenance payments. Without any well founded sociological or psychological rationale.
"The only remaining power a man has is access to his beloved children- which his ex-wife can obstruct with ease and with no penalty. Fatherless children are much more likely to become criminals. Many divorced men end up depressed or on the verge of suicide because a legal system which panders to feminist philosophy has made them powerless. The Average Man is power-less because Sexual Politics, Politically Correct laws, and the Divorce Courts, insist he has many Responsibilities, but no Rights.
"Political Correctness has emasculated the Average dad, and created a new generation of fatherless, dysfunctional, children."
Other worthy comments made in the article (I have to label each, Sample 1, Sample 2, etc., to make things easier to read):
Sample 1:
"A woman is not a superior parent, and the damage done to fatherless children - children amputated from their father - is a disgrace to feminism.
FACT : ¾ of youth offenders in New York were raised by single mothers.
FACT : 75% of youth murderers were raised by single mothers.
FACT : 82% of thieves were raised by single mothers.
"Fatherlessness is not good for children or for society."
Sample 2:
"The 60’s feminist propaganda (and the courts assumption)was that a divorcing wife has been a wonderful housewife, child-rearer and emotional-support to her husband during marriage. - That somehow the average man couldn’t have held down a job without the support of his wife, and, that, therefore, she should be entitled to half of the assets he worked to build up. (The 60’s feminists started off by claiming just half the assets).
"It is a wonderful theory. In the 1950’s it may have been true for our parents generation. But the modern wife is unappreciative, demanding and nagging. She is not a creative contribution to her husband. She is a negative one. Many modern women are lazy housewives, negligent child-rearers, and self-obsessed nagging partners. Their major contribution to the husband is to increase his stress level. Most middle-class men I know, unlike their fathers, didn't get married until they were well into their '30's. By this time they had already built up a successful career. Losing 72% of your assets to a person who came on the scene long after you achieved success is hardly a good deal for men !"
Sample 3:
"The divorce-court judges also believe that mothers make superior parents.
"Making a pronouncement upon the natural superiority of one gender or another is a sociological and psychological issue - NOT a legal issue. Judges are not qualified to pontificate on who makes a superior parent.
Since 1969 they have awarded custody to the mother in 93% of cases.
"This is gross sexual discrimination."
Sample 4:
"The modern ‘Ms’ has read too many Cosmopolitans, thumbed too many romantic novels and seen too many Richard Gere movies. She has been told by the feminist propaganda machine that she can have it all. She can have career fulfilment, a wonderful relationship with her children, a mansion, wealth, nightly multiple orgasms, perfect physical health, an incredibly sexy, slim, figure, and the most perfect rapport with her man. Its all out there waiting to be grabbed. The modern ‘Ms’ theme song is ‘I wannit all, and I wannit now’ by Queen.
"Masculist will tell the modern Ms that she cannot have it All, because life always has some problems, and she cannot have it NOW, because relationships and wealth take time to build up.
"We will explain that ALL relationships are difficult, that what they have been promised in Cosmopolitan and in the movies, is an illusion - that even Richard Gere has feet of clay.
"In a nutshell, women lack commitment and are easily tempted by what appears to be greener grass, - that’s why 75% of divorces are initiated by women."
Sample 5:
"The Feminist Claim : ‘Any man who wants to draw up a Pre-Nuptial contract is untrusting and insulting his fiancée’.
"The Masculist Response : 75% of divorces in the UK are initiated by wives. Nowadays they do not even have to site a reason for wanting a divorce. A Prenuptial contract is an essential requirement for any modern man who does not like the possibility of loosing his home and kids without reason. Pre-nuptial contracts are recognised by most states in the USA, but the English courts do not accept them as legally binding."
Sample 6:
"The Feminist Claim : 'Divorced women are saints who need society’s support.'
"The Masculist Response (1) : During the years 1969-1996 many wives behaved disgracefully during divorce. They slandered their husbands with slurs and lies. The UK charity ‘Families need Fathers’ sent out a questionnaire to 1500 divorced fathers. 63% of respondents said that they had been the victims of spiteful slurs, false accusations of violence, false accusations of marital rape, false claims of child abuse and false claims of financial misconduct. The reason? Some feminist divorce lawyers encourage false claims as blackmail to gain the lions share of the matrimonial assets. The FNF women, during divorce, hardly behaved like saints!
"The Masculist Response (2) : Most men have to pay their own legal costs. Women who are bored with their marriage find legal aid easily. A good feminist solicitor can spin out a legally aided divorce for ever, and drive the legal costs up higher and higher. When it comes to legal costs it is the average man who needs society’s support, not the average woman.
"The Masculist Response (3) : Many family law (i.e. , anti-family,)solicitors are now women. Some run overtly lesbian or feminist practises specialising in 'cleaning out' men.
"The 'Families need Fathers' survey revealed most divorced men ended up with 28% of the matrimonial assets and most divorced women, 72%."
Sample 7: [a personal favorite]
"A small minority of women are absolute gems. They obviously don’t like their ‘sisters’ twisting the truth, and being dishonest with men.
"Nancy Friday, for instance, writes:
‘For every woman who cringes when the construction workers whistle at her passing, there is another who anticipates the attention half way up the block and would be crestfallen if male heads didn’t turn. It can be a very heady power trip to control men’s behaviour with your body. It is time we acknowledge the importance of female beauty, not as a male plot, but as a pursuit women enter into in their earliest female-to-female competitions. The power of exhibitionism is our female responsibility’"
The full treatise can be found here:
http://www.ukmm.org.uk/issues/masc.htm
I've contacted the author and asked him to consider posting here; told him the format; recent happenings. I doubt he'll take up the offer, though, as he appears to be a therapist/physician in the UK and is probably too occupied to drift our way.
