Having promoted some feminstazi books I feel I should redress the balance.

Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women

By Christina Sommers

Philosophy professor Christina Sommers has exposed a disturbing development: how a group of zealots, claiming to speak for all women, are promoting a dangerous new agenda that threatens our most cherished ideals and sets women against men in all spheres of life. In case after case, Sommers shows how these extremists have propped up their arguments with highly questionable but well-funded research, presenting inflammatory and often inaccurate information and stifling any semblance of free and open scrutiny.

Trumpeted as orthodoxy, the resulting "findings" on everything from rape to domestic abuse to economic bias to the supposed crisis in girls' self-esteem perpetuate a view of women as victims of the "patriarchy." Moreover, these arguments and the supposed facts on which they are based have had enormous influence beyond the academy, where they have shaken the foundations of our educational, scientific, and legal institutions and have fostered resentment and alienation in our private lives.

Despite its current dominance, Sommers maintains, such a breed of feminism is at odds with the real aspirations and values of most American women and undermines the cause of true equality. Who Stole Feminism? is a call to arms that will enrage or inspire, but cannot be ignored.

Available on Amazon

With some exceptions I know three women child free by choice

Now a Catholic woman I was dating said 90% of women want kids, hinting that if I wanted a woman I had better give her a kid.

I agree that (1) and (4) make sense, but I strongly disagree with (2) and (3).  With regard to (2), if someone commits a crime, there needs to be a trial under law to determine that they actually did it and what the appropriate punishment is.  Just allowing anyone to inflict punishment and claim that the victim was a criminal in the past would allow innocent people to be victimized in the name of punishing crimes that may well have never happened.  With regard to (3), marital infidelity is wrong, but it is not so serious an offense as to warrant violent punishments that would be considered human rights abuses if done against murderers or terrorists.

What does this have to do with what has been written before it in this thread? Can you please explain the relevance?

What does this have to do with what has been written before it in this thread? Can you please explain the relevance?

I have about as much respect for people who advocate domestic violence as I have for those who commit domestic violence. On 2nd thoughts I have less respect for them.......

I assume refers to:

"the real aspirations and values of most American women and undermines the cause of true equality. Who Stole Feminism? is a call to arms that will enrage or inspire, but cannot be ignored"

There is usually a tangential link to Shrek's posts.

The next one is a tangential link to the first.

My youngest sister is childless by choice.  And there's a number of other women I know who make the same choice.  Not every woman on earth wants a child, but I do think society places enormous pressure on people to have them, maybe because they feel more comfortable assigning labels to people.  I think it's all part and parcel of that "club" mentality again: if you're with us then you do X, Y, and Z.  But if you're not with us, you're against us, and that makes us uncomfortable because we can't assign you a role comfortably.

Similarly with men, the pressure to have a girlfriend is enormous.  It seems that society equates that with success in all other areas.  It's like coupledom for men is a status symbol and indicator of their level in the heirarchy.  
Alison

This post was last modified: 06-11-2012 02:34 AM by Alison.