The Pratfalls of Feminism.

[ladymirth]

It's rather weird to be defending pro-life when you're pro-choice yourself.

See, the thing is, I DON'T believe that all pro-life activists are misogynists and anti-feminists. I know that the feminist agenda will always include pro-choice, but I don't see why people who cannot agree on only that aspect of feminism should be automatically disqualified from being feminists at all. 

Hence, this huge OT thread on anti_feminism . 

It's really weird. My own pro-choice beliefs are continually parrotted back at me, when all I want to say it that people who believe in pro-life aren't automatically evil. 

I just understand that pro-life women are placed in a rather impossible postion. They believe that abortion is the same as murder, and murder is basically universal morality. So of course saying "that's just your belief, and you can't impose it on me" can't fly with them. But at the same time, a lot of pro-life women care about women's rights too. 

I am honestly confused about this whole "you can be personally pro-life, but it doesn't matter as long as you're politically pro-choice" issue. Isn't pro-choice and pro-life always a political stance? You either think that women should have a choice in the matter, murder or nor murder, or you want the law to intervene and take that choice away. There's no such thing as pro-abortion, after all. 

This is why I get so tired of the feminist movement sometimes. It's as intolerant and narrow-minded as any antiquated church. You can't be feminist if you give up your career and have children, you can't be feminist if you're a devout Christian, you can't be feminist if you don't believe pornography is evil, you can't be feminist if you like blowing men, you can't be feminist if you think that sluts do exist, you can't be feminist, YOU CAN'T BE FEMINIST!

And for the love of the Mother Goddess, STOP BANDYING ABOUT THE WORD "MISOGYNY" LIKE IT'S ON CLEARANCE SALE!!

It's even more fucked up than the Monotheistic Churches. At least they've had centuries to evolve and grasp the concept of tolerance. And they're not in a constant state of war with one another now.  

Would it kill the radicals to admit that they can still disagree on certain issues, fight against each other on certain issues, and still be part of the same damn movement?

And now I'm sitting back thinking that maybe I'm the one who doesn't get it. Maybe I AM 'over-open-minded'. Will I look back on this post in another six months and groan at my own naivete? 

I'm feeling very young and uncertain today.

Comments

[faye-lights.livejournal.com]

I agree with what some others have said or suggested here--I am not familiar with the community you refer to or the particular people who are turning you off, but these ideas sound more like a stereotype of feminism rather than feminism itself. Radical feminism was necessary once, but as societies have changed, so has feminism. Consequently, feminism means different things in different cultures and times.

The basic tenet of feminism is that women have the same choices and are treated as equals with men, and if you believe in that, you are a feminist, whether you're a man or a woman. To me, the issue of abortion has nothing to do with that. I know that Roe v. Wade is an important feminist landmark in history. I understand that some feminists see a ban on abortion as an attempt to control women's bodies, but there are many feminists who are pro-life who think of it differently.

I am a feminist. I am also generally politically conservative. I am pro-life. I work full time while my husband takes care of our home. He gets up in the morning and makes my breakfast and packs my lunch. I kept my last name when we married. I shave my legs, wear a bra, keep my hair long, and wear make-up and high heels and even the occasional low-cut blouse.

If women didn't think for themselves, there would be no feminism. Don't let anyone use it to make you feel that you should think like them. That's more fascist than feminist.