BEING A FEMINIST......

1.Being a feminist doesn't mean you believe all men are rapists. This quote comes from a book by Marilyn  French and it seems to be recited more by anti feminists as a means of  debunking feminism than feminists themselves. It's simply a rediculous statement that's been given a rediculous amount of airtime.                                                                                      2.Being a feminist doesn't mean you think all men are evil. Following up on the last point, a lot of any feminist folks make the argument that feminist believe all men are evil. This is not true.

3.Being a feminist doesn't mean you blame  every indidual  man. You known  for  hundreds of years of oppressive behavior .just like you wouldn,t point at a random white Person today and blame them for salary, you can't blame an individual man today for a history of sexism.

A lot of people think about the things about the things above, think about the men they know or, if they are men, they think about themselves, and think that's ridiculous,_isnt an evil rapists who is responsible for hundreds of years of sexism.

A lot of people are right.

The thing feminism thinks is bad is the hundreds of years of sexism part, as well as the existence of sexism today. Sexism that a lot of men engage in and a lot of women internalize.

Men engage in sexism because they've been taught to behave that way. Women internalize it for the same reason.

Feminism asks both men and women to critically think about those normalized behavior and it's impact , and holds people accountable to sexist thinking and behavior even if they didn't initially realized it was sexist.

So yes, it's natural to get defensive when someone brings up feminist issues because it's likely you never thought you were doing anything wrong. Does that make sexist behavior acceptable? NO.

That's why we need to do a better job as a society to teach people how to treat people each other with equity.That's what feminism trying to do here.

4. Because some feminists aren't willing to address men's issues though some are

Working towards gender equity means equity for all genders,right?Then what about men? And what about trans folks? This is a question that often gets raised by men

Feminism in general has mixed feelings about addressing men's and women's issues.

Like why young men today are likely to graduate from college,attain a high GPA ,be active in extracurricular organizations or seek leadership roles.or why men in general have always been more likely to be caught up in the criminal justice system or be homeless.These are real issues,surely ,and things our society should work to correct.

But do many feminists ignore these issues because they hate men?No.

The mixed feelings about addressing men's issues tend to stem from the fact that"men's issues" tends to be the default in our society.We are a male dominant society.

Many feminists are concerned that addressing men's issues or gender issues as a broad goal will move the conservation completely away from women's issues,resulting in no progress for the women's part of the gender progress.

So instead they focus on women's issues and allow others to focus on other issues.Many feminists would like to see pro- feminist men tackle men's issues in a way that doesn't blame women and feminism for all their problems.

However, it's worth nothing that we here at Everyday Feminism are both men and women.We take an intersectional approach to feminism and look at how different groups of genders, sexual orientations, races,classes, and more are dominated in our society.Our inclusive approach is a big part of our popularity a lot of feminists are also inclusive.

5. Because sensationalism is  a good way to distract from real issues

It's pretty messed up that being born a certain way means you're going to be less likely to earn as much much money, achieve the same tier of success, be treated with respect and fairness,be elected into political office... but those restrictions are objectively measurable.

Those issues mentioned above affect just about every identity group in the US other than people who are white and male

Instead of dealing with inequality and giving up a bit of unearned power, it's far more fruitful to change the conversation and put the oppressed group on the defensive.Being a feminist.....