2014-08-30
2014-08-28
漫画 Demonstration
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I am thinking of increasing to one comic per day in September.
Post if you like this idea!
2014-08-26
漫画 Love 'em and Leave 'em
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I am thinking of increasing to one comic per day in September.
Post if you like this idea!
2014-08-24
2014-08-21
2014-08-20
2014-08-18
Japanese Class (So-Soo-Yoo)
me ni te wo = hand to eye = the character "kan"
More of this little "ditty" or "doggerel" that Alice and I wrote to remember all of the radicals on all of these characters. This is basically a (long) example of how I remember a lot of my kanji.
The final cut. I should put this in in typed form in here at some point.
Translating the Rules of So-Soo-Yoo into Japanese (for my friend Hiroshi).
Using "rin" as a counter for "wa" -- does this clean up the language a bit, make it neater? Or clearer?
Starting out playing...
and "Okinawa" (which I used to know how to write)
How to express "those of the same color" or "one of each color"?
I'm going to need to type all this stuff up at some point.
Alice (Ari-su) squashed the fly.
"The Capital of Arkansas" and other notes.
2014-08-16
模倣子 More Female Privilege
They need to add #98 to the list: I can make my male partner kill or dispose of spiders, cockroaches, flies, wasps, bees, mice, rats, poisonous 16" purple Japanese centipedes (I'm not kidding about this one :-( ) that invade my house or apartment and am allowed to scream and cry about them without social penalty.
In a similar vein, I totally forgot #99: I expect my male partner to risk his life to protect me (and my offspring) from truly dangerous animals which may threaten us, e.g., dogs, bears, cattle, etc., and also from belligerent, attacking or home-invading humans, armed or otherwise, even if my actions instigated the altercations with the other humans (or animals) and regardless of whether those humans are agents of the state, bar owners, flight crew or train personnel, customer support staff, etc.
Oh, and #100: I expect my male partner to risk his life to protect or rescue me from dangerous situations due to accident, weather or other or to risk his life to go and seek help for me and my offspring (even if I am responsible for the situation or for worsening it). In all cases #98, #99, and #100, he incurs severe social penalty for refusal or even showing reluctance or hesitation to come to my aid, while I incur none even if he is injured/incapacitated or afflicted with clinical arachnophobia and I am not.
#101: a woman can get sanctuary, free room and board, crash space, from men, even those who are not close friends or relations and not even always in exchange for sex, whom she has barely met, often for unlimited periods of time. One or more of the "Mayflower Madame" call girls escaped New York to go and stay with former male clients in places like California to avoid being involved in the prosecution.
The most sexist sign in the country is "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" Selective Service poster at the Post Office.
The second most may be the restroom symbol. Why is a man and a woman depicted separately and in different colors the international symbol for restroom?
In a similar vein, I totally forgot #99: I expect my male partner to risk his life to protect me (and my offspring) from truly dangerous animals which may threaten us, e.g., dogs, bears, cattle, etc., and also from belligerent, attacking or home-invading humans, armed or otherwise, even if my actions instigated the altercations with the other humans (or animals) and regardless of whether those humans are agents of the state, bar owners, flight crew or train personnel, customer support staff, etc.
Oh, and #100: I expect my male partner to risk his life to protect or rescue me from dangerous situations due to accident, weather or other or to risk his life to go and seek help for me and my offspring (even if I am responsible for the situation or for worsening it). In all cases #98, #99, and #100, he incurs severe social penalty for refusal or even showing reluctance or hesitation to come to my aid, while I incur none even if he is injured/incapacitated or afflicted with clinical arachnophobia and I am not.
#101: a woman can get sanctuary, free room and board, crash space, from men, even those who are not close friends or relations and not even always in exchange for sex, whom she has barely met, often for unlimited periods of time. One or more of the "Mayflower Madame" call girls escaped New York to go and stay with former male clients in places like California to avoid being involved in the prosecution.
The most sexist sign in the country is "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" Selective Service poster at the Post Office.
The second most may be the restroom symbol. Why is a man and a woman depicted separately and in different colors the international symbol for restroom?
Why not a toilet, or a turd, or a sink, or a roll of toilet paper or something? What does it say about us that the defining aspect of a restroom is that men and woman are separate?
模倣子 Botched Circumcision and Socio-Economic Status
RESEARCH PROJECT: Maybe the US CDC or NSF would pay for this, which would give great visibility.
Is there a correlation between "botched" circumcisions and socio-economic levels? It's known but under-documented that circumcision negatively impacts reproductive capability, making erections not work well, difficulty climaxing properly, or even effective total impotence.
One socio-economic theory is that "deprecated" groups, e.g., the poor and ethnic minorities, would suffer more from "botched" circumcision outcomes, since socio-economic transactions, e.g., access to goods and services, including medical and child care, education, tend to disfavor the "disadvantaged" for various reasons, some obvious, some more "veiled". One controversial example is pushing poor women-of-color to get sterilized or doing it to them without their consent / knowledge -- botched circumcisions being slanted towards poor men-of-color would have the same impact, i.e., decreasing birthrate in that group as well as a possible "psychological" effect, etc.
It would be very interesting if such a bias could be demonstrated with hard data. The research itself would give enormous visibility to the long-term negative effects of circumcision, regardless of whether the bias were actually found.
If found, the bias could be explained by decreased access to high-quality medical care (competent doctors doing the genital cutting) for poor and minorities, which casts an unfavorable light on the practice itself, or that these groups are in fact being "targeted", which has the same effect.
Discuss! :) Any ideas for how to move forward? :)
Is there a correlation between "botched" circumcisions and socio-economic levels? It's known but under-documented that circumcision negatively impacts reproductive capability, making erections not work well, difficulty climaxing properly, or even effective total impotence.
One socio-economic theory is that "deprecated" groups, e.g., the poor and ethnic minorities, would suffer more from "botched" circumcision outcomes, since socio-economic transactions, e.g., access to goods and services, including medical and child care, education, tend to disfavor the "disadvantaged" for various reasons, some obvious, some more "veiled". One controversial example is pushing poor women-of-color to get sterilized or doing it to them without their consent / knowledge -- botched circumcisions being slanted towards poor men-of-color would have the same impact, i.e., decreasing birthrate in that group as well as a possible "psychological" effect, etc.
It would be very interesting if such a bias could be demonstrated with hard data. The research itself would give enormous visibility to the long-term negative effects of circumcision, regardless of whether the bias were actually found.
If found, the bias could be explained by decreased access to high-quality medical care (competent doctors doing the genital cutting) for poor and minorities, which casts an unfavorable light on the practice itself, or that these groups are in fact being "targeted", which has the same effect.
Discuss! :) Any ideas for how to move forward? :)
2014-08-14
2014-08-12
2014-08-11
Japanese Class
We tried reading a history of Holland, "Kitchen" by Banana Yoshida, and a "pulp novel".
We developed a kind of "poem" to help remember kanji.
In green: Hand to eye, hand to broom, the nurse with mouth wet from a kiss cleans up by taking eight potatoes with no grass on them out from under the people's roof and puts them out on the hillside making the big tea shop (cafe) clean.
2014-08-10
2014-08-08
漫画 Manga Table of Contents
| Vignette | Synopsis |
|---|---|
| The Poets of Porcadis | |
| Meet the Boys | Our heroes, Lenny & Sparky, are prowling around East Porcadis Park on what turns out to be a very strange and mysterious mission for a shadowy patron. |
| Lulu Goes to College | Their quest leads them to Porcadis University, the Department of Mythology and Crypto-Memetics, and Lulu is persuaded to become a graduate student. |
| Lulu Meets the Blue Horn People | Lulu's advisor leads her and her fellow students on a fantastical jaunt into and workshop of anthropology, biology, and ultimately memetics and memetic engineering. |
| Lulu's Internship at SCARE | Lulu's starts interning at a local company to help them transform their business processes using the memetic analysis & engineering skills she's learning at school. |
| The 2nd Coming | While waiting for her advisor to come back, Lulu once again locks horns and crosses swords with Pénélopé over points of philosophy and the bedeviling question of whether the office doughnut pool really is as fair as Lenny & Sparky think it is. |
| Schrödinger's Catachresis | Our heroes awaken to find themselves in a strange place with some strange new companions. |
| Mop & Broom Con | Lulu & Penny are taken on a study trip to the nerdy, feminist Mop & Broom Con. |
| Financial Intelligence | Upon hearing Lenny & Sparky's timeworn refrain about how broke they are, Lulu treats them to coffee (again!) and tries to teach them (and you!) her method of keeping track of her money and growing her Financial Intelligence, Financial Integrity, and ultimately (hopefully) reaching financial security. |
| Cloud of Dreams | Lulu & Lenny meet a new friend in East Porcadis Park, and they all discover that there's more going on at Lenny's place of work than meets the eye. |
| Step Forth | Casey confronts some inner truths about himself, his self-image, his relationship to himself and others, and to women in particular. |
| Zeppelin | Deb and Lulu go to see Nick and Guillermo off only to find that they may all be confronting dark forces they have only just begun to understand and which may lead to civil war. |
| Mr. Peabody & The Mermaids | |
| A trip to the full-service Native American Bank | Honquèrelle's & Mr. Peabody's projects lead the gang on an adventure to a bank that tries to meet everyone's needs. |
| Electionville | Honquèrelle & Alexántebra use a new on-line game to try to get into office to prevent some bad trends from making it into Siren Cove. |
| The Tale of Treat | Umiko and Honquèrelle's son, Treat, each undertake a quest. |
| Mermaid Comics and Japanese Mermaid Puns | One-frame jokes and puns. |
| Mermaid Olympics, Mermaid Fashion, Cartoon Political Commentary | |
2014-08-07
漫画 Cleaning Up
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I am back from Japan! Sorry if I missed a day in there! August 6th lasted for two days for me!
I am back from Japan! Sorry if I missed a day in there! August 6th lasted for two days for me!
2014-08-04
2014-08-02
2014-08-01
模倣子 Women Against Feminism
This says what I've been saying: 1. many
comtemporary self-described "feminists" (crypto-pseudo-feminists) are
DOING IT WRONG because they are promoting 2. hatred and vilification of
men and 3. institutionalization of female victimhood. They
need to close the doors and move on to the next stage. Men have a lot
of issues that they need help on and probably can't help themselves with
(circumcision, homophobia, overwork and denial of pleasure, etc.) and
women need to step up and CPFs are being a bunch of narcissistic
whiners.
[Check it out, the host is way pregnant -- I hope she brings her baby with her on camera later -- that would be cool!]
======================================
I don't appreciate being targeted. Given how long, how many marches and demonstrations I've been in, how much money I've donated to women's causes over the years, the things I've written, said, and done, the sacrifices I've made and the times I've put my career, reputation, and personal safety on the line for (ortho-)feminism (NOT crypto-pseudo-feminism), you'd think I'd at least be spared this kind of thing.
Nope.
I believe, and have believed since I was a small child, where I grew up in Idaho Falls in the 70s where women literally had no rights, smart and capable women were kept down, that women's liberation is probably the most important cause there is because it will probably lead to automatic solutions to problems like overpopulation, war, and inequality. That was an article of faith for me -- I still have no proof, and the rhetoric and increasingly destructive actions of the so-called "feminist" movement are crushing that faith and leading me to despair.
And, like this article, and like your response, it is only telling half the story. Yes, I have never, ever disagreed with the assertion that women are oppressed and a lot of really horrible things are done to them. I must confess that I'm more moved by horrible things happening to women than the same things happening to men, even if they happen to men more, whatever they be, and I think we all do, probably because at many levels women really are just more important.
If women are getting hurt, getting cheated, getting told they're no good (and then being made to swallow it and believe it), all of which is absolutely true, why do you have to LIE on top of all that and say that nothing bad ever happens to men and that men are all every single one of us personally responsible for every bad thing that happens to every women?
Why do you have to say that?
If we were about solving these problems, then it wouldn't make sense to say that. It would make sense to admit openly that rape and violence and fear and body shaming and eating disorders all happen to men, too, and that they're important problems for everybody. It's true. Oh, wait, all of those have personally happened to me, but nobody's writing any articles like that for me or my ilk. That makes me angry. It makes me angry because the women's movement I saw doing such great things in the 70s and 80s is being turned into a sham by these kinds of cheapshots.
Maybe I'm a people-pleaser, maybe I'm trying to get something by being a do-goody-two-shoes. Well, Planned Parenthood, the Idaho Midwives, NOW, and a host of others all cashed my cheques. Many women have accepted my help, with their careers, their relationships, their schoolwork, their children, but so-called feminists have always treated me with suspicion as have "regular" people, too, I guess. Who knows what they're thinking? I can't make anybody accept me as their ally, but the fact that so-called "feminists" don't seem to want allies is suspicious.
I'm not arguing that women have it bad. In fact, many of the women I grew up with had it so pounded into them that they can't do serious jobs and make real engineering or other salaries that they may never recover from it. That's horrible. I'm relieved to see that the next generation seems to be escaping that. That's this country. Other countries, like Japan, had the sense for longer not to treat their girls like this. Why do we? An interesting question for later (which I have been working on for some time).
I'm not arguing whether women have it bad. If you think that, then you missed it, and we're done. We can start this conversation over.
If you're arguing that women have it bad and men absolutely don't then you're just plain wrong, and you got nothing. You don't have an argument.
My argument is more subtle. Women have it bad (duh). Men also have it bad, but I don't know what to do about it (maybe it can't be fixed -- more on that later). I tend to feel more compelled by the suffering of women than that of men (as we all seem to). I think we can actually do something about a lot of the suffering of women, because a lot of it is not seriously engrained and rooted in the basic functioning of our society. We NEED twice as many engineers, and ASAP. We need twice as many businesspeople. We NEED twice as many good government people.
I'm not sure what the numbers are for the suffering of men, except they're not zero. Rape, violence, body and sexual shaming, marginalization, etc. The problem is that we may not be able to solve them for men at least until after we have solved them for women. Women are starting to get out from under it, and now they're turning on men rather than helping! Gloria Steinem promised we would benefit, too! As I told her during the Q&A at her U of Idaho speech (yes, that's yet another feminist function I've attended) that it's probably easier to get women INTO the job market than it is to get men OUT. But we probably need to do a lot of that. There are a lot of other things men are stuck in.
1. War ("a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" US Post Office)
2. having to work your whole life away until you die
3. not getting to have feelings
4. Homophobia
5. routine infant genital mutilation
6. 10 to 1 higher rate of imprisonment (also death penalty)
7. 6 TIMES more likely to commit suicide
8. 30 times more likely to suffer workplace accident
We don't NEED to be all labeled as rapists, subsumed into this vague notion of The Patriarchy (which victimizes us as much as it victimizes women). We've got enough on our plates already, but thanks for offering.
I'll end up seeing my son for a total of about 5 hours this trip, which is the first time in 3 1/2 years, but I just have to accept this and many other things because as my divorce lawyer (a women -- I always try to engage female professionals, at least until the so-called "wage gap" goes away) said "you're the wrong gender".
Back to my point. Men's suffering, the points above, which are "separate" from the stuff that both genders suffer, may be unsolvable. If our society continues to have a structure of war and oppression, then men will always have to be the ones who are the police, the soldiers, the torturers, not because we are inherently evil, but, and this is a subtle point, because we are EXPENDABLE. If I get killed in a war or whatever, they may have a parade, but my kid will still have a mommy, and that's all that really matters to anybody. People don't care if men suffer, if they die in wars with a cruelty we usually spare even insects, if they rot in prison by the millions, if they are put to death by the state, if they labor away in coal mines or fall off of roofs of buildings they build in winter or hot summer or if they commit suicide in ridiculous numbers. Nobody cares. It's all entertainment.
You might say that women are made to suffer because somebody wants them to do something, like have sex, have a baby, stay home or in the harem and do menial stuff where you won't get hurt so you'll always be there, while men are made to suffer because somebody wants something done, and they may be tortured and killed to frighten the others because the men are EXPENDABLE.
Yes, women suffer. It breaks my heart. I've been fighting for their rights, probably more than most, for some 40 years. To say (or imply) that somehow men DON'T suffer undermines your argument, makes you sound like some kind of whiner, like you're trying to establish permanent victimhood in order to get privileges. Please stop it. You're ruining everything when you do that.
I'm not hearing solutions. I'm not hearing ideas for how to change things so that women can have it easier, so their specific issues (many related to their reproductive powers) don't trip them up or prevent entry into whatever they want to do. We spend millions on wheelchair ramps and special elevators (which is great) for the disabled people whom in my whole career I have never personally worked with, but NOTHING for something like nursing areas, unisex restrooms, etc. -- I'm not saying that these are the solutions but there doesn't even seem to be a DEBATE on it. Am I the only one noticing these things? I often feel like the only other sound is this background whining and complaining.
If these people were about liberation, wouldn't there be proposed solutions? All I hear is surprise and stuff like "I never thought of that. That might be a good idea. It's so amazing to hear a MAN say that" (God, if I never hear that again, it will be too soon).
Now, if it wasn't bad enough, women have decided that it's okay to attack men just because we're men and we're obviously to blame for everything, we're all rapists and dangerous to women, and threatening to children. I have been attacked like this. It terrified me. I'm terrified, I'm sick of all the stupidity and sewing of hatred, and I'm deeply suspicious of what's behind it. I'm deeply thankful that there are women out there who still have the courage and good sense to question it openly.
It that article is all you have to go on, then you have nothing. I'm not disagreeing with any of it, except that it only tells half the truth, which is a typical tactic these days. If you don't think I care about the plight of women, then you do me a great disservice.
I could go on for dozens of pages more, but I think I'll put a pin in it here. If you notice any errors of fact or logic in the above, please let me know, otherwise, I think we might be done here
======================================
Feminism is a movement for freedom, equality, choice, love, compassion, respect, solidarity, and education. We may argue, we may disagree, we may struggle to understand the choices and perspectives of others sometimes, but these core beliefs of the movement have never changed, and they never will.
=========================================
I agree with your definition of feminism, and that's why I use the term crypto-pseudo-feminism for people who say they're for all of those things, but are in fact doing completely different things. I'm partial to the term "ortho-feminist" for somebody who REALLY walks the walk.
====================================
Jay, I see you have a lot to say and with all due respect, when you post an article like that you are asking for feedback and debate. And honestly, I think You are missing the whole point. Just because feminism is trying stop the devastating oppression and abuse of women by no means promotes the hatred or abuse of men. As a matter of fact the feminist movement has allowed men to step out of the shadows to speak about their own abuse and experiences with abuse. For future reference, please feel free to express how you feel with whatever I post. However, if you must go on a diatribe to hear yourself talk "as you expressed" please pm me:0) thanks for sharing.
And don't ever talk to me about walking the walk. When you have spent hours in the emergency room with men, women and children victims, worked with victims of human trafficking and held the hands of people that have been beaten within an inch of their life. You can begging to talk to me about walking the walk.
===========================================
Please don't make up strawmen. I'm not saying anything about what you do. I thought it was clear that I was pointing out the hypocrisy of many people who preach gender equality then systematically magnify female victimhood and demonize men and ignore their suffering. Don't personalize. Don't anthropomorphize "feminism" as having "intentions" -- the actions of individuals are making feminism look bad and turning off a lot of women, which is what I thought we were talking about. We already agree perfectly on what feminism is. Please don't post some article like the above (I won't bother describing it) and then tell me to read it and then say that I'm wrong for responding. I feel like I'm being attacked and bullied and made into a whipping boy and there is plenty of evidence to support that. I don't deserve that. Nobody deserves that, least of all me. If you just want to bully somebody and not discuss the facts or the issues, that's fine, not nice, but fine as long as you're honest about it and don't try to dress it up.
=======================================
I'm hurt, and angry, and terrified, and you're just giving me more reason and evidence that it's not crazy to be that way, that it's not my imagination. I'm being targeted not because of what I've said, but because of my gender and for expressing sincere disappointment in a cause which I've long supported and held dear and which has since been hijacked and gone wrong.
========================================
I believe this [feminism] is a hard word for people to feel comfortable with using because they either don't understand it, or they have seen over extreme versions of what people think it means burned into their minds. I love your definition of the movement, I believe more people should read this and really understand the message before jumping to conclusions.
I was sitting in my history class in college, and our teacher asked who was a feminist in the room... 90% of the class didn't even know what the word even meant. And more than half the room were women.
Its sad lol.
[Check it out, the host is way pregnant -- I hope she brings her baby with her on camera later -- that would be cool!]
======================================
I don't appreciate being targeted. Given how long, how many marches and demonstrations I've been in, how much money I've donated to women's causes over the years, the things I've written, said, and done, the sacrifices I've made and the times I've put my career, reputation, and personal safety on the line for (ortho-)feminism (NOT crypto-pseudo-feminism), you'd think I'd at least be spared this kind of thing.
Nope.
I believe, and have believed since I was a small child, where I grew up in Idaho Falls in the 70s where women literally had no rights, smart and capable women were kept down, that women's liberation is probably the most important cause there is because it will probably lead to automatic solutions to problems like overpopulation, war, and inequality. That was an article of faith for me -- I still have no proof, and the rhetoric and increasingly destructive actions of the so-called "feminist" movement are crushing that faith and leading me to despair.
And, like this article, and like your response, it is only telling half the story. Yes, I have never, ever disagreed with the assertion that women are oppressed and a lot of really horrible things are done to them. I must confess that I'm more moved by horrible things happening to women than the same things happening to men, even if they happen to men more, whatever they be, and I think we all do, probably because at many levels women really are just more important.
If women are getting hurt, getting cheated, getting told they're no good (and then being made to swallow it and believe it), all of which is absolutely true, why do you have to LIE on top of all that and say that nothing bad ever happens to men and that men are all every single one of us personally responsible for every bad thing that happens to every women?
Why do you have to say that?
If we were about solving these problems, then it wouldn't make sense to say that. It would make sense to admit openly that rape and violence and fear and body shaming and eating disorders all happen to men, too, and that they're important problems for everybody. It's true. Oh, wait, all of those have personally happened to me, but nobody's writing any articles like that for me or my ilk. That makes me angry. It makes me angry because the women's movement I saw doing such great things in the 70s and 80s is being turned into a sham by these kinds of cheapshots.
Maybe I'm a people-pleaser, maybe I'm trying to get something by being a do-goody-two-shoes. Well, Planned Parenthood, the Idaho Midwives, NOW, and a host of others all cashed my cheques. Many women have accepted my help, with their careers, their relationships, their schoolwork, their children, but so-called feminists have always treated me with suspicion as have "regular" people, too, I guess. Who knows what they're thinking? I can't make anybody accept me as their ally, but the fact that so-called "feminists" don't seem to want allies is suspicious.
I'm not arguing that women have it bad. In fact, many of the women I grew up with had it so pounded into them that they can't do serious jobs and make real engineering or other salaries that they may never recover from it. That's horrible. I'm relieved to see that the next generation seems to be escaping that. That's this country. Other countries, like Japan, had the sense for longer not to treat their girls like this. Why do we? An interesting question for later (which I have been working on for some time).
I'm not arguing whether women have it bad. If you think that, then you missed it, and we're done. We can start this conversation over.
If you're arguing that women have it bad and men absolutely don't then you're just plain wrong, and you got nothing. You don't have an argument.
My argument is more subtle. Women have it bad (duh). Men also have it bad, but I don't know what to do about it (maybe it can't be fixed -- more on that later). I tend to feel more compelled by the suffering of women than that of men (as we all seem to). I think we can actually do something about a lot of the suffering of women, because a lot of it is not seriously engrained and rooted in the basic functioning of our society. We NEED twice as many engineers, and ASAP. We need twice as many businesspeople. We NEED twice as many good government people.
I'm not sure what the numbers are for the suffering of men, except they're not zero. Rape, violence, body and sexual shaming, marginalization, etc. The problem is that we may not be able to solve them for men at least until after we have solved them for women. Women are starting to get out from under it, and now they're turning on men rather than helping! Gloria Steinem promised we would benefit, too! As I told her during the Q&A at her U of Idaho speech (yes, that's yet another feminist function I've attended) that it's probably easier to get women INTO the job market than it is to get men OUT. But we probably need to do a lot of that. There are a lot of other things men are stuck in.
1. War ("a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" US Post Office)
2. having to work your whole life away until you die
3. not getting to have feelings
4. Homophobia
5. routine infant genital mutilation
6. 10 to 1 higher rate of imprisonment (also death penalty)
7. 6 TIMES more likely to commit suicide
8. 30 times more likely to suffer workplace accident
We don't NEED to be all labeled as rapists, subsumed into this vague notion of The Patriarchy (which victimizes us as much as it victimizes women). We've got enough on our plates already, but thanks for offering.
I'll end up seeing my son for a total of about 5 hours this trip, which is the first time in 3 1/2 years, but I just have to accept this and many other things because as my divorce lawyer (a women -- I always try to engage female professionals, at least until the so-called "wage gap" goes away) said "you're the wrong gender".
Back to my point. Men's suffering, the points above, which are "separate" from the stuff that both genders suffer, may be unsolvable. If our society continues to have a structure of war and oppression, then men will always have to be the ones who are the police, the soldiers, the torturers, not because we are inherently evil, but, and this is a subtle point, because we are EXPENDABLE. If I get killed in a war or whatever, they may have a parade, but my kid will still have a mommy, and that's all that really matters to anybody. People don't care if men suffer, if they die in wars with a cruelty we usually spare even insects, if they rot in prison by the millions, if they are put to death by the state, if they labor away in coal mines or fall off of roofs of buildings they build in winter or hot summer or if they commit suicide in ridiculous numbers. Nobody cares. It's all entertainment.
You might say that women are made to suffer because somebody wants them to do something, like have sex, have a baby, stay home or in the harem and do menial stuff where you won't get hurt so you'll always be there, while men are made to suffer because somebody wants something done, and they may be tortured and killed to frighten the others because the men are EXPENDABLE.
Yes, women suffer. It breaks my heart. I've been fighting for their rights, probably more than most, for some 40 years. To say (or imply) that somehow men DON'T suffer undermines your argument, makes you sound like some kind of whiner, like you're trying to establish permanent victimhood in order to get privileges. Please stop it. You're ruining everything when you do that.
I'm not hearing solutions. I'm not hearing ideas for how to change things so that women can have it easier, so their specific issues (many related to their reproductive powers) don't trip them up or prevent entry into whatever they want to do. We spend millions on wheelchair ramps and special elevators (which is great) for the disabled people whom in my whole career I have never personally worked with, but NOTHING for something like nursing areas, unisex restrooms, etc. -- I'm not saying that these are the solutions but there doesn't even seem to be a DEBATE on it. Am I the only one noticing these things? I often feel like the only other sound is this background whining and complaining.
If these people were about liberation, wouldn't there be proposed solutions? All I hear is surprise and stuff like "I never thought of that. That might be a good idea. It's so amazing to hear a MAN say that" (God, if I never hear that again, it will be too soon).
Now, if it wasn't bad enough, women have decided that it's okay to attack men just because we're men and we're obviously to blame for everything, we're all rapists and dangerous to women, and threatening to children. I have been attacked like this. It terrified me. I'm terrified, I'm sick of all the stupidity and sewing of hatred, and I'm deeply suspicious of what's behind it. I'm deeply thankful that there are women out there who still have the courage and good sense to question it openly.
It that article is all you have to go on, then you have nothing. I'm not disagreeing with any of it, except that it only tells half the truth, which is a typical tactic these days. If you don't think I care about the plight of women, then you do me a great disservice.
I could go on for dozens of pages more, but I think I'll put a pin in it here. If you notice any errors of fact or logic in the above, please let me know, otherwise, I think we might be done here
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Feminism is a movement for freedom, equality, choice, love, compassion, respect, solidarity, and education. We may argue, we may disagree, we may struggle to understand the choices and perspectives of others sometimes, but these core beliefs of the movement have never changed, and they never will.
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I agree with your definition of feminism, and that's why I use the term crypto-pseudo-feminism for people who say they're for all of those things, but are in fact doing completely different things. I'm partial to the term "ortho-feminist" for somebody who REALLY walks the walk.
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Jay, I see you have a lot to say and with all due respect, when you post an article like that you are asking for feedback and debate. And honestly, I think You are missing the whole point. Just because feminism is trying stop the devastating oppression and abuse of women by no means promotes the hatred or abuse of men. As a matter of fact the feminist movement has allowed men to step out of the shadows to speak about their own abuse and experiences with abuse. For future reference, please feel free to express how you feel with whatever I post. However, if you must go on a diatribe to hear yourself talk "as you expressed" please pm me:0) thanks for sharing.
And don't ever talk to me about walking the walk. When you have spent hours in the emergency room with men, women and children victims, worked with victims of human trafficking and held the hands of people that have been beaten within an inch of their life. You can begging to talk to me about walking the walk.
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Please don't make up strawmen. I'm not saying anything about what you do. I thought it was clear that I was pointing out the hypocrisy of many people who preach gender equality then systematically magnify female victimhood and demonize men and ignore their suffering. Don't personalize. Don't anthropomorphize "feminism" as having "intentions" -- the actions of individuals are making feminism look bad and turning off a lot of women, which is what I thought we were talking about. We already agree perfectly on what feminism is. Please don't post some article like the above (I won't bother describing it) and then tell me to read it and then say that I'm wrong for responding. I feel like I'm being attacked and bullied and made into a whipping boy and there is plenty of evidence to support that. I don't deserve that. Nobody deserves that, least of all me. If you just want to bully somebody and not discuss the facts or the issues, that's fine, not nice, but fine as long as you're honest about it and don't try to dress it up.
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I'm hurt, and angry, and terrified, and you're just giving me more reason and evidence that it's not crazy to be that way, that it's not my imagination. I'm being targeted not because of what I've said, but because of my gender and for expressing sincere disappointment in a cause which I've long supported and held dear and which has since been hijacked and gone wrong.
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I believe this [feminism] is a hard word for people to feel comfortable with using because they either don't understand it, or they have seen over extreme versions of what people think it means burned into their minds. I love your definition of the movement, I believe more people should read this and really understand the message before jumping to conclusions.
I was sitting in my history class in college, and our teacher asked who was a feminist in the room... 90% of the class didn't even know what the word even meant. And more than half the room were women.
Its sad lol.