General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Shailene Woodley: Why I’m Not a Feminist (Time Magazine) [View all]wickerwoman
(5,662 posts)As I'm never going to have the opportunity to directly address this person and neither, probably is anyone in this thread, we are never going to be able to sit down with one-to-one and gently explain to them that they have no idea what they are talking about and that they are perpetuating harmful stereotypes about women who fought their asses off to secure basic rights for them.
I think the fault lies with the news magazine in giving a platform to someone who is clearly completely ignorant about the topic they are discussing and then never calling them on it. I'm sure there are four year olds who think peas are poisonous. Giving them an op ed in the New York Times doesn't make it either true or a valid opinion for adults to sit around discussing. That four year old should be metaphorically shut up in the sense that he shouldn't be given the column inches to perpetuate dangerous nonsense.
And "feminists hate men" is dangerous nonsense because it encourages people both to ignore them and to overlook their contributions over the last forty years. It perpetuates a dismissive attitude towards women generally- that they are shrill and hysterical and that their fight for equality it motivated by a desire to take something away from men.
It's not good enough to say "well, more people support equal rights for women than did in the 1950s so I think we're done here and bugger who did the work the get us here". There is still work to do. And lying about the people doing that work is both ungrateful and counterproductive.