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[–]PurpleAmathea 11 insightful - 3 fun11 insightful - 2 fun12 insightful - 3 fun -  (2 children)

They claim that sexism is really anti-femme-ism. Ie the problem is femininity is discriminated against, rather than females.

[–]nonpenishaver 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yep. Back when I was a libfem this is literally what I believed. That sexism and misogyny were rooted in hate/disrespect toward femininity. And if men could just be taught to see femininity as "equal" to masculinity, sexism would be over. Lol.

This belief crumbled when I got into radical feminism and learned how men have always hated biological females, and they enforce femininity on us precisely because femininity is degrading. I only needed to hear this explained to me once before I got it. It was instantaneous. It baffles me that there are grown women who call themselves feminists and still don't get it.

[–]Lemonade_Masquerade 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Exactly. And because it's -femininity- that's oppressed, not females, it's obvious how TIMs can use that to their advantage. It's funny, because they always talk about femininity in a way that's more closely related to homophobia than misogyny. "I was always discriminated against for wearing make up!" That's a male thing. Women are pushed -into- make up etc not for doing it. It is devalued because it's seen as feminine, but it's not the same experience.

It also works in their favor because it's easy to paint radical feminists as just as discriminatory for our anti-femininity views. They're individualists, and none of them seem to be able to tell the difference between a criticism of a system and a personal attack. So "I think choices are not made in a vacuum. I think that society has an influence on our decisions and our decisions have an impact on society" gets the response "Why are you shaming me right now?" It's not the things themselves, it's always us. Men liking a feminine thing won't make it accepted. It'll just be seen as something for men. Computer programming is a great example. Or it'll be like cooking, expected by women at home but high paying chefs tend to be men. In the art world, women do crafts, men make art. The only continuous thread is that if it is associated with women, it's less important. After all, if women can do it, then it must be easy. It's unimpressive.