in a masterpiece of oversimplification,
paleblue@byron.u.washington.edu (Hermes) writes:
: you know. That feminism stuff. Brownmiller and Steinem and Stein and : Anthony and so on. It's like this theory where men control everything : and so women aren't really free they're just doing what men want.
um, that's not a terribly accurate statement.
"it's like this theory where men control everything"
look around. women are supposed to be thrilled because this year there are 6 of us in the us senate. half the population, and we command a whole 6% of the senate. oh, baby. all the major ceo's are male. the vast majority of heads of state are male. the vast majority of heads of institutions (colleges, universities, hospitals) are male. men are in control of most of the power structures in our society.
(and before guys start in with "i'm male and i don't control anything", please note that men controlling things doesn't mean that all men have power; it means that the people with power are men, and they're inclined to maintain the status quo, which means policies that tend to favor males gaining power.)
"and so women aren't really free"
depends on how you define free. certainly we have more freedom than we did 20 years ago, when i woman couldn't get a bank loan or a credit card without having a husband or father co-sign for her. but barriers do still exist, and those barriers limit the freedom of women to attain their full potential.
"they're just doing what men want"
again, depends on how you look at it. women in our society tend to end up being dependent on the goodwill of men to get ahead (or even to get by). so yeah, a lot of times, women put up with shit and don't say anything and allow themselves to be exploited in the name of survival. in a sense, that's "just doing what men want."
gender inequity is a huge problem in our society still... it's just that things have improved a lot and that makes it easier to not-see the areas where things could still stand some change...
--
sine | deb
"if you can't fuck it and it doesn't dance,
eat it or throw it away." -- pat cadigan