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Philosophy, Religion & Society / Is mainstream feminism/social justice authoritarian?
« on: June 21, 2015, 03:27:38 PM »
This is primarily a response to Tausami's posts in "Party Membership", but since it doesn't have much to do with the original subject, I thought I'd give it a new thread.
Here are some examples of modern feminist or otherwise social-justice-warriory behaviour that also happens to be authoritarian:
Oh, come on. Quoting a tumblog that's either a) satirical or b) run by a 13 year old girl who doesn't entirely understand the concepts she's angry about isn't fair. Even most of tumblr makes fun of people like that.You pretending that there isn't a significant proportion of real tumblr crazies (be that feminists, stormfronters, communists, paedophiles, or a combination of those) is something we probably shouldn't waste our time on. So, instead, let's jump to more "serious" media. I'm going to relax the constraints a little bit here, since this particular, vocal branch of mainstream feminism does not exist in a vacuum, but is rather part of a larger authoritarian movement.
Here are some examples of modern feminist or otherwise social-justice-warriory behaviour that also happens to be authoritarian:
- We tend to empathize with our online avatars. So let's get rid of white emojis - The Guardian
- White men should never hold elected positions in British universities again - The Telegraph [article since removed due to public outrage]
- Kamila Shamsie: let’s have a year of publishing only women – a provocation - The Guardian (already linked by Parsifal, but worth re-emphasising)
- The only people who need to fear an affirmative consent standard for rape are rapists - The Guardian
- The entire UVA non-rape saga, as delivered by the Rolling Stone:
- A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA - The Rolling Stone [article since removed due to the entire story being completely false] - Listen and believe, indeed!
- The Rolling Stone Retraction - The Atlantic - a debrief on the whole fiasco.
- Goldsmith's Student Diversity Officer Bahar Mustafa Investigated By Police After She Tweeted 'Kill All White Men' - The Huffington Post UK - Bahar is an interesting lady altogether, and I'd wholeheartedly recommend anyone wondering why some people don't like SJWs to research her in depth.
- What’s Wrong with Cultural Appropriation? These 9 Answers Reveal Its Harm - Everyday Feminism (Also, the concept of "cultural appropriation" as a whole.)
- If you're a man, your clothes are sexist and you should instead wear the clothes we approve of:
- I don't care if you landed a spacecraft on a comet, your shirt is sexist and ostracizing - The Verge
- Mark Zuckerberg's Simple Defense of His Clothes Reinforces a Sexist Double Standard - Mic.com
- Why are my feminist friends still taking their husbands' surnames? - The Guardian
- Women’s lib no longer on agenda of today’s authoritarian feminists - The Australian
- Sorry, Emma Watson, but HeForShe Is Rotten for Men - TIME (This article also makes a good case for why, even if we accept that "kill all men" is just a hilarious joke, it does more harm than good to feminism's original cause)
- The Pecking Disorder: Social Justice Warriors Gone Wild - Observer
- Yes, Diversity Is About Getting Rid Of White People (And That’s A Good Thing) - Thought Catalog [article since removed due to "hateful or abusive content"] [content warning: may contain trace amounts of satire]
Also, the tags 'male tears' and 'kill all men' generally represent someone who is being tongue-in-cheek. There might be people who actually believe that shit, but mostly they're not. The hardcore feminists I know are usually just trying to get a rise out of men's rights activists with shit like that.This is a response that many people won't accept easily. In a society where both sexes and all races have pressing issues, it's simply not acceptable to ostracise and marginalise one group. Yes, even if it's the big bad evil white man. In the mainstream, we (rightly, in my view) criticise people wearing t-shirts like "w0w babe make me a sandwich", but simultaneously glorify people at the verge of quoting the SCUM manifesto. That's simply not on, and the growing opposition to movements which were once considered "progressive" should be evidence enough.