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Feminism is no longer needed.

Introduction My opponent begins by saying that because the "patriarchy" and wage gap don't really exist, feminism is therefore obsolete. Of course, I can prove that feminism still has relevance in today's society without upholding the existence of those particular examples. I'd like to point out that if I can provide even just one example of where feminism is relevant, I will have won this debate. I think Pro is the one who needs luck. Re: Graduation Rates The fact that men have proven to be academically inferior to women is a useless point. Yes, it highlights that women tend to do better in school environments than men. It doesn't prove that school environments have been "tailored for women" as Pro suggests. Furthermore, even if school environments were tailored for women (which Pro hasn't proven -- he's simply linked to an article showing that girls outperform boys, and a YouTube video which none of us are responsible for watching) that would only prove that society has made it easier for girls vs. boys in one particular forum: education. It wouldn't prove that feminism is obsolete. Moreover, there is evidence of sexism against women in certain areas of academia -- particularly higher education (lower level education favors women) and in the STEM fields. We can explore this further if Pro would like. Re: The Wage Gap I will not be arguing in favor of the wage gap. Re: Custody Cases Up until the Industrial Revolution (when many men worked far outside the home) custody was almost always given to the fathers. It wasn't until the 1970s when courts began to shift and consider what was in the best interest of the child. According to a study done by the National Survey of Family Growth, a married father spends on average 6.5 hours a week taking part in primary child care activities. The married mother spends on average 12.9 hours. Since the majority of homes now have 2 working parents, these statistics show that mothers are still doing twice as much child care as fathers even while they work outside the home. It only makes sense that mothers who have a closer bond due to the time spent caring for a child be the one more likely to retain primary custody after a divorce [1]. Here's another thing to consider: In 51 percent of custody cases, both parents agreed — on their own — that mom become the custodial parent. In 29 percent of custody cases, the decision was made without any third party involvement. In fact, only 4 percent of custody cases ever go to trial, and only 1.5 percent completed custody litigation. In other words, 91 percent of child custody after divorce is decided with no interference from the family court system at all [2]. Pro says the evidence shows nothing but "pure bias." But how can there be a bias toward mothers when fewer than 4 percent of custody decisions are made by the Family Court? I look forward to Pro's explanation. The facts of the matter are that fathers are less involved in child care during the marriage, and are overwhelmingly not involved in child care post-divorce -- even though custody arrangements are mostly settled outside of court. Nonetheless, let's suppose there is in fact a huge bias against fathers in the court system. In that case, Pro has just made an argument in my favor. So thanks for that. Arguments Feminism is the supposition that men and women should have equal social, political, and economic rights and opportunities. That doesn't mean that men and women are equal or the same. It means one's sex shouldn't play a significant role in the way they are treated in society. As such, by highlighting examples where men are disadvantaged in society on the basis of their sex (i.e. in family court, in education, etc.) Pro is simply proving the utility of feminism. Since men experience negative sexism and/or social barriers and prejudices for being male, they too can benefit from feminism. Sexism at Work While it's true that society is more equal today than ever before, society is still not entirely equal (for lack of a better term) despite Pro's bare assertion to the contrary. Occupational sexism refers to refers to any discriminatory practices, statements, actions, etc. based on a person's sex that are present or occur in a place of employment and research shows it still exists today. There are 3 common observations on sexism and work: - Women tend to take on more domestic tasks; - Women and men are often designated different occupational roles; and - Women often have lower status and less frequent promotions These patterns can work as the foreground for the commonality of occupational stereotypes [3]. Researchers analyzed 88 workplace studies published from 1985 to 2012 with 93 independent samples and 73,877 participants. After analyzing data from the 73,877 workers, the researchers found "the more common, less intense forms of gender harassment (like office cultures where sexist jokes are tolerated) appeared as detrimental for women’s occupational well-being as the less frequent, high-intensity incidents (like sexual coercion and unwanted sexual attention)." So while it's usually the far more disgustingly overt sexual harassment that makes headlines, this study suggests that daily sexist jokes and comments made by co-workers can also chip away at a woman’s occupational worth [4]. However we don't have to spend a good deal of time talking about sexism at work unless my opponent feels necessary. As I said, so long as I can prove one instance of where feminism is relevant, I will have won this debate even if there was no such thing as sexism at work. In that case, it should be noted that I have already won this debate. By highlighting instances of sexism against men, my opponent has specified why feminism is still useful today. While feminists focus on women's issues, they do recognize and work on other activist issues pertaining to sex and gender. For example many feminists acknowledge how problematic it is to body shame males as well as females [5]. Violence Against Women In this debate, I will be highlighting the prevalent issue of violence against women, particularly sexual assault. The frequency of sexual harassment and violence directed at women (and also men -- but women by far) is disturbing. Nearly 1 in 5 women have reportedly experienced rape of some kind [6]. Even the most conservative estimates suggest 5% of women on college campuses experience rape or attempted rape every single year [7]. Alcohol is not a factor in about 1/4 of those cases... even though being intoxicated blurs the lines, it certainly doesn't excuse rape - especially blatant rape such as the rape committed recently by Brock Turner, a Stamford swimmer who received a sentence of about 1 total month in jail for raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. And speaking of "blurred lines," there is arguably a component of our culture that promotes not only complete double standards in how women are allowed to express and engage in their sexuality (especially compared to men), but songs like "Blurred Lines" arguably promote rape in general. Thus there is still some harmful sexism that is negatively impactful in society, and ways in which feminist teachings can improve social norms and well-being for all. Not ALL feminist theoies have to be valid in order for feminism to be relevant. Sources [1] http://www.pewsocialtrends.org... [2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org... [4] http://pwq.sagepub.com... [5] http://jezebel.com... [6] https://www.cdc.gov... [7] Kilpatrick, Resnick, Riggierio, Conoscenti, & McCauley, 2007; American College Health Association, 2013 [8] Lisak & Miller, 2002; Mohler-Kuo, et al., 2004