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Modern Feminism is Necessary

Thanks, Orange. I'm glad we can agree that "objectification" isn't the best word to describe this, but I can understand that it's hard to find a word. My solution would be to not put negative labels on natural human behavior. I'm attracted to women, like most men, and that doesn't mean I think of them as nothing more than something to have sex with. And even then, even if my sole purpose of getting to know a girl was to have sex with her, it still doesn't mean I'm treating her as less than human. There's this strange stigma going around recently, thanks to feminism, that it's bad to hook up with people. All thanks to the word objectification. By hanging out with someone simply to have sex, even if consensual, you are "objectifying" each other, which is a horrible thing, except both the people participating are just unaware of it. Alright, let's get to business. Over-sexualization of people Nobody is made to do anything in the media. A position opens up, and someone says they would like to do that. If a woman doesn't want to wear a bikini next to a burger, she doesn't have to. If a man doesn't want to stand shirtless next to an air freshener, he doesn't have to. Nobody is forcing people to do this. If they want a career in modeling or acting, they can apply to companies that they feel suits them. The choice that other people make on what to do with their own body isn't up to you to decide if it's right or wrong. This is one of the reasons I consider feminism to be a bad thing. More often than not, feminists claim to be for equal rights, opportunities, etc, but when someone does something they don't like, even if it doesn't affect them one bit, they try to put a stop to it. What you're doing, saying how horrible it is for a woman to look attractive next to a burger, is the exact opposite of what the original feminism's goals were. You're (in a sense) telling women what they should and should not do, because you do or don't like it. The women in these commercials have every opportunity not to call in and audition for the part, and they have every opportunity to leave if they feel uncomfortable. There isn't a problem here. I can't argue against every point your article brings up, but the main theme I noticed was basically "the less clothing a person wears, the more sexually they are looked at." Now, this isn't a bad thing, nor is it breaking news. If a woman sees a naked man, she will (more often than not) look at him in a sexual way. If she sees a man in a suit, or shirt and jeans, she will (more often than not) look at him in a non-sexual way. Same applies for men. Watching movies or ads or music videos with naked men and women isn't going to change anyone's perspective of men and women. The sexual crime rate has decreased [2], so obviously men are viewing women in a more respectable way, and more is being done to ensure women are safe. Ads that show women in bikinis aren't going to raise the sexual assault rate, nor will it change anyone's perspective of women. I can speak from personal experience... I'm a man. I see ads with attractive, scantily-clad women all the time. I don't view women as "objects" or give their ideas no value or significance. To think that men will all of a sudden not care about women, or think of them solely as "sexual beings" because they saw a semi-clothed woman in an ad is ridiculous. I also have one huge criticism of this article. The title alone is making women out to be victims, and men out to be aggressors. The title alone (as well as the rest of the article) portrays men as sex-crazed animals, and women as victims. If this is feminism, then feminism is horrible. Not only do women look at men in a more sexual way the less clothes they have on, they tend to (as well as men) buy products on impulse if an attractive model is used in the ad [1]. So what exactly is feminism trying to do, other than make women look like weak victims of horrible big bad sex-craved men? Well, stop people from doing what they want with their own lives. Slut Shaming I agree that someone who has a lot of sex should be looked at no different than someone who doesn't have a lot of sex, other than the chance of STI's etc. However, this isn't a feminism issue. This isn't even a human right's issue. This is a "people will be jerks" issue. I've been ridiculed for having many sexual partners, asked how many diseases I have, how my AIDS is, how much I pay in child support, if I'm happy not having any worth and looked at as a sex object (lol), and the list goes on. Considering a hell of a lot of this is strictly anecdotal, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to say "this happens to women way more than men." Although the term "slut," "whore," etc. is thrown around, this doesn't mean the male equivalent isn't happening just as much. In fact, with the SlutWalk and other events to stop female "shaming," this goes to show that bad stuff happening to women is taken more seriously than bad stuff happening to men. There isn't a "player walk" or organizations trying to put a halt on the word "gigolo" or "manwhore" or "player" etc. More often than not, women are the primary ones who receive support for negative stuff that happens to both men and women. Same goes for abuse. There are a thousand women's shelters for every man's. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, I'm saying feminists need to realize this - the only people who treat women poorly are bad people to begin with, and will most likely treat everyone poorly. And a side note; anyone in the porn industry is usually dismissed instantly. The reason it happens "more" to women than men is because nobody gives a damn about the men in porn. They're there for the attractive women. I can guarantee you if an equally well-known male pornstar and female pornstar were talking with their audience, they'd get ridiculed equally. Masculinity So like I said earlier, the definition of feminism has little to no effect on this argument, however I would like to bring up that it is "the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men." So the original idea (and current idea) isn't to help men; it's to help women achieve equality to men - something they already have. Keep in mind that what you *want* to happen, or what your *idea* is, isn't going to dictate the movement as a whole. It's nice to say "feminism wants equal treatment for men too," but it's even nicer when it actually happens. Feminists aren't outside prisons chanting "end prison rape," they aren't outside women's shelters chanting "what about men," etc. Allowing boys to dress like girls and play with dolls is arguably detrimental to the growth of those boys, as they have a larger chance of growing up confused about their sexuality, and an even larger chance of getting bullied or picked on. Turning men into women and women into men (eliminating gender norms is your goal, I assume) is detrimental. Men are attracted to women, and women are attracted to men. If everyone acted like the same gender, it would be annoying and deter people from reproducing. Of course this isn't going to stick though, so I'm not concerned. And just out of curiosity, do you have a link or source to a feminist website about a feminist actually doing something about negative things that effect men? Not just writing a blog, I mean protesting or something along those lines. Because what I see are feminists addressing the very few issues that primarily effect women. Men are more likely to be murdered, assaulted, robbed, homeless, commit suicide, get injured at work, and many more. Men and women are equally victims of rape (if you take prison rape into account), almost equally victims of domestic violence [3], yet feminists focus solely on the issues that primarily effect women, or the female victims of bad things that affect men and women. When less bad stuff happens to women than men, yet feminists claim women are at a disadvantage, it says something. Oh and just for added pleasure, Bustle, a known feminist website, claims men cannot be the victims of sexism [4]. A feminist website claims sexual discrimination against men does not exist. This is not equality, this is actually detrimental to the whole of society. It pisses off men, and it turns every woman on Earth into an innocent, weak victim. I'm on women's sides, I'm not on feminist's sides. I also see you didn't argue against my points about Victim Blaming and that Feminism spreads lies. I urge you to argue against those, as those are kind of important points. Thanks! Talk to you soon. Sources [1] http://www.dailymail.co.uk... [2] http://reason.com... [3] http://www.theguardian.com... [4] http://www.bustle.com...