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New Western Feminism is pointless and oppresive.

Thanks to Pro for posting this interesting topic. Thanks to any readers, and thanks to DDO for hosting. Conduct: Pro tried to shift the burden of proof, so it is appropriate to vote conduct to Con. If Pro wanted a shared burden of proof, he should have made that clear in his OP. Spelling and Grammar: This is obvious. Resolution: Pro has undertaken to prove that feminism (yes, Western and modern, though I won't keep repeating that) is 1. "pointless," 2. "focuses only on the supremacy of women," and 3. "oppresses the right of freedom of speech." Pro must establish all three points to win this debate. Oppresses Freedom of Speech: Pro gives but a single example of this. Apparently, in one case, one feminist pulled a fire alarm to silence another group of feminists. This example does not establish a trend or tendency. Some Concerns of Feminism: Equal Pay: Riley County Kansas has two employees who weigh trucks entering and leaving the county dump. The newer employee thought she was paid less because she was female, until the guy quit, and was replaced by another guy, who also got paid more than her. This wasn't a job that required much skill. The inequity wasn't because she might quit to have babies. We were just paying her less because she was a woman. [1] Equal Treatment: A friend of mine had a good credit rating. Then she got married and divorced, after which, her husband had her credit rating, and she had none. The credit company assumed that the good credit history belonged to the man. [2] Equal Treatment: A woman went to the bank for a loan. The banker told her she needed her husband's approval. She said, "It's my income. I don't see why I need my husband's permission." The banker said, "We don't care what you think." So she left the bank, went into politics, changed the law, went back to the bank, sat in the same chair, and got her loan. [3] Glass Ceiling: Men are not just paid differentially, they are promoted differentially. Attitudes: Women aren't listened to the way men are, they aren't taken as seriously. Arrogant aggressive men can be appealing, but women have to be diffident and tactful. [6] Sexual Abuse: Women are considered rapable, abusable. And if they are raped, they are typically blamed for it. The rapists are sometimes considered victims. [4] GLBT: "Over the course of the 1970s, a large variety of influential women accepted lesbianism and bisexuality as part of feminism." [7] This is still true. Marriage equality is a feminist cause. Rape, genital mutilation, incest, prostitution, homophobia: The above Wikipedia article points out that these are also concerns of feminism. Male Privilege generally: Women have to be skinny to be attractive; men don't. Women are not only less likely to get promoted, but when they do get promoted, people often assume they were promoted because of their gender, not because of talent. Promiscuous men are considered studs, a positive; promiscuous women are considered sluts, a negative. Male protagonists are the norm; it's hard to find positive role models, in literature and film, for female children. Men aren't sexually harassed on the street like women are. Women are interrupted in conversation more than men. [8] Women are charged more for cars. [9] Okay, I could go on, but I've made the point. Feminism is not pointless, and it does not focus exclusively (or at all, as far as I know) on the supremacy of women. The resolution is refuted. We've Made Progress, But the Forces of Oppression are Ever Ready to Take Back Ground They've Lost: - A professor claims that rape is okay if the man is gentle and the woman is unconscious. [5] - Even some young women believe that gender-based pay differences are justified by the fact that women can get pregnant. [10] - Politicians are still publicly misogynistic. Witness Todd (Legitimate Rape) Akin's claim that if a woman gets pregnant then she wasn't really raped. In the last presidential election, the Republicans advertised their war on women as if it were a good thing. [11] - Republicans are rolling back reproductive rights as we speak, criminalizing abortion, even threatening contraception. Concession: Pro mentions a feminist group, Equality Candida, which Pro says stands for : 1. To advance education with discussion of equality-especially gender equality, reason and science. : : 2. To provide a platform for collaboration between groups that discuss gender equality. : : 3. To participate in consciousness raising activities, to do with equality, that are routinely ignored. : : 4. To utilise media so that we may discuss the taboo subjects of gender equality. This is a full concession: Feminism is not pointless, and not just about female supremacy. Vote Con. [1] Personal conversation with Riley County Attorney. [2] Personal conversation with my friend. [3] Public speech. The speaker and subject of the story was the woman who argued Roe v Wade before the Supreme Court. [4] The Steubenville rape is an example: http://www.cnn.com... [5] reported by Ed Brayton at "Dispatches from the Culture Wars" http://freethoughtblogs.com... [6] Michael Caine wrote about this. I've lost the citation. I also recognize the problem by introspection, and so state it on my own authority. [7] Wikipedia: Feminism. [8] Most of these examples of male privilege are from "Alas: A Blog." http://www.amptoons.com... [9] Alas: A Blog. "That this happens – and doesn’t appear to be a matter of “rare cases” – has been documented by sending male and female negotiators, trained to use identical negotiating techniques, to car lots to negotiate for cars. The initial offers made to men are simply better." http://www.amptoons.com... [10] Class discussion, in a literature class at K-State. [11] http://en.wikipedia.org...