• CON

    Couple this with centuries of suppression and denial of a...

    Feminism is a poisonous belief system that needs to be done away with.

    Hello again! Thank you for your rebuttal. Firstly, when you say something like: "Every single issue that was brought up by you could be solved by egalitarianism."I could not agree more. You and I seem to be having serious differecnces about the definitions of some key words in this debate so I will clarify them again for you: 1. Feminism: It is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women. 2.Equality: the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, or opportunities I am saying that historically and all over the world feminism is an attempt at gender equality.A few feminists in western countries where feminism has already succeded in bringing gender equality to a certain degree may make absurd claims at times, but this does not reflect reality all over the globe, nor does it change the definition of Feminism itself. 1.Nature of equality I assert that giving support to someone who is suffering from a serious handicap is an attempt at equality.For example,building a ramp or reserving a special parking lot for someone suffering from an disability is not special treatment, but an attempt at equality. Women's bodies are generally weaker than men because their bodies undergo tremendous hormonal changes and discomfort to enable child rearing.A woman carries a baby in her womb for over 9 months, suffers pain that is roughly equal to breaking 20 bones, and risks her life itself to make new life possible.She then feeds it with her own blood for the next year or so.This is not something that is voluntary and is decided by nature at birth itself. Couple this with centuries of suppression and denial of a right to education and power as well as an ongoing prejudice in almost all spheres of life, and it will become obvious that women face a serious handicap that must be compensated for hence certain provisions were made in the laws of almost all countries. 2.Evidence for a bias in Nutrition and Healthcare For this I can assert that this is a common practice all over Asia through personal experience.Sons are seen as the future providers of the family and are usually given the best of everything.However, I could gather statistics only from India.There is a 35% excess female child mortality in India when compared to males and a 10% excess females who are malnourished. I have provided 2 research papers to support my claim in the sources[3] and[4] 3.Rebuttals a.Female Genital Mutilation When you are talking about male genital mutilation I seriously hope you don't mean circumcision.The removal of the foreskin does not impair a male's sexual function in any way, and is a widely recommended procedure even by modern doctors in certain cases of infection. Female genital Mutilation results in the woman being unable to experiecnce sexual pleasure for the rest of her life,has no medical purpose and leaves her much more vulnerable to a variety of infections, cyst formation and diseases.This is a widely prevalent practice all over the islamic world and i have already given adequate statistics to prove this in the opening statement itself. b.Bride Burning Once again the feminist movement in India is not that well developed and in vast areas of the country this contiues to exist inspite of the strict laws that feminist activists have succeded in implementing.If anything, this shows how relavant Feminism is in removing such unjust practices and the need for this movement to continue for a long time to come. c.Under-representation of women in Parliaments. I assert that most women stay out of politics mainly because of a variety of reasons that include: 1.Traditional Gender roles 2.Lack of suppport from families 3.Prejudice and insubordination of subordinates. In countries like Sweden and Rwanda where these 3 things do not exist because of successful policies of feminists,women have occupied upto 47.3% and 56% of the parliament across party lines.If women in these countries can do it why not in other countries too?Why can't we continue feminism till we can achieve a parliament that truly represents the population of women? d.Domestic Violence I never said anything about men being murderous psychopaths, because I am a man myself.I am glad you accept that more women die due to domestic violence. It is just that unlike in the states, in many countries, especially Islamic countries following Sharia'a law domestic violence is legally sanctioned and the perpetrators are almost exclusively male.The surah al-Nisah,34 in the Qura'an states: "Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband's] absence what Allah would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance - [first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally], strike them. " Relevant statistics: 1. Domestic violence is so common that 85 per cent of women admit to experiencing it in Afganistan. 60% of all women report being victims of multiple forms of serial violence. 2. WHO, United Nations study, 30% of women in rural Bangladesh reported their first sexual experience to be forced. About 40% report having experienced domestic violence from their intimate partner, and 50% in rural regions report experiencing sexual violence. 3.The World Health Organization reported sharply increasing rates of domestic violence in Indonesia, with over 25,000 cases in 2007. Nearly 3 in 4 cases, it is the husband beating the wife; the next largest reported category were the in-laws abusing the wife. The higher rates may be because more cases of violence against women are being reported in Indonesia, rather than going unreported, than before These cases serve to illustrate what a wide spread problem domestic Violence is in the world.Even if 70% of the initiators are women in the US, we must consider the fact that they are physically weaker also. e.Saudi Arabia What you said was correct to some degree.I will now show you why the value of a woman's testimonial is considered irrelavant here: "In a document called A Country Law Study for Saudi Arabia which is not readily available and is considered restricted reading there it cites four reasons why women are not allowed to give evidence in a Sharia Court. It might be worth while stating them here: a.women by nature are forgetful and therefore testimony is unreliable not participating in public life, they are usually not capable of understanding what they observe b.they are dominated by men and will give testimony according to what the last man told them c.being more emotional than men they will distort their testimony accordingly" Conclusion I completely agree with you when you claim that some women feminists are taking feminism too far.But unfortunately, the facts speak for themselves and women still have a long way to go before we can even dream of a gender -equal world.Feminism would be the only vital thing that can achieve this till then. Kind regards, CynicalDiogenes Sources: 1.www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feminism 2.http://factsfromfiction.blogspot.in...; 3.http://iussp2009.princeton.edu...; 4.http://www.indiastat.com... 5.http://www.theguardian.com...; 6.http://www.thelocal.se... 7.http://www.gu.se...; 8.Afghanistan - Ending Child Marriage and Domestic Violence Human Rights Watch (September 2013), pages 11-13 9.Violence against women World Health Organization (UN), 2012 10.Intimate Partner Violence WHO (UN), 2012 11.http://en.wikipedia.org...; 12.Gender-based violence in Indonesia, United Nations WHO (2008)