Feminism Should not be Encouraged
I would like to add that all I have to do to win, is state a situation where feminism should be encouraged. And, for Pro to win, he has to fulfill the Burden of Proof,
to do this, he has to prove that feminism should not be encouraged in all circumstances. "You begin by giving the definiotion
of feminism. To which I would argue, judge a movement based on its actions rather than its definition."
The resolution: "Feminism Should not be Encouraged". I argue that my defintion is completely relevant, for
the resolution is "Feminism", not the Feminist Movement. Therefore, I believe, "judge a movement based on its
actions rather than its defintion", is invalid. If the resolution was "The consumption
of steaks should not be encouraged", I would argue about the benefits of having steak
were. However, pro would be arguing about some of the people who eat steaks. And per debate rules, if a key part was left undefined ("feminism"), the opponent
can define it in the next round (as I did, "Feminism": "The advocacy of women"s rights
on the ground of the equality of the sexes." [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com......])
"I have presented a valid list of inequalities that men are faced with. The fact that
a gender equalizing campaign ignores such exmples of sexism, serves as evidence that
it is a hypocritical movement. Thus, it shouldn't be encouraged. The very title "Feminism" right off the bat, establishes it as a women's first campaign and,through every
one of its actions, this is proven to be the case." For the rest of pro's arguments
he clearly states that there is sexism for both genders, that does not prove that
feminism should not be encouraged. Definition of: Sexism: "Prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination,
typically against women, on the basis of sex" [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com...]
Definition of: Feminism: "The advocacy of women"s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes." [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com......]
Pro bases his arguments around the fact that feminism only care for women's rights... However, the defintion of feminism is "The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes." This
means that feminism could also be decreasing women's rights to make equality between the sexes. Pro constructs
his argument like so: Women's rights> Men's rights. Therefore, feminism should not be encouraged (Pro thinks, feminism is to be encouraged only when women's rights are<men's rights). However, this proves
that feminism should be encouraged. Therefore, Pro comitted a Red Herring Fallacy: "A Red Herring
is a fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention
from the original issue. The basic idea is to "win" an argument by leading attention
away from the argument and to another topic. This sort of "reasoning" has the following
form: Topic A is under discussion. Topic B is introduced under the guise of being
relevant to topic A (when topic B is actually not relevant to topic A). Topic A is
abandoned." [http://www.nizkor.org...] I will insert this debate into the 'Red Herring
Fallacy detector'! Topic A is under discussion. "Feminism Should not be Encouraged" Topic B is introduced under the guise of being relevant
to topic A (when topic B is actually not relevant to topic A). Men experience more
sexism, therefore, feminism should not be encouraged. Topic A is abandoned. "Feminism Should not be Encouraged". Additional Case: 3rd World Countries. Examples of how
men's rights exceed women's, therefore, feminism should be encouraged. Forbidden from driving. "In Saudi Arabia, women aren’t allowed
to drive, or even ride bikes, and men aren’t allowed to drive women they’re not closely
related to." Right to divorce. "In many countries, while husbands can divorce their
spouses easily (often instantaneously through oral repudiation), wives’ access to
divorce is often extremely limited, and they frequently confront near insurmountable
legal and financial obstacles." Right to education. "In many areas of Afghanistan,
girls are often taken out of school when they hit puberty." Right to travel. "Husbands
in Egypt and Bahrain can file an official complaint at the airport to forbid their
wives from leaving the country for any reason." Domestic violence. "Women’s unequal
legal rights increase their vulnerability to violence. In many countries in the region,
no specific laws or provisions exist to penalize domestic violence, even though domestic
violence is a widespread problem." Custody rights. "In Bahrain, where family law is
not codified, judges have complete power to deny women custody of their children for
the most arbitrary reasons. Bahraini women who have been courageous enough to expose
and challenge these violations in 2003 were sued for slander by eleven family court
judges." Citizenship. "Most countries in the region-with the exception of Iran, Tunisia,
Israel, and to a limited extent Egypt-have permitted only fathers to pass citizenship
on to their children. Women married to non-nationals are denied this fundamental right."
Sexual subjugation. "Many countries criminalize adult, consensual sex outside of marriage.
In Morocco, women are much more likely to be charged with having violated penal code
prohibitions on sexual relations outside of marriage than men. Unmarried pregnant
women are particularly at risk of prosecution. The Moroccan penal code also considers
the rape of a virgin as an aggravating circumstance of assault. The message is clear:
the degree of punishment of the perpetrator is determined by the sexual experience
of the victim." Female infanticide. "China’s one child policy has heightened the disdain
for female infants; abortion, neglect, abandonment, and infanticide have been known
to occur to female infants. The result of such family planning has been the disparate
ratio of 114 males for every 100 females among babies from birth through children
four years of age. Normally, 105 males are naturally born for every 100 females. Similarly,
the number of girls born and surviving in India is significantly less compared with
the number of boys, due to the disproportionate numbers of female fetuses being aborted
and baby girls deliberately neglected and left to die. The normal ratio of births should be 950 girls for every 1000 boys, however in some
regions the number is as low as 300." Sources for this case: [http://listverse.com...] If Pro argues that this is a religious
matter, it does not mean that feminism should not be encouraged. Why I won the debate: 1. All I have to do to win, is give
an example of why feminism should be encouraged. Pro said: "I will now give a quote from your agrument "It will
teach kids that descrimination is wrong" To which I would respond by agreeing with
your first stament." Pro agrees with one of my cases of why feminism should be encouraged, therefore, making his BoP impossible to fulfill, for he has
to prove that feminism should not be encouraged in all situations. 2. Pro cannot fulfill his BoP. 3. I refuted
his arguments, by proving that they were unrelated, and does not prove that feminism should not be encouraged. 4. Pro's case does not consider women's rights in 3rd world
countries. 5. Redherring Fallacy was pointed out. So all in all, I have already one
the debate, for Pro cannot fulfill the BoP. Thanks for the debate.