• PRO

    Yes, there are places in the world where women are...

    Feminism is idiotic.

    Yes, there are places in the world where women are treated a lot worse then men are, but when I was talking about feminism, I meant the movement in America. Of course, I did not specifically say that, and I will now formally forfeit.

  • PRO

    CON opens by stating "I am not going by the traditional...

    Feminism: Positive or Negative

    Hey, hey, glad this debate is fully underway! Thanks for your arguments, bryanlink. The resolution states "Feminism: Positive or Negative". I find a good portion of what CON said to be of value. However, most of what was said here does not affirm the resolution. I offered a Maxim by which to decide a winner. It currently remains unchallenged. As such, my rebuttals will be in relation to CON"s failure to address the Maxim in these opening statements. A Philosophy/Ideology is not equal to it's adherents. CON opens by stating "I am not going by the traditional definition of feminism", yet offers no definition, and chooses not to challenge the one I have offered. Even if all of what CON claims is true, a "feminist" is not "feminism". For example, one cannot argue that law enforcement is, on balance, a negative based on the fact that there are some bad cops. A cop might be in law enforcement, but a cop is not identical to law enforcement. There are good and bad people in the world. The fact that some people are bad, or make poor decisions does nothing to suggest that people are, in fact, bad. This is the Composition Fallacy. CON is reasoning from the fact that a selection of the set is bad that therefore the entire set is bad. A feminist is not feminism, any more than a brick is a house. If tumblr feminists and radical feminists were the only ones which existed, then perhaps this would work. However, Feminists have existed at least since the 18th century. The majority of CON's arguments rests on this fallacy. Even CON's comments on rape culture, Patriarchy, and Male Oppression rest on this fallacy. I agree that these are harmful theories, however, they are not embraced by feminists everywhere. In fact, if we take the definition above, most people are feminists, that is, they wish for men and women to be equal by law. The term "masculinist" refers to a person of this mindset in relation to men. CON's reasoning does not offer support for the resolution that must be upheld. CON must offer reasons to believe that Feminism is negative. The Maxim and definitions I offered are up for challenge and discussion. However, they stand unless a challenge is presented.

  • PRO

    For example, the wage gap is a myth I'm sure anyone with...

    feminism is meaningless

    As we all know feminism is the belief that women should be equal to men and that implies that they are not equal right now. Feminism was a brilliant movement and it succeeded but third wave feminists mainly consist of white females who want to feel discriminated against And not part of the "white male" group. Now I understand that people are discriminated against, the Muslim community, black people, hispanics, and other minority groups. Now let's address this I am a white male. Ok and I am in my eyes progressive I don't identify with republicans nearly at all. But feminism is based on lies. For example, the wage gap is a myth I'm sure anyone with any iq points can understand why if not I don't want to explain the whole thing so please if you are not already aware, stop reading this and research it. This is not it though, plenty of feminists can accept this and there main problem is this rape culture that is associated with white males specifically. Rape is a terrible crime I think we can all agree but many of the facts about it are over exaggerated and misrepresented. Feminists also create this kind of culture that no matter how you look you're beautiful, yet if a male is short they make fun of them, call them ugly, etc. but if a girl is fat and we won't date them because of it then we are "terrible" and if a guy is short, feminists won't date them. Let me remind you that you can control your weight but not your height, so that's a valid feminist concept. Stop telling everyone that they're beautiful, they're not. Okay some people are ugly, welcome to genetics. I don't want to hear that it's easier to be a male then a female in society (obviously I don't mean overall because I understand you have issues guys don't have to deal with) it's an invalid argument. Any feminists looking at this, please debate me

  • PRO

    I'd like to know if he uses the term 'modern art' in a...

    Modern Day Feminism Has No Legitimacy.

    1) I'd like to know whether my opponent lives in the Middle East, or if the vast majority of feminists he/she comes across are of the 'first world' variety and hs/her references to Islamic feminism were a clever red herring to distract from the real point of this debate. Since I made specific allusions to the legitimate patriarchy in the Muslim world, and denounced what you refer to as 'first world' feminism (as you yourself say, the variety that is by far the more prominent) why make a point you knew I would agree with if you weren't intentionally trying to distract? 2) Con uses the term 'modern' to refer to every sect of feminism from across the globe. I'd like to know if he uses the term 'modern art' in a similar fashion. Does 'modern art' refer to current presidential portraits and also Amazonian cave paintings and also to the crayon scribblings of my nephew, or do we all assume that the term 'modern art' refers to that specific breed of convoluted shapes favored by western intelligentsia? If Con prefers this latter definition, why do the rules suddenly change with Does 'modern art' refer to current presidential portraits and also Amazonian cave paintings and also to the crayon scribblings of my nephew, or do we all assume that the term 'modern art' refers to that specific breed of convoluted shapes favored by western intelligentsia? If Con prefers this latter definition, why do the rules suddenly change with feminism? 3) What else in the Muslim world besides feminism do you consider to be 'modern' ? Do they have a 'modern' culture, or 'modern' rules of law? If they have nothing else that we in the west would consider 'modern', on what grounds can you say that their feminism is modern? Isn't it safe to say that their campaigns to not be tortured and raped are a few centuries of progression behind the feminism we see in the US, Canada, Great Britain, and Europe? 4) If, by your own admission, the vast majority of feminists are illegitimate, how can you group them together with a minority of feminists we both acknowledge to be fully legitimate? Isn't this a little unfair? Notice how the title of this debate is not "All Feminists Have No Legitimacy", but rather "Modern Day Feminism Has No Legitimacy." I will offer the sources for my arguments in the final round. Thank you for your attention.

  • CON

    Is feminism needed to tell women to stop getting...

    Feminism! Hooray!

    So this probably isn't going to be the most put-together argument as I'm at work and all of a sudden some irrelevant company has decided to ask for our help, so bear with me. But thanks for the positive feedback, same goes to you - I'm enjoying this debate with you, as you're one of the very few people I've been able to discuss feminism with who hasn't resorted to ad hominems or just given up right out of the gate. So thanks for that! Rape Culture This is the problem feminists produce. Instead of ensuring the safety of civilians in general, they focus on women. Men are killed more than women almost worldwide [1], but specifically in North America. In my opinion, death is more serious than rape. If you take a gander at random web pages of murder statistics, it's not that great either. Here [2] is an example of an article that jokes about murder, yet you don't see feminists upset - it explains about half of all murderers won't see the jail time, yet feminists don't notice that - and that if you're a man, you're almost 75% more likely to be killed than a woman, something feminists don't seem to care about. Rape culture is a non-issue. Nobody is advocating rape, and by giving tips as to how to avoid dangerous situations (like all other forms of crime) is nothing but beneficial. Regarding slut-shaming, women do just as much as men [3], as I'm sure this falls into the same ballpark as black people calling each other "n*gga," so whites think it's okay too. This is not a "misogynistic patriarchy" issue, this is a "some people are mean/insecure" issue. And feminists are victimizing women and demonizing men through something that affects both genders [4], and, funny story, people held a double standard in favour of the girls 1% more than the boys. So there is equality written all over that, yet feminists decide to turn it into a "poor women, big bad man" issue - detrimental to society, as it takes away from the male victims and makes women look inferior, as they need a group of people to stand up for only them in an issue that equally affects both genders. So I'm going to assume women choosing dressing sexy, looking good and flirting with men has nothing to do with their own personal choice to do so - but the patriarchy and society objectifying women. I still can't understand how considering a woman (or anyone for that matter) good looking is considering them an object. Look at Kim Kardashian, she basically shows everyone her huge butt in order to get attention. Are you going to tell her to stop objectifying herself? Is feminism needed to tell women to stop getting attention in a way they want? Once again, another reason feminism is detrimental to the whole of society - it's setting unrealistic expectations and standards and basically telling women how to dress - something I thought feminism was against - and men (instead of people in general) not to be mean to women (instead of people in general). I fail to see how my example is any different. I was robbed (something that happens to men more than women) and I was told what to do to avoid it. A woman is raped (something that happens to women more than men) and she is told what to do to avoid it. All of a sudden nobody can treat women like anyone else, and have to take everything they say at face value [5], because apparently not believing a woman 100% without any questions "signals that that women don’t matter and that they are disposable" - an absolutely ridiculous claim which implies men can be disposable at the same time... so once again, detrimental to the whole of society, as it really is asking for special privileges - 100% trust at face value - and the non-necessity of men's well-being. Affirmative Action I'm happy we agree! However, ignoring or not including the feminists that are for affirmative action as a part of feminism is wrong. And having feminists fight with each other isn't really the greatest for feminism anyway. Peer Pressure I completely agree that it's incredibly easy to deconstruct basically all of Anita's arguments. However - Anita's YouTube channel has over 187,000 subscribers and her videos are nearing a total of 18,000,000 views [6]. And judging by the amount of thumbs up, that's a pretty good chunk of people that agree with her and believe in the same type of feminism as her. And considering you believe her views to be flawed and easily deconstructed, this is not a positive thing. The only issue I would say needs addressing would be the hostility toward female gamers, however right off the bat I can tell you there's only a select few guys that are irrationally hostile toward women like that online. Way too often guys "white knight" their way to the girls' hearts and try to befriend them simply because they're girls. Girls also tend to use their sex to get attention, and more often than not I've seen girls join lobbies and openly start harassing other players. If we take into account the amount of girl gamers with headsets (not a lot) to disrespectful girl games, from my experiences anyway, it's pretty high. It's low for guys considering there's so many male gamers with headsets. This is all from personal experience, so if you choose not to believe me, I guess I can't do anything about that. Objectification & Female Nudes Although I agree that bad people should not be invading anyone's privacy (especially to this degree), this is not a feminism issue. The invasion of privacy in general (because this happens to men quite a lot, too) is not the patriarchy and is not part of rape culture and does not facilitate rape. If you wish to make claims like this, you should be able to say the leakage of male nudes also facilitates male rape. And guess what, feminists don't even mention the invasion of men's privacy, or really anything negative against men in general. You say over and over "...women..." "...."women..." "...women..." ...which is just why feminism is detrimental. Victimizing half the population and demonizing the other half is not beneficial to society. Steubenville I would completely disagree that this one instance is "reflective of wider social norms," considering this is the only news station out of the dozens that covered this story to address it in this way. If the media does in fact reflect society's social norms, then you should see that due to the fact that almost every single media source demonized the men, that society does not like rapists or anything of the sort. Just like me bringing up the amount of followers Anita Sarkeesian has to represent that she actually does represent a large portion of the feminist community, you would have to show that this news source has a strong following to show that it actually does represent a large amount of people who "support rape" or are victim-blaming or whatever else. Pay Gap Considering you are unable to provide a source showing that women actually get paid less than men, instead of earning less than men in general, I can still safely say the pay gap is due to the choices that women make, the hours they work, maternity leave, job performance, and much more. There really is absolutely no data supporting the idea that women are paid less than men for performing the exact same job at the same level as those men. The only thing that hints at an actual "pay gap" is the data showing that women earn less in some areas (which can easily be attributed to hours worked, job performance, and much more - it would be up to you to prove it's due strictly to discrimination) and men earning less in some areas, as well. This can all be attributed to personal choice [7], and if you want us to think otherwise, well, you'll need some solid evidence. Conclusion So far I haven't seen a single thing that says feminism is needed and/or would be beneficial to society. And just for some fun, here's a bunch of female privileges that feminists seem to miraculously forget about when discussing privilege in general [8] - I'd appreciate it if you took a look at that, I learned a few things and I hope you would too! Also, notice "in general" being kind of a key term around here. [1] http://www.unodc.org... [2] http://www.economist.com... [3] http://www.wired.co.uk... [4] http://jezebel.com... [5] http://www.washingtonpost.com... [6] https://www.youtube.com... [7] http://www.topmanagementdegrees.com... [8] https://mensresistance.wordpress.com...

    • https://www.debate.org/debates/Feminism-Hooray/1/
  • PRO

    But we now live in a time where society"s views of women...

    Feminism Does Not Equate to Equality

    Feminism was created at a time where women were indisputably discriminated. In the 1800s, women did not have equal rights as compared to men. During youth, they were denied proper education. When they grew up, they could not vote because they were seen as too dense and simple to know the complicated manners of politics. I do not agree with men"s past discriminations towards women. But we now live in a time where society"s views of women have tremendously changed. Women, particularly feminists, do not fight for equal rights (which we already have) but rather for equal treatment and for society to totally change the way they are viewed. Feminists always blabber about equality and how they fight for it, but isn"t equality for everyone? http://thoughtcatalog.com... Feminists always stick to the excuse that when women are raped and abused by men, it"s inequality. Many argue that simple catcalling of a woman is inequality. It is not. It"s injustice. (I"m not saying that I agree with the rapists" immoral actions, I am simply stating that feminists do not strive for equality at all, which is what they say they do.) If women really do want to address these problems, turning towards feminism is their biggest mistake. The abuse of women do not lie in gender discrimination but rather in social hierarchy. It"s the same case as a boy with glasses being bullied by a, say, rich kid (in this case, let"s make her a girl). Both genders are discriminated, not just women. The denotative definition of "feminism" is the "advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men." I reiterate that women"s rights are already equal with those of men. I argue that feminism is irrelevant in today"s world in the sense that if women already have equal rights with men, then what is the point of still pursuing feminism? I believe that equality is not exclusive only to women, but to all humans. My rebuttal will be longer than the argument, depending on how well my opponent argues his/her points. Good luck to the future opponent.

  • PRO

    Many don't care about actual cases of misogyny in places...

    Western feminism has failed

    Modern-day first-world feminism is no longer about gender equality. Many don't care about actual cases of misogyny in places such as Saudi Arabia. They are instead interested in convincing others of a "patriarchy" and a "rape culture" in countries such as the United States. Some have resorted to attacking gamers (GamerGate) and a scientist who wore a shirt they didn't like (ShirtStorm). Feminists seem to have become disliked, and why would feminism be disliked if it truly was a momevent for equality?

  • PRO

    the belief that women should be allowed the same rights,...

    Feminism is still necessary today

    "the belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power, and opportunities as men and be treated in the same way, or the set of activities intended to achieve this state" http://dictionary.cambridge.org... "The advocacy of women"s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes" http://www.oxforddictionaries.com... I am telling you again, what you're saying is NOT feminism. You're talking about a misandrist not a feminist. Therefore feminism is still necessary today because women and men do not have the same right, power or opportunities as men.

  • PRO

    they campaigned on mag covers, song lyrics and many more,...

    THBT feminism has failed

    Feminism failed because it only helped leading women who were at the top of the society, but did not help middle-class women. Also, women's rights advocates did not help the root of the problem which is the problem stated above. they campaigned on mag covers, song lyrics and many more, but they still did not solve the root of the problem. Thus, feminism is a failure.

  • CON

    They started burning down churches, chaining themselves...

    THBT feminism has failed

    Feminism - "The advocacy of women"s rights on the ground of the equality of the equality of the sexes." - Oxford Dictionary Seeing as you did not define what you meant by failure, I can only presume you mean that feminists did not achieve their goals in building equal rights. You stated 'feminism has failed', so I can only assume you mean ALL feminism, so if I find one major example against your point, then your argument is invalid...So let us take this back to 20th century with the Suffragettes. Suffragettes were female supporters of equal rights, particularly in the right to vote. In 1832, in Britain, the Great Reform act was passed and gave people the right to vote, but this left out women. In 1867, the National Union of Women's Suffrage was born, and in 1903 the Women's Social and Political Union had also arrived. At first, aiming for equal rights, they started of peacefully, protests were common, meeting, and the usual, but two years later, their radical movements started. They started burning down churches, chaining themselves to railings, five years later they were smashing windows and causing a stir in the lives of the public. They were sent to prison, continued hunger strikes and the famous Cat and Mouse Acts were passed against then. However come WW1 in 1914, suffragettes and women volunteered happily and women formed 1,600,000 of the force behind factories, healthcare and communications, and all this time the suffragettes were using this to help their campaign. In 1918, women over thirty gained the vote. 1928, all women gained the vote on the same terms as men. You stated: 'Feminism failed because it only helped leading women who were at the top of the society, but did not help middle-class women. Also, women's rights advocates did not help the root of the problem which is the problem stated above. they campaigned on mag covers, song lyrics and many more, but they still did not solve the root of the problem. Thus, feminism is a failure.' So feminism has not only helped the top of society, as everyone on the same terms as men received the vote, they had solved the exact root of the problem they were facing, and because of the lack of detail, you implied that there were no anomalies and this was true for all cases. Well not here, thus I have won this round. Still skeptic and need any more examples? Check out the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which has shaped many middle eastern countries, anything to do with second wave feminism, especially during the 1960's, and feminists today have shaped the equality you see today, which is very evident in the war on the objectification of women, which counts as a goal. They haven't completely won the whole war on everything, but the point of feminism is about forming equal rights, so every step towards it takes and succeeds is a victory. I am not a feminist, but don't turn a blind eye to what they've done. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk... http://news.bbc.co.uk... http://www.firstworldwar.com... http://www.oxforddictionaries.com...