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Feminism is no longer needed.

Introduction My opponent begins by saying that because the "patriarchy" and wage gap don't really exist, feminism is therefore obsolete. Of course, I can prove that feminism still has relevance in today's society without upholding the existence of those particular examples. I'd like to point out that if I can provide even just one example of where feminism is relevant, I will have won this debate. I think Pro is the one who needs luck. Re: Graduation Rates The fact that men have proven to be academically inferior to women is a useless point. Yes, it highlights that women tend to do better in school environments than men. It doesn't prove that school environments have been "tailored for women" as Pro suggests. Furthermore, even if school environments were tailored for women (which Pro hasn't proven -- he's simply linked to an article showing that girls outperform boys, and a YouTube video which none of us are responsible for watching) that would only prove that society has made it easier for girls vs. boys in one particular forum: education. It wouldn't prove that feminism is obsolete. Moreover, there is evidence of sexism against women in certain areas of academia -- particularly higher education (lower level education favors women) and in the STEM fields. We can explore this further if Pro would like. Re: The Wage Gap I will not be arguing in favor of the wage gap. Re: Custody Cases Up until the Industrial Revolution (when many men worked far outside the home) custody was almost always given to the fathers. It wasn't until the 1970s when courts began to shift and consider what was in the best interest of the child. According to a study done by the National Survey of Family Growth, a married father spends on average 6.5 hours a week taking part in primary child care activities. The married mother spends on average 12.9 hours. Since the majority of homes now have 2 working parents, these statistics show that mothers are still doing twice as much child care as fathers even while they work outside the home. It only makes sense that mothers who have a closer bond due to the time spent caring for a child be the one more likely to retain primary custody after a divorce [1]. Here's another thing to consider: In 51 percent of custody cases, both parents agreed — on their own — that mom become the custodial parent. In 29 percent of custody cases, the decision was made without any third party involvement. In fact, only 4 percent of custody cases ever go to trial, and only 1.5 percent completed custody litigation. In other words, 91 percent of child custody after divorce is decided with no interference from the family court system at all [2]. Pro says the evidence shows nothing but "pure bias." But how can there be a bias toward mothers when fewer than 4 percent of custody decisions are made by the Family Court? I look forward to Pro's explanation. The facts of the matter are that fathers are less involved in child care during the marriage, and are overwhelmingly not involved in child care post-divorce -- even though custody arrangements are mostly settled outside of court. Nonetheless, let's suppose there is in fact a huge bias against fathers in the court system. In that case, Pro has just made an argument in my favor. So thanks for that. Arguments Feminism is the supposition that men and women should have equal social, political, and economic rights and opportunities. That doesn't mean that men and women are equal or the same. It means one's sex shouldn't play a significant role in the way they are treated in society. As such, by highlighting examples where men are disadvantaged in society on the basis of their sex (i.e. in family court, in education, etc.) Pro is simply proving the utility of feminism. Since men experience negative sexism and/or social barriers and prejudices for being male, they too can benefit from feminism. Sexism at Work While it's true that society is more equal today than ever before, society is still not entirely equal (for lack of a better term) despite Pro's bare assertion to the contrary. Occupational sexism refers to refers to any discriminatory practices, statements, actions, etc. based on a person's sex that are present or occur in a place of employment and research shows it still exists today. There are 3 common observations on sexism and work: - Women tend to take on more domestic tasks; - Women and men are often designated different occupational roles; and - Women often have lower status and less frequent promotions These patterns can work as the foreground for the commonality of occupational stereotypes [3]. Researchers analyzed 88 workplace studies published from 1985 to 2012 with 93 independent samples and 73,877 participants. After analyzing data from the 73,877 workers, the researchers found "the more common, less intense forms of gender harassment (like office cultures where sexist jokes are tolerated) appeared as detrimental for women’s occupational well-being as the less frequent, high-intensity incidents (like sexual coercion and unwanted sexual attention)." So while it's usually the far more disgustingly overt sexual harassment that makes headlines, this study suggests that daily sexist jokes and comments made by co-workers can also chip away at a woman’s occupational worth [4]. However we don't have to spend a good deal of time talking about sexism at work unless my opponent feels necessary. As I said, so long as I can prove one instance of where feminism is relevant, I will have won this debate even if there was no such thing as sexism at work. In that case, it should be noted that I have already won this debate. By highlighting instances of sexism against men, my opponent has specified why feminism is still useful today. While feminists focus on women's issues, they do recognize and work on other activist issues pertaining to sex and gender. For example many feminists acknowledge how problematic it is to body shame males as well as females [5]. Violence Against Women In this debate, I will be highlighting the prevalent issue of violence against women, particularly sexual assault. The frequency of sexual harassment and violence directed at women (and also men -- but women by far) is disturbing. Nearly 1 in 5 women have reportedly experienced rape of some kind [6]. Even the most conservative estimates suggest 5% of women on college campuses experience rape or attempted rape every single year [7]. Alcohol is not a factor in about 1/4 of those cases... even though being intoxicated blurs the lines, it certainly doesn't excuse rape - especially blatant rape such as the rape committed recently by Brock Turner, a Stamford swimmer who received a sentence of about 1 total month in jail for raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. And speaking of "blurred lines," there is arguably a component of our culture that promotes not only complete double standards in how women are allowed to express and engage in their sexuality (especially compared to men), but songs like "Blurred Lines" arguably promote rape in general. Thus there is still some harmful sexism that is negatively impactful in society, and ways in which feminist teachings can improve social norms and well-being for all. Not ALL feminist theoies have to be valid in order for feminism to be relevant. Sources [1] http://www.pewsocialtrends.org... [2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org... [4] http://pwq.sagepub.com... [5] http://jezebel.com... [6] https://www.cdc.gov... [7] Kilpatrick, Resnick, Riggierio, Conoscenti, & McCauley, 2007; American College Health Association, 2013 [8] Lisak & Miller, 2002; Mohler-Kuo, et al., 2004

feminism is not needed in the west

I'm going to argue that feminism is not needed in the west. Women have the same rights as men, and I don't see feminists complaining about the oppression of women in middle eastern countries those are the areas that feminists need to focus on.

Feminism is bad for society

I’m happy Pro returned so that we could have one round. Feminism is not exclusive to women Pro’s first argument is that feminism as a movement applies only to the rights of women. His only support is the appearance of the prefix “fem-”. The sentiment is unfortunately common, but that’s only because feminism is widely misunderstood. What feminists strive for is equality, period. Pro quotes the phrases “be a man, don’t cry, etc.” as examples of feminists using male gender stereotypes. But this is precisely the kind of thing that feminists are opposed to. The idea that men should keep their feelings bundled up because they’re men is repugnant to feminists. So if feminism is for both women and men, why have a name that’s not gender-neutral? Because many more political, economic, cultural, and social rights need to be established for women than for men. Due to the structure of society and gender norms, supporters of equality should naturally prioritize women since the work needed to promote fairness for men is not as paramount. There may be many instances where men face problems and stress due to their gender but they have had much less of a struggle than women. Just to solidify feminism’s inclusion of men, I quickly did a google search for feminist websites and here’s what I found from ones that showed up on the front page Everyday Feminism Feminism is a movement dedicated to gender equality. Yet plenty of people still interpret feminism as an effort to prioritize women over other groups — like, for example, the many Men’s Rights Activists who believe feminists are concerned with destroying men by falsely accusing of them of crimes like rape and denying them other rights. In reality, feminists do not want to destroy or hate men, but rather alter social, political and economic structures so that people of all gender identities can live equally. The existing system, known as the patriarchy, doesn’t only disadvantage women but yields multiple types of oppression, including forms that hurt men. This is why men are not only capable of identifying as feminist, but can benefit from the movement as well. http://goo.gl... This was the first website that came up and it clearly demonstrates a concern for the equality of men. Feministing.com From the executive director of the site: ...She [his wife] was the earner and he was a homemaker. After she tragically died in childbirth, he was told he could not receive her social security benefits...This is a good example of how gender discrimination is bad for everyone. [We need to] tear down those barriers so a woman or a man could pursue whatever path in life they had the G-d given talent to pursue. http://goo.gl... Feminist.com Features a Men & Women as Allies initiative on its front page and mentions supporting "a world where men and women are allied, empowered and equal" http://goo.gl... Feminist.org Links to the site NOMAS which is dedicated to enhancing men's lives" as well as “challenging the old-fashioned rules of masculinity that embody the assumption of male superiority. Traditional masculinity includes many positive characteristics in which we take pride and find strength, but it also contains qualities that have limited and harmed us". -from NOMAS http://goo.gl... These websites are indicative of the sentiments felt by most feminists--they wouldn’t be so popular if otherwise. It’s easy to find extremists calling themselves feminists who make ridiculous claims like all heterosexual sex is rape, but they are not at all representative of the group. Wage Gap Please note that Pro does not directly relate this to the resolution. If the wage gap is not an issue--which it almost undeniably is--that doesn’t entail that feminism is harmful. I fail to see an argument. It’s merely preemptive. Pro’s entire argument hinges on women desiring lower-paying jobs than men. The fact is that women face a wage-gap in nearly every occupation, from male-dominated occupations, gender balanced jobs, and even female-dominated fields. Pro doesn’t bother to argue against the 77% figure. His only argument is invalid based on the facts I just stated. http://goo.gl... Pro touches on an issue which is that women are vastly underrepresented in STEM fields. This itself is a pressing problem. The US has a growing shortage of scientists and engineers. Women need to cease being subconsciously discouraged from traditionally masculine occupations. I’d like to see evidence that STEM careers are biologically masculine oriented--that is, not dominated by males due to culture and social pressure. Pro’s defense only makes sense if it is inherently part of the biological makeup of men and women that make men lean towards STEM. Women choose not to study STEM for the same reasons many men do: culture. 74% of high school student boys choose not to study physics. That decision is made without any prior interaction with the subject. It’s a safe assumption that this implies most boys make the judgement based on perceptions about science that exist in our culture. For boys, physics is a nonconformist activity. For girls, it is more so. Both choose not to study it for cultural reasons. Girls more so are taught to see it as unattractive. For boys, science may be seen as socially unattractive and nerdy. However, "women face a double social barrier because science is regarded as both unfeminine and nonconformist". It's pivotal to the furthering of scientific advancement that we insure women are encouraged to develop scientific interests. This is a cultural obstacle and thus can be changed. Feminism seeks to break down these barriers. Imagine if Emmy Noether, one of the most important mathematicians for physics in the 20th century had succumbed to societal pressures and taught French instead of pursuing mathematics? or had given up after universities refused to give her pay or title despite her being a mathematical genius, as other imminent physicists attested to? How many Emmy Noethers or Marie Curries have we missed out on because of gender prejudice against female scientists? The world is in need of more scientists and engineers and feminists seek to make sure more women have the opportunity to fulfill this need. The world runs on science and engineering, so this is obviously one case in which feminism is very important and beneficial to society. http://goo.gl... Studies show that countries with greater gender equality "had smaller gender gaps in math". Given the opportunity, women will do just as well as men. http://goo.gl... RE: Not just women suffer from gender prejudice Yes, I heartily agree that men suffer from gender prejudice. Pro’s just preaching to the choir. Body image effects both men and women and men are also victims of domestic violence. Those claims are true. I could add that men are often reflected as being incapable of sexual restraint and unable to control their natural urges. That’s a very demeaning assumption and I’ve personally seen many feminists--both men and women--defending men against such caricatures. Feminists don’t like misandry any more than misogyny. People are feminists for different reasons and there’s a whole spectrum of attitudes towards a variety of issues. Domestic violence is just one of many issues that tends to be important to many feminists. And there are many subsets of domestic violence. If we look at sexual violence and stalking, then that is more of a concern for women. On the other side, violence against men tends to get trivialized. That is a valid concern and feminists should push against it. Another point I’d like to make is that campaigning against domestic violence is a good thing and, if feminists are ignorant of the extent to which women are the perpetrators, that does not change the value of fighting against domestic violence for when women are the victims. It means that feminists should shift their focus somewhat, but they’re still doing allot of good. It’s not harmful.

Feminism is irrelevant, unjust and flawed. It should be stopped.

I would consider myself a feminist, and I certainly do not believe that men are responsible for all oppression of women. Since I refuse to use your biased definition, I will refer to good ol' Webster for the meaning: Feminism: The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. In other words, women should have equal rights and opportunities as men. If the proposition that women and men should be considered as equal human beings sounds "irrelevant, unjust, and flawed," to you, then I hope you come to realize that males are no greater or lesser than females in value and should be treated equally. I also have to note that I think your definition of feminism is contradictory. You say modern day feminists "refute" (meaning to prove wrong) that men are solely to blame for the suffering and oppression of women. You wrote, in effect, that feminists do NOT think this. That is the interpretation of "refute," anyway. Feminism does not mean hatred of the male species. That is not equality. True feminists do not despise males because men have had more societal and political power and opportunity up until recently. Feminism is simply a movement for the equality of men and women. Misandry is not feminism.