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DebatepediaFeminism Has Plenty More To Achieve
That Feminism Is Still Needed
Feminism Has Plenty More To Achieve
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Pro vs. con view
Pro vs. con view
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PRO Feminism represents a small, privileged constituency of...
Feminism Is No Longer Relevant
Feminism represents a small, privileged constituency of middle-class white women, who can afford to ...
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PRO Many women no longer identify themselves as feminists,...
Feminism Is No Longer Relevant
Many women no longer identify themselves as feminists, associating feminism with man-hating, sex-hat...
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PRO Feminism has no more battles left to fight. ... Victories...
Feminism Is No Longer Relevant
Feminism has no more battles left to fight. Victories such as gaining the vote, the right to an abo...
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PRO Men have big problems too. ... By focusing on women and...
Feminism Is No Longer Relevant
Men have big problems too. By focusing on women and their problems, feminism fails to recognise tha...
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PRO Feminism promotes an unnatural equality between the...
Feminism Is No Longer Relevant
Feminism promotes an unnatural equality between the sexes. There is nothing wrong with sex-role dif...
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PRO In the UK, one in four women suffers domestic violence,...
Feminism Has Plenty More To Achieve
Feminism is still of relevance today, and is indeed needed. In the UK, one in four women suffers domestic violence, and an increase in the reporting of rape in the last thirty years has gone alongside a threefold drop in conviction rates. In countries such as Ireland and Malta abortion is still not legal for all women, this can be seen as an important part of equality for woman that has not been achieved yet and needs to be fought for. If we take feminism as a global movement then the movement is still of huge importance. That's because U.S. women still earned only 77 cents on the male dollar in 2008, according to the latest census statistics. (That number drops to 68% for African-American women and 58% for Latinas.) [1] These are all real problems, on which feminists continue to campaign - as they should. [1] http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1983185,00.html#ixzz1TtHZOvXp
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PRO If anything, cosmetic surgery is the latest phenomenon in...
To attempt to dress cosmetic surgery in the flag of feminism is absurd.
To attempt to dress cosmetic surgery in the flag of feminism is absurd. If anything, cosmetic surgery is the latest phenomenon in the long history of the objectification of women in society. Women are driven to meet male standards of beauty, exaggerating their shape and seeking to remain youthful lest their partner leave them for (often literally) a younger model. Today many operations are arranged by male partners rather than by the women themselves. Cosmetically-enhanced celebrities are redefining definitions of attractiveness for new generations, leading young girls who would have been considered naturally beautiful in past decades to see themselves as plain and to seek their own surgical remedies.
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PRO By focusing on women and their problems, feminism fails...
Men have big problems too. By focusing on women and their problems, feminism fails to recognise tha...
Men have big problems too. By focusing on women and their problems, feminism fails to recognise that there are inequality issues in which men are the victims. For example: boys are falling behind girls in academic achievement; far less money is spent on combating ‘male’ than ‘female’ diseases (the difference between the amount of research into breast cancer and prostate cancer is a striking example); single fathers are discriminated against over child custody and child support; fear of being accused of sexism is so widespread that it often leads to unfair discrimination against men. These can only be tackled by recognising that feminism has gone too far.
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PRO Feminism represents a small, privileged constituency of...
Feminism represents a small, privileged constituency of middle-class white women, who can afford to ...
Feminism represents a small, privileged constituency of middle-class white women, who can afford to worry about relatively insignificant issues like executive pay and body image; meanwhile the problems suffered by women across the world, such as poverty, hunger and racism (none of which are exclusively female problems) are ignored.
CON
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CON Victories such as gaining the vote, the right to an...
Feminism Has Plenty More To Achieve
Feminism has no more battles left to fight. Victories such as gaining the vote, the right to an abortion(in most of the northern hemisphere) and the right to equal pay were important and worth winning. But given that sexual equality is now - rightly - enshrined and protected in law, there is nothing left for the feminist movement to do in most western countries. It may still be useful in parts of the world where women still lack basic democratic and other rights. However, in western society the feminist cause in no longer needed.
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CON This critical strategy first emerged within the feminist...
Feminism represents a small, privileged constituency of middle-class white women, who can afford to ...
This critical strategy first emerged within the feminist movement itself, and was immediately recognised within the movement as a serious problem - which suggests that it should be aimed at certain feminists rather than at feminism as a whole. It points to the need for feminism to be a wider movement against inequality wherever it is found, rather than suggesting that it is no longer necessary.
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CON First, many of the ways in which men suffer inequality...
Men have big problems too. By focusing on women and their problems, feminism fails to recognise tha...
There are two responses to this. First, many of the ways in which men suffer inequality are relatively minor when compared to the ongoing subordination of women in many areas of private and public life such as pay, childcare and sexuality. Second, where such inequality does exist, First, many of the ways in which men suffer inequality are relatively minor when compared to the ongoing subordination of women in many areas of private and public life such as pay, childcare and sexuality. Second, where such inequality does exist, feminism possesses the resources to offer a distinctive and useful critique of the causes and consequences of sexual inequality, whether it is men or women who suffer as a result - men and women should be joining forces to offer feminist responses to discrimination, not blaming feminism where men suffer.
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CON That this enterprise is often successful is not an...
Many women no longer identify themselves as feminists, associating feminism with man-hating, sex-hat...
Opponents of the feminist movement have always sought to stereotype feminists in order to reduce their support. That this enterprise is often successful is not an argument against feminism; in any case, many of the women who dislike the label ‘feminist’ turn out to hold what would until recently have been seen as extreme feminist views, such as the belief that women are perfectly capable of competing with men on equal terms. Feminists have always argued that women are just as capable of men; they have campaigned against legal, cultural and social barriers which have worked against women, preventing them from achieving equality.
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CON Also in the UK, one in four women suffers domestic...
Feminism has no more battles left to fight. Victories such as gaining the vote, the right to an abo...
Feminism has plenty more to achieve. In the UK, on average women earn 82% of men’s hourly wage; female graduates earn 19% less than their male counterparts; female pensioners live on 53% of the income of male pensioners. Also in the UK, one in four women suffers domestic violence, and an increase in the reporting of rape in the last thirty years has gone alongside a threefold drop in conviction rates. Worldwide, women do two-thirds of all work, earn one-tenth of all income and own one-hundredth of all property. Two-thirds of the world’s illiterate people are women. 300 million women have no access to contraception. More than 80% of the world’s 50 million refugees and displaced people are women and children. Every year, 2 million girls under 16 are coerced, abducted or trafficked into the sex industry. These are all real problems, on which feminists continue to campaign - as they should.
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CON The Feminist Cause No Longer Appeals to Women
That Feminism Is Still Needed
The Feminist Cause No Longer Appeals to Women
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CON Now Damaging Gender Roles?
That Feminism Is Still Needed
Now Damaging Gender Roles?
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CON Men Have Big Problems Too
That Feminism Is Still Needed
Men Have Big Problems Too
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CON This freedom issue is particularly important to women,...
To attempt to dress cosmetic surgery in the flag of feminism is absurd.
This freedom issue is particularly important to women, who have historically been subjugated by men, their bodies regarded as owned and for the use of men. Cosmetic surgery – the ultimate control over one’s body, perhaps – is the latest stage in the emancipation of women and their ability to decide what happens to their bodies. Cosmetic surgery is empowering.
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CON Women have shown that they are just as capable as men of...
Feminism promotes an unnatural equality between the sexes. There is nothing wrong with sex-role dif...
Women have shown that they are just as capable as men of playing a central role in public life; men have shown that they are just as capable as women of looking after the house and bringing up children. Given this, the suggestion that the male/female public/private divide is biological, natural and right looks somewhat suspect. Feminists point out that the roles traditionally accorded to men are those which - by virtue of being public - involve the widest exercise of political power and influence, and argue that claiming that this is natural and inevitable is an effective way of naturalising male power over women. Claims that motherhood is more fulfilling for women than career success operate as criticisms of women who choose not to have children, and are therefore self-fulfilling prophecies; they tell us nothing about what women are really best at.
