[NotMyMorals]

>Is the pursuit of equality really something you think of as strange or outdated?

Labeling your ideology with glittering generalities like the "pursuit of equality" doesn't change the substance. "Equality" was traditionally understood to be "equality under the law" not some vague "social equality" where all social distinctions must be erased.

"Feminism" is clearly not about men and women being equal under the law.

[gte910h]

Equality is about far more than just law. It's about having similar expectations for people of both sexes in everything.

[makomk]

Except it's not. Example: women who expect to have custody of their kids no matter what are perfectly reasonable, men who expect to actually be allowed to see their kids are demonstrating their male privilege and acting as though the kids are their property.

This doesn't just apply to non-law areas either. A few years ago the British government consoldated all anti-discrimination law into a single Equality Bill, and as part of this they had a consultation period where interested parties could submit their thoughts. Several really well-known and respected feminist organisations submitted complaints that some local authorities were only offering funding for services to rape and domestic violence survivors if they offered advice to victims of all genders who rang up, and argued that in order to achieve equality the Government should force them to direct all their funding to women-only services. Equality can be used to mean a lot of things.

[gte910h]

Just because a person who names herself a feminist doesn't mean she's not also a hypocrite.

Some people are just for stronger rights for women (and should be poo poohed for this stance). Some people are for equal rights for everyone, and similar expectations for everyone.

If you use "equality" to mean "direct all services to women" you not only are misusing the term in the vein of some of the best bullcrap propaganda that came out of Lenin's regime in Russia, you're also a flaming asshole.

[makomk]

Let me put it this way: I have seen prominent feminists label other self-identified feminists as not really feminist because they care too much about male rape victims. I have never seen it happen to anyone because they cared too little about them, for values of "cared too little" up to and including contemplating the systematic mass rape of men in order to teach them what women experience (the feminists in question abandoned the idea because obviously men couldn't really be hurt by being raped, not like women are).

Hell, I've know of one prominent feminist blogger who thinks it'd be a great idea to reclassify anal rape as something that isn't really rape, even when the victims are women, just so that no man could ever claim to have been raped. This still caused infinitely less controversial than treating men as human beings with feelings does.

[gte910h]

Yes there are stupid people of every stripe in the world. Do not assume everyone who believes some of what they do is also as stupid.