Feminsim has had its day. It has been subverted and is being abused.
I am not a feminist.
No, really. I'm not.
If this were a conventional blog I have no doubt I would face a shit-storm in the comments for what I am about to write. I might even end up in bad with some good friends.
OK, let me get to the point. I am NOT a feminist. Nor am I anti-feminist (which would be misogyny by another name). I could best be described as counter-feminist, in that I disagree with the practice of feminism. I am, however, a liberal and an egalitarian. Those statements are not quite so far at odds as may first appear.
I am not a feminist in much the same way as I am not a socialist. In my youngest political days, in my very early teens, when I was just becoming aware of the bigger world picture I was drawn to the socialist and communist ideal, but that idealism was quickly tarnished as soon as I met the truth of the real world in my student days. Socialism has some great things going for it as an ideal, but its major problem is that it does not address the real world. It was founded with great intentions, but wherever you look it rapidly becomes corrupted into a tool of individual power-play and Machiavellian self-interest. For the simplest of practical reasons there is no place in the world for unfettered socialism - it never achieves what it is supposed to. Feminism is much the same, and for very similar reasons. In my experience, regardless of what the starting principle, the practice has ceased to be about levelling the differences in opportunity between men and women today, but unashamed misandry and balancing the account from history and (some) women of the present trading on the inequalities of the past. A movement that sprang out of need and good intention has become a vehicle abused by the vocal to promote their own personal agendas. There are those who would say that not being female I cannot possibly understand the issues at hand and that I should therefore butt out and not have the temerity to even consider the possibility of thinking about having an opinion. They would probably go on to say that if I reject feminism I despise women and am an active part of "the problem", but then that illustrates the very point. By undermining an individual purely on the basis of gender - or at least using gender to devalue their legitimate opinion - they are no better than those they seek to counter.
Equality I am very much in favour of. Opportunity and respect should be based on merit, and not witheld on the grounds of gender (save in the very rare cases where that gender is a genuine practical consideration). Women should have equal chance to demonstrate their merit as men, but no more. "Positive" discrimination or any *ism - in any form - is not only unjustifiable, it is ill-considered and broadly counter-productive. It only feeds the self-interest of the few that it benefits. But it also does more damage than good. Any culture of offering opportunity on the grounds of anything but simple merit fosters resentment (in the form of "they only got that because they are a ..."). Regardless of the truth of the observation in any given instance, it opens the door to the possibility and entrenches the underlying discrimination. Where there are barriers based purely on social attitudes to gender, and not aptitude, they need to be eradicated. Where those barriers exist, it is a problem of culture, not of law or infrastructure.
Assuming it ever really had one, feminism no longer has a place in the world. We should not be struggling over dominance and payback but striving together toward a common understanding and respect.
