Feminism as humanism
Men and women have different genes and grow up in separate cultures (the "male" and the "female" cultures). However, they speak the same language. The ubiquitous interaction of men and women, and their almost equal standing before the law, makes it plausible to think that men and women are merely different but equivalent versions of the same "human being". This is what I would call the basic premise of "humanism".
The male culture in many countries says that women are subhuman; only men are fully human (fully intelligent, fully morally responsible, fully physically capable). The female culture in many countries says that men are brutish, vile, mean, and disgusting creatures; only women really understand such things as emotions, beauty, and love.
Both the male and the female cultures traditionally said that men are power figures, providers, and protectors of women. Both the male and the female cultures traditionally evaluate a man according to how well he can provide for others, protect others, - and if necessary, sacrifice himself doing this. A woman is traditionally evaluated by totally different criteria: physical beauty, sensitivity, and willingness to care for children.
Feminism started by claiming that women are fully human, just like men are. By now, in most developed countries a woman can vote, can travel alone, has her own travel documents, is able to own property, to start a business, to enter any desired profession, to be elected into government, to get married and to initiate divorce on her own accord, to be either a plaintiff or the accused in a lawsuit, and is not put into jail if seen meeting privately with a man other than her husband. All these things used to be impossible for women on the premise that women were not fully human. So "feminism as humanism" means the equal place of women in the humanity.
Feminism targeted the negative parts of the male culture. The male culture changed; now it says that women are peculiar but acceptable humans. It is not okay to pass denigrating jokes about women! However, the female culture did not change as regards men: men are still considered brutish, vile, mean, and disgusting creatures about whom it is okay to pass denigrating jokes. There was no "masculinism", no men's movement that would target the negative parts of the female culture.
The woman is now evaluated not only in terms of her physical beauty and the ability to care for children, but also in terms of her success at work. But the man is still evaluated only according to his success at work (i.e. providing for the family). If a woman is not successful in her career, this is supposedly because of discrimination of her as a woman, or because caring for children was a priority. If a man is not successful in his career, this is because he is a loser. Nobody would discuss this man's feelings or say that this man "decided that caring for his children was the most important".
I cannot judge what "feminism" is today. Everyone is entitled to call "feminism" any idea that comes to mind. However, the society is now skewed with an anti-male prejudice.
If we assume that there is really not a cooperation but antagonistic competition between "all men" and "all women", then women scored a significant victory over men. It is not possible today to talk about men's issues, only about women's issues. In the news, we always see the women's perspective more than men's perspective, etc. Feminism won by playing up the idea that women (not men) have to be protected at all costs -- an idea shared by both the traditional male and female cultures. Men could also try to find an idea shared by both cultures that would benefit them at the expense of women (e.g. that men-protectors-providers need to be honored as such), and build a men's movement on that ideology, but they did not use any such ideology. Men caved in.
The recent issue of "Cosmopolitan" says (in one of the few articles not on expensive items to buy, celebrities, and sex positions), "Guys Don't Want the Mothers of their Children to Work?" and cites a study. According to Cosmopolitan, the study's conclusion is that
"more working moms want to have fulltime careers than ever-the percentage jumped up to 40 percent... [but] 78 percent of fathers believe that they [wives] should only work part-time."
This appeared strange to me; American fathers are not so rich today as to believe this! So I looked at the study they referenced and saw very different statistics:
"45% of mothers and 41% of fathers say the best thing for a young child is to have a mother who works part time... Among unmarried mothers, about half (49%) say working full time would be their ideal... Only 23% of married mothers today say their ideal situation would be to work full time."
So actually it's 77% of working mothers -- not fathers! - who would prefer to only work part-time or not work at all.
The study's conclusions are that men and women today have pretty much equal roles at work and home, in terms of work hours spent. The Cosmopolitan just invented a false accusation directed towards men!
The goals of the feminist movement should be considered as fulfilled today, in most developed countries.
PS. OK, "Cosmo" is a women's magazine; what about GQ? Among the articles on expensive items to buy and celebrity gossip, there is an article on "How to behave around women in the office", with this quote: "Men are terrified of anything that might be interpreted as sexist, and women have lost track of all the situations in which they should be offended." The problem? If men are paying attention to the woman's sexuality, she is offended; but if they do not notice her sexually at all, e.g. ignore her new dress/coiffure, she is also offended. What does the magazine suggest men should do? Adapt to women's needs. Men should still show their attention to the woman since she wishes it, but they should express themselves according to her current understanding of what is appropriate.
The male culture in many countries says that women are subhuman; only men are fully human (fully intelligent, fully morally responsible, fully physically capable). The female culture in many countries says that men are brutish, vile, mean, and disgusting creatures; only women really understand such things as emotions, beauty, and love.
Both the male and the female cultures traditionally said that men are power figures, providers, and protectors of women. Both the male and the female cultures traditionally evaluate a man according to how well he can provide for others, protect others, - and if necessary, sacrifice himself doing this. A woman is traditionally evaluated by totally different criteria: physical beauty, sensitivity, and willingness to care for children.
Feminism started by claiming that women are fully human, just like men are. By now, in most developed countries a woman can vote, can travel alone, has her own travel documents, is able to own property, to start a business, to enter any desired profession, to be elected into government, to get married and to initiate divorce on her own accord, to be either a plaintiff or the accused in a lawsuit, and is not put into jail if seen meeting privately with a man other than her husband. All these things used to be impossible for women on the premise that women were not fully human. So "feminism as humanism" means the equal place of women in the humanity.
Feminism targeted the negative parts of the male culture. The male culture changed; now it says that women are peculiar but acceptable humans. It is not okay to pass denigrating jokes about women! However, the female culture did not change as regards men: men are still considered brutish, vile, mean, and disgusting creatures about whom it is okay to pass denigrating jokes. There was no "masculinism", no men's movement that would target the negative parts of the female culture.
The woman is now evaluated not only in terms of her physical beauty and the ability to care for children, but also in terms of her success at work. But the man is still evaluated only according to his success at work (i.e. providing for the family). If a woman is not successful in her career, this is supposedly because of discrimination of her as a woman, or because caring for children was a priority. If a man is not successful in his career, this is because he is a loser. Nobody would discuss this man's feelings or say that this man "decided that caring for his children was the most important".
I cannot judge what "feminism" is today. Everyone is entitled to call "feminism" any idea that comes to mind. However, the society is now skewed with an anti-male prejudice.
If we assume that there is really not a cooperation but antagonistic competition between "all men" and "all women", then women scored a significant victory over men. It is not possible today to talk about men's issues, only about women's issues. In the news, we always see the women's perspective more than men's perspective, etc. Feminism won by playing up the idea that women (not men) have to be protected at all costs -- an idea shared by both the traditional male and female cultures. Men could also try to find an idea shared by both cultures that would benefit them at the expense of women (e.g. that men-protectors-providers need to be honored as such), and build a men's movement on that ideology, but they did not use any such ideology. Men caved in.
The recent issue of "Cosmopolitan" says (in one of the few articles not on expensive items to buy, celebrities, and sex positions), "Guys Don't Want the Mothers of their Children to Work?" and cites a study. According to Cosmopolitan, the study's conclusion is that
"more working moms want to have fulltime careers than ever-the percentage jumped up to 40 percent... [but] 78 percent of fathers believe that they [wives] should only work part-time."
This appeared strange to me; American fathers are not so rich today as to believe this! So I looked at the study they referenced and saw very different statistics:
"45% of mothers and 41% of fathers say the best thing for a young child is to have a mother who works part time... Among unmarried mothers, about half (49%) say working full time would be their ideal... Only 23% of married mothers today say their ideal situation would be to work full time."
So actually it's 77% of working mothers -- not fathers! - who would prefer to only work part-time or not work at all.
The study's conclusions are that men and women today have pretty much equal roles at work and home, in terms of work hours spent. The Cosmopolitan just invented a false accusation directed towards men!
The goals of the feminist movement should be considered as fulfilled today, in most developed countries.
PS. OK, "Cosmo" is a women's magazine; what about GQ? Among the articles on expensive items to buy and celebrity gossip, there is an article on "How to behave around women in the office", with this quote: "Men are terrified of anything that might be interpreted as sexist, and women have lost track of all the situations in which they should be offended." The problem? If men are paying attention to the woman's sexuality, she is offended; but if they do not notice her sexually at all, e.g. ignore her new dress/coiffure, she is also offended. What does the magazine suggest men should do? Adapt to women's needs. Men should still show their attention to the woman since she wishes it, but they should express themselves according to her current understanding of what is appropriate.