Hey, who's up for a little biting social commentary?

[qualapec]

I know that social movements are interpretive- conservative, liberal, and so on generally mean different things to different people. I'll admit it's hard to talk about any given movement without generalizing because there  ARE so many variables and points of middle ground.

However, for the sake of this meta, lets assume that I'm talking about

Comments

Comment Part One

[eldrfire]

Funnily enough, I was just talking about this with my parents yesterday. My parents are both very highly educated (my mother got her PhD at Yale in cultural anthropology and my father got his at Cornell in medieval history), and in general they cannot STAND Sarah Palin for a long list of reasons (including the anti-intellectual bias you mentioned). However, we were talking yesterday about how she's calling herself a feminist and whether or not she is one. While it is true that half of the stuff she is saying is still pretty bullshitty (such as the acquiescing to men, as you pointed out, as well as that horrible comment from a Palin supporter about the "look and act like a man"), it is true that Christian women have felt alienated by some aspects of feminism.

Yeah, feminists aren't just picking on religion because we cut up a list of things to attack, threw them in a hat, and randomly drew religion.I don't think that's what people are saying. But I know from experience that I feel like I have to tread carefully even among my own

Comment Part Two

[eldrfire]

My knowledge on the history of feminism is anything but exhaustive, but I agree with you that this article from Newsweek is very slanted and that many of the arguments against 'old-school feminists' are hypocritical and formed by people who don't really know what they're talking about. That much is obvious even to someone like me who has never formally studied feminism. (Of course, I expect nothing better from Newsweek these days, which is why I switched my subscription to TIME, which isn't nearly as shoddy.) What I particularly can't stand is the anti-intellectual bias, but that is pretty much the populist movement for you! At least in my understanding of populism. And that goes beyond just feminism; that covers ALL of their bases. (Colbert's satires of this are some of my favorites

Re: Comment Part Two

[qualapec]

First of all, I wanted to thank you for your long and thoughtful comment. I really wanted to take time and think about my reply.

And I think that the argument can be made for abortion being a human rights issue, and I think that is a conversation that feminists should be able to have amongst each other without resorting to name calling. I think that as long as you don't think women are inherently second-class citizens and should be equal under society and the law, then I think you're a feminist.

While I acknowledge and appreciate the fact that these women have been empowered by this movement, I do like seeing women empowered, but the idea that feminism is in any way about thriving as a woman under male authority...watering it down to the point where it is no longer feminism. I appreciate the fact that they are trying to be more proactive, but it seems akin to the idea that a nun, no matter her rank, is submissive to any priest (I'm not sure on that one anymore. It's something I've heard in the past that, at very least, seems to be

Re: Comment Part Two

[eldrfire]

Wow, to be honest I was not expecting such a calm reaction from you on this... I was worried that it would be a repeat of last time. I just went back and reread the comments from last time and you seem to have taken a total 360 on some things... Gah, I probably should not have read that stuff before I responded to this because now I'm quite angry again. That time, there were definitely misconceptions (such as that Catholics are Tea Partyers, when the tea party is actually mostly evangelicals), but now it seems all more balanced