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Further Reading
...
What is Feminism?
Feminist theory
Feminist philosophy
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History of Feminism
History of Feminism
"History of Feminism"
The Cynical Historian
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Types of Feminism~
Books
Old threads:
The NationStates Feminist Thread
The NationStates Feminist Thread II
The NationStates Feminist Thread III
The NS Mens Rights Thread
Sidebar is a work in progress.
Suggestions for resources welcome.
Hi there, everybody!
Welcome to the fifth iteration of the NationStates feminism megathread.
Here is where you will find all manner of topics relating to feminism and the issues it concerns itself with.
Discussion of men's rights is also welcome. There used to be a thread specifically for men's rights, but it was rarely used as most relevant talks took place in the feminism thread. So please, feel free to bring those conversations here too — apologies if this is not ideal for some.
This thread is always a work in progress to provide the best resources for those interested in gender rights of all sorts. Please, feel free to suggest books, websites, articles, and documentaries that you feel give insight to be linked and organized in the OP.
What is Feminism?
From Wikipedia:
- "Charles Fourier, a utopian socialist and French philosopher, is credited with having coined the word "féminisme" in 1837. The words "féminisme" ("feminism") and "féministe" ("feminist") first appeared in France and the Netherlands in 1872, Great Britain in the 1890s, and the United States in 1910. The Oxford English Dictionary lists 1852 as the year of the first appearance of "feminist" and 1895 for "feminism". Depending on the historical moment, culture and country, feminists around the world have had different causes and goals. Most western feminist historians contend that all movements working to obtain women's rights should be considered feminist movements, even when they did not (or do not) apply the term to themselves. Other historians assert that the term should be limited to the modern feminist movement and its descendants. Those historians use the label "protofeminist" to describe earlier movements."
- Does equality mean that men and women will usually wind up doing the same things, or does it mean that they will do different things but that those things will be equally valued?
- What sorts of roles, activities, and expectations empower women, and which hold them back?
- Can certain enterprises like religion, atheism, capitalism, socialism, technology, ecology, conservatism, liberalism, etc. aid in women's rights, or are they part of the problem?
- How much should feminism combine with other forms of advocacy, such as the LGBT+ movement or racial equality?
- Are men oppressed alongside women, or are men the oppressors of women?
- Should feminism encompass men's issues too, or should it focus on women while men have their own branch of gender equality advocacy? Do men even need advocacy at all?
Feminism has many subsets, a few of which are listed in the sidebar under "Types of Feminism."
Who is a feminist?
Whoever says they are.
There's a lot of grandstanding in the conversation about feminism, a lot of declarations about who is and is not "really" a feminist based largely on self-proclaimed authority. You're not a real feminist if you think this, you're not a real feminist if you don't think that, men can't be feminists just feminist allies, feminist is a title that has to be earned, etc., etc., etc.
While that debate is welcome here (within reason), the fact is that there is no Queen of Feminism or Feminist Police or Official Feminist Bible who has the power to decide those things once and for all. Despite what (self-admittedly) many feminists like to imagine, feminism has been diverse and complicated from the start, there was never this mythic time where those involved in it were all in agreement about what it meant to be a feminist and who qualified as such. Even the suffragettes had strong disagreements with each other about women's role in society and the best angle for achieving suffrage — Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton famously conflicted with Victoria Woodhull. Feminism is just a branch of philosophy like any other, it is free to be interpreted and transformed to evolving values, needs, factors, and agendas. As ever, No True Scotsman (Scotswoman?) looms in judgment of those who think that they hold the invisible guidebook for determining True Feministhood™.
Quotes to set the tone...
- “ I have encountered riotous mobs and have been hung in effigy, but my motto is: Men's rights are nothing more. Women's rights are nothing less.
- “I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.
- “Misogyny or misandry is not a status or a belief; it is just a sickness.
- “In reaction against the age-old slogan, "woman is the weaker vessel," or the still more offensive, "woman is a divine creature," we have, I think, allowed ourselves to drift into asserting that "a woman is as good as a man," without always pausing to think what exactly we mean by that. What, I feel, we ought to mean is something so obvious that it is apt to escape attention altogether, (...) that a woman is just as much an ordinary human being as a man, with the same individual preferences, and with just as much right to the tastes and preferences of an individual. What is repugnant to every human being is to be reckoned always as a member of a class and not as an individual person.
- “All this pitting of sex against sex, of quality against quality; all this claiming of superiority and imputing of inferiority, belong to the private-school stage of human existence where there are 'sides,' and it is necessary for one side to beat another side, and of the utmost importance to walk up to a platform and receive from the hands of the Headmaster himself a highly ornamental pot.
- “Anything may happen when womanhood has ceased to be a protected occupation.
- “If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.
- “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
- “I am a men's liberationist (or "masculist") when men's liberation is defined as equal opportunity and equal responsibility for both sexes. I am a feminist when feminism favors equal opportunities and responsibilities for both sexes. I oppose both movements when either says our sex is THE oppressed sex, therefore, "we deserve rights." That's not gender liberation but gender entitlement. Ultimately, I am in favor of neither a women's movement nor a men's movement but a gender transition movement.
- “I shall not change my course because those who assume to be better than I desire it.
- “ Men are from Earth, women are from Earth. Deal with it.
Women's Resources
Courtesy of The Joyful Heart Foundation.
International Women's Day is March 8th! Save the date!
Women's Rights Agencies, Groups and Organizations
- Feminist Majority Foundation
American Association of University Women
American Medical Women's Association
Association of Libertarian Feminists
Association for Women in Communications
The Center for Women's Business Research
Equal Rights Advocates
Financial Women's Association
Girls Incorporated
League of Women Voters (US)
London Feminist Network
National Association for Female Executives
National Association of Women Business Owners
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of Negro Women
National Federation of Democratic Women
National Federation of Republican Women
National Organization for Women
National Women's Business Council
UK Feminista
Turkish Republican People's Party, CHP Women's Branch
Women Impacting Public Policy
Women in Technology International
Womens Sports Foundation
Zonta International
Women's Health, Victim Assistance, Support
- Abusive Red Flags
Breast Cancer Awareness and Support
Domestic Abuse - Victim Support (UK)
Domestic Shelters - location service
National Ovarian Cancer Coalition
The Joyful Heart Foundation
RAINN (RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline in the US - 800.656.HOPE)
Unchained At Last - Assistance in escaping forced/child marriage, focuses on Americans (while generally focused on women, assistance is open to all people regardless of gender identity)
Tahirih Justice Center - Assistance in escaping forced/child marriage, focuses on immigrants
Single Mother Help
Blogs
Journals and Books
- European Journal of Women's Studies
Feminist Press
Psychology of Women Quarterly
Women's Studies Quarterly
Men's Resources
Courtesy of The Joyful Heart Foundation.
International Men's Day is November 19th! Save the date!
Important note: "A Voice For Men" is an illegal link on NationStates due to their involvement in doxxing. Do not link anything from them on this thread or anywhere else.
Men's Rights Organizations, Agencies, Misc
- All India Men's Welfare Association
American Journal of Men's Health | SAGE Journals
American Men's Studies Association
Canadian Association for Equality
The Good Men Project
National Center for Men
National Coalition for Men
Wiki: Men's Rights Movement
Support and discussion (pro-man without being anti-woman):
Men's Health, Victim Assistance, Suicide Prevention
- Dads in Distress (AU)
Domestic Abuse - Victim Support (UK)
The Joyful Heart Foundation
Mankind Initiative (UK)
Men's Health Network
No-Shave November
Pandora's Project
RAINN (RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline in the US - 800.656.HOPE)
Unchained At Last - Assistance in escaping forced/child marriage, focuses on Americans (while generally focused on women, assistance is open to all people regardless of gender identity)
Survivors UK
Us Too - International Prostate Cancer Education & Support Network
Parenting Support
- American Coalition for Fathers and Children
Dads Divorce
National Fatherhood Initiative
Rights of Unmarried Fathers (US)
Only Dads
Wiki: Fathers' Rights Movement
Wiki: Father's Rights Movement by Country
If you're new here, before you post...
Since this seems to be one of the first places that people new to the site like to visit (likely because of how common strong opinions about feminism are across the rest of the internet), I feel the need to go into a bit more detail about what is expected here that veteran players shouldn't need to be told. If you are new, please make sure that you have read The One Stop Rules Shop before posting on the forums.
"A feminism thread? My time to shine! Feminism is cancer! Come at me, SJWs!"
No.
If I had a nickel for every person who walked into this thread expecting to be the first person here to stand in opposition to a den of rabid "SJW" stereotypes, I'd have a fortune to rival that of the nickels obtained from people complaining about the swastika flag restrictions. It's neither clever nor unique. You are not the first person here to be critical of feminism, you will not be the last, you will almost certainly not be the most memorable.
Also, keep in mind that calling anyone "cancer" or other such colorful memetics (ex, "get back in the kitchen lol!" trolling) will get you disciplined by the Moderators (free speech doesn't exist on this website — yes, we know it's tyrannical, no, we don't care) — this isn't Reddit or the YouTube comment section. Go back to there if you want virtual high-fives for unimaginative "pwning." While on NationStates, you abide by our rules.
And try actually listening to people you disagree with, for once. You might learn something.
"Why are non-feminists allowed here? This is supposed to be a thread for promoting feminism!"
This is a thread for topics about feminism, not solely for feminists. Said topics will include those that are critical of feminism. Obviously feminists are more than welcome here, but this is not an exclusive circle for them. This is a debate thread, not a sanctuary. Keep in mind that not everyone who brands themselves as "anti-feminist" intends that label to mean an opposition to gender equality itself, but rather what they see as the poor handling of gender equality by the individuals who label themselves as the feminist movement. You are free to disagree with that position, but understand that it is a position that people take, and try to keep it in mind in order to debate in good faith.
Similarly to the above warning, just like this is not Reddit or the YouTube comments section, this is not Tumblr, BuzzFeed, or Jezebel either. On this website we are interested in debate and conversation, not in "gotcha!" zingers designed to snappily put critics of feminism in their place while the rest of us go, "You tell 'em, girl!" You're not going to be the next big "best, response, EVER!!" screenshot that gets shared around social justice media, and the whole super sassy, "proud bitch," yawning-and-waving-hand-dismissively-at-the-manbabies routine was already old by thread one — not even the other feminists are impressed by it, and absolutely no one is flustered by it.
You are also not held to any different standard than your opponents. "But I was saying it to a misogynist/alt-right/Nazi/bad guy! Saying bad things to them is a good thing! Come on, this is [current year] for crying out loud!" is not an acceptable excuse for breaking the rules. "Ironic" misandry such as "kill all men" is definitely not welcome. Several a social justice-oriented newbie has been banned in the past for mistakenly thinking that that sort of logic would hold here. There is no "punching up" exception on NationStates — keep your hands to yourself, period.
And try actually listening to people you disagree with, for once. You might learn something.
Thanks to Swith Witherward for running the last three threads, and doing most of the work of compiling these links. Also thanks to Hirota for the original Men's Rights thread and its links, as well as anyone else who as contributed to the gathering and organization of this OP.
Note to OP: Headliner font permalink.
