> The initial movements were surely about equality and human rights. But this seems to have been achieved decades ago.
To me it feels like passing laws is one goal; changing social perceptions is a more fulfilling but trickier goal. Studies consistently show, for example, that women continue to take on a larger proportion of household chores and admin, despite both being in full time work.
Compare it to racism, or homophobia. Are there laws to prevent discrimination and to specifically prosecute hateful acts against these groups? Yes. Do we still have progress to make to remove racism and homophobia from society? Also yes. It seems like a lot of people would agree with these in those cases but not in the case of feminism. I think that partly this comes down to a sense of "but I don't hate women, I just think they're better placed doing the housework and child-rearing".
Sure, I agree, society and law are not often in sync. Sometimes the law changes first, other times society changes first.
Going back to the voting rights, prior to ~1830 no women had the right to vote, but nor did more than 90% of men. By 1928 all men and all women had the right to vote. So in that 100 year period men went from <10% to 100% and women from 0 to 100%.
We all know about women's suffrage, but nobody seems to mention that it took men about 100 years to achieve it. For women it came almost in one fell swoop starting in 1918 and ending in 1928.
So the assumption is that in the past 100 years men must have achieved "true" equality, but somehow women have not. I say that's rubbish. I think the natural order of things - the order that gave us the pre-1830 laws - has prevailed despite the law. That is to say, a few men have a vastly disproportionate amount of power. Everything else is trivia happening amongst the lower classes.
I'm in general agreement. But that doesn't mean that we should stop talking about feminism. Women's issues continue to be relevant, for example 1 in 4 women has been raped or sexually abused compared to 1 in 20 men. Men's issues are also relevant, for example suicide is three times more common in men than in women in the UK. But neither has to be a distraction from class struggle.
1 in 4 women report having been raped or sexually assaulted compared to 1 in 20 men. I'm not saying it's not a bigger problem for more women, I'm sure it is (after all, there is an entire section of men that get off on making people, especially women, feel vulnerable). But it's easy to get carried away with a subset of a larger problem.
I feel like a lot of feminism nowadays is confused with real issues (like what you mentioned) and the fake "patriarchy" shit which is a distraction from problems unrelated to feminism, namely oligarchy.
No doubt there are some feminists that focus on trivial things, and who get a lot of negative air time especially on TV shows that like to send up progressive ideas.
That said I think patriarchal gender norms are still an issue. It doesn't mean that all women suffer more than all men. But there are social expectations stemming from gender roles where men are perceived as leaders and providers, and women are seen as carers and sex objects. And men and women both suffer as a result. I suspect sexual assault against women is so prevalent precisely because of those patriarchal gender norms. Men are often not guided in how to process difficult emotions, and are conditioned to see sexual conquest as something that makes them powerful. On top of which, pornography consistenly associates sex with a certain level of violence and male dominance. The result is such an explosive cocktail of messages that it's almost predictable that sexual assault and domestic violence is an outcome.
> It seems like a lot of people would agree with these in those cases but not in the case of feminism. I think that partly this comes down to a sense of "but I don't hate women, I just think they're better placed doing the housework and child-rearing".
I think it's a bit cynical take, (but what do I know, I'm from Scandinavia and I've rarely heard anyone say that anymore) behind why people have have some reluctance.
Most guys with reluctance towards that, from what I've compiled either comes down to two points:
1. Gender(women) is a significantly bigger proportion of society compared to a minority ethnic group, and you interact with this group way more heavily. Hence even marginal preferential treatment can have big noticeable effect on your surrounding.
2. Related to 1, but a sence of lack of reciprocal benefit from these policies. While policies and law changes have put more women in work, expectation (culture) on men haven't much changed. (we still see financially successful men as attractive) Equal share of housework and childrearing is high up in preferential personalities in partners among women, but what people feel attracted to have changed more slowly than the policies or realities.
It's easy for many to argue "well if they still judge me for my financial utility, why am I wrong for judging them for child rearing and housework utility? (so I can focus on my career)"
To me it feels like passing laws is one goal; changing social perceptions is a more fulfilling but trickier goal. Studies consistently show, for example, that women continue to take on a larger proportion of household chores and admin, despite both being in full time work.
Compare it to racism, or homophobia. Are there laws to prevent discrimination and to specifically prosecute hateful acts against these groups? Yes. Do we still have progress to make to remove racism and homophobia from society? Also yes. It seems like a lot of people would agree with these in those cases but not in the case of feminism. I think that partly this comes down to a sense of "but I don't hate women, I just think they're better placed doing the housework and child-rearing".