'Gender' feminism makes women hate themselves

[antares]

See, because Russia has 'equity' feminism but not gender feminism, Russian women atually enjoy being women. American women used to before gender feminism came along

 

Okay, one thing. Can someone explain to me just what the heck is the deal with the gender/equity feminism dichotomy? I mean, I think I've heard it was coined by Christina Hoff Sommers, but reading her explanation it seems like a flawed dichotomy. Since I'm assuming a lot of you guys are pretty knowledgable about feminism, can someone clarify it for me?

 

akarlin.com/2012/08/15/russian-women-enjoy-being-women/

[crazyforkate]

There's no such thing as feminism here. At least, nothing that is accepted to the degree it is in North America. Just ask the mothers bringing their kids to school who sport horrible black eyes. There's no real fallback for them. Here in Russia, gender roles are very clearly defined, and you can see the detrimental effects all over the place.

[Carla Bruni]

There's no such thing as feminism here. At least, nothing that is accepted to the degree it is in North America. Just ask the mothers bringing their kids to school who sport horrible black eyes. There's no real fallback for them. Here in Russia, gender roles are very clearly defined, and you can see the detrimental effects all over the place.

This. Times a million.

One of the only good things that came out of communism was, in fact, this idea of "gender equality". However, it was also largely a product of its time, especially during and after the war when the economy was in shambles, as well as an ideological postulate ("he who does not work does not eat" was a popular catchphrase). The problem is that Russian culture is deeply patriarchal, women are commodities, and you still see job vacancy announcements requiring the submission of a photo for female applicants aged 18-30. I went to the second-best college in the country (this is not a humblebrag, because it was absolute shit, I'm just making a point here :P) and I was the ONLY girl in my graduating class in poli sci who actually planned to WORK - as in, work for the rest of my life, not just until I transfer the sponsorship of myself from my parents over to a husband. Uber-rich girls especially viewed work as something they would maybe do, but only for a little while, and probably not because it would take time away from actual husband-hunting, and this was considered the cultural norm. When I expressed a dissenting opinion, the best-case scenario was that I'd be told I'm just not old enough to understand the ways of the world, but someday I'll get there. Even among my closest friends, there was downright indignation (!) that a boy I lived with when I moved back to the States wasn't paying my rent and buying me clothes. It was expressed the way you'd discuss your friend's abusive boyfriend - "I just can't believe it, I'm so sorry, honey, he seemed like a nice guy". And they were totally sincere!

The pay gap argument is moot - average salaries are so low outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg that women have to work to support their families, so yeah, if your husband's making $500 in his manly man job, you're left with no choice but to go out and find yourself a similar job with similar pay, because there's no other way to make it (there are no food stamps and virtually no welfare benefits). But these are the kinds of jobs that pay the same regardless of gender anywhere in the West - factory jobs, assembly lines, dockwork, retail, etc - so it's not like they're comparing compensation for male and female CEOs (the latter essentially nonexistent in Russia).

Aside: can someone PLEASE explain to me where these people got the idea that all feminists do women's studies in college? Are they really incapable of comprehending that feminists do plenty of different kinds of degrees precisely because FEMINISM LET THEM SUCCEED AT IT?! There's nothing wrong with women's studies, especially if you go on to do social work, teaching, or some other vocation with a tangible benefit for the community, because lord knows we could use all the feminists we can get in positions requiring compassion and devotion to a cause greater than oneself. However, among my feminist friends I have... a bunch of women employed by the DOD, DHS, and various other agencies in the intelligence community, tons of lawyers, one doctor of physical therapy, one anesthesiology resident, several accountants, one biologist, one archeologist, graphic designers, historians, teachers, etc etc. I'm one of two female employees at my company, which operates in a heavily male-dominated field (and where I sometimes hear that men who work for competitor firms found me "intense", because I actually have opinions and can speak intelligently about law enforcement and international security); my new female colleague spent some time working in this little place you may have heard of called Iraq. Yeah, you'll bet she has balls, and she's also (shockingly, right) a feminist.

[MonkeyMomma]

See, because Russia has 'equity' feminism but not gender feminism, Russian women atually enjoy being women. American women used to before gender feminism came along :rawr:

Okay, one thing. Can someone explain to me just what the heck is the deal with the gender/equity feminism dichotomy? I mean, I think I've heard it was coined by Christina Hoff Sommers, but reading her explanation it seems like a flawed dichotomy. Since I'm assuming a lot of you guys are pretty knowledgable about feminism, can someone clarify it for me?

akarlin.com/2012/08/15/russian-women-enjoy-being-women/

You are absolutely right. They are terms that Hoff Sommers created and are propagated by anti-feminists and MRAs to try to convince the world that we're doing feminism wrong. There's no theory, no scholarship, no real movement that embraces these terms and the dichotomy set up beyond Hoff Sommers and those who crib from her.