BDSM And Feminism: Intertwined? How So?

[blythe spirit]

A lot of people here seem to have some misconceptions about what a feminist is. Being a radical or militant feminist does NOT mean wanting to get rid of men


Radical feminists believe that patriarchy (the male-dominated hierarchy that largely defines Western culture) is too entrenched to be changed by law alone, and work to change the culture itself, not just the government. A radical feminist might focus on balancing gender representation in the media, organizing anti-sexual assault campaigns on campuses, or encouraging women to accept their bodies as they are.

Female separatists are feminists who believe that it is destructive for women to have relationships with men, and that all women should be lesbians instead. This was mostly a 1960s/70s movement that hasn't really remained relevant, and it's rare to encounter one these days. As a woman who enjoys dating and sleeping with women, I'm really annoyed by female separatists, because the ones I've encountered online have this obnoxious tendency to co-opt lesbianism for their own purposes without actually being sexually attracted to women themselves. I suspect that a lot of them are really asexual, rather than gay, since the thought that some lesbians actually enjoy sex often seems to bother them.

Granted,feminism became fanatical and ugly in the 1960s; however, Gloria Steinem, who said "We don't just want to destroy capitalism, we want to tear down the whole f____ patriarchy" was considered a "militant feminist" not a "separatist." NOW was considered a "terrorist organization" that wanted to dissolve "traditional" family life completely, referring to it as a "comfortable concentration camp from which women needed to be liberated."

The problem, as I see it, is that all "feminists" good and bad were lumped into one category known as the "Women's Movement."

Being a feminist isnt about being the one thing, its about the right to be a woman and that we are valued for it.

Women, imho, always had value. Even when they were nothing more then chattel, albeit a very singular type of property. They had value because they alone could "give birth."

I would venture to say that more men "died" in history to protect that which was his, namely womenfolk, than those women who faught to be liberated from gentlemenfolk, who rose when a lady entered the room, who opened doors and relieved her from heavy labor and protected her reputation.

Even the lowliest of woman escaped first from the Titanic. I just wonder, if the boys being raised today would not push their way past these women to extricate themselves from the sinking ship...because women are now just as equal as they?

And when it's all taken into account, all we really have is the right to complain that we still don't have the equality that our foremothers intended.