If you were a politician and you were asked to be pictured in a t-shirt that showed your support for feminism, would you?

? you mean, people are like, will you have your picture taken in this feminist t-shirt? Yeah no problem

Why wouldn't I? lol

Feminism is one of those movements where the positive base causes (equality and whatnot) are drowned out by the...erhm...off putting individuals who push the ideas in overly aggressive way. That is the only reason I'd be hesitant to wear the shirt.

Thats exactly the reason I would not hesitate the wear the shirt. Feminism is not an extremist position.

Ditto Thucy.

NigeeBaby: For a picture I probably would wear such a shirt. I probably wouldn't walk around with one, though; I don't like wearing shirts with messages and just store them in a souvenir shirt drawer, ha ha.

I have no problem saying that I am a feminist, though. After all, when you are more feminist that many women on certain issues, there is really no excuse not to admit to being a feminist.

Eh, I guess my comment was hypocritical, I was speaking from the prospective of running for an office.

Is that Harriet Harperson making a mockery of Parliament's dress code? When I worked for the public at West Oxon we'd get a proper rollicking if we turned up in t-shirts, but I guess old Harriet thinks she's above mere rules.

On the other hand it's nice to see she's still around. The last time I remember her doing something was when she single handedly trebled the UK's internet based prostitution industry.

If you were to think about the ways in which women have been subjugated and discriminated against and put that in context; nothing any feminist does can seem 'overly aggressive' in response. The problem is that it is difficult for men to appreciate the shit that the average women faces in a myriad different ways even in supposedly liberal societies. So its easy for us to say: "Oh.. dont react so aggressively."

One of the key lessons I have learned is to never police or minimize peoples' anger at their own oppression. This anger is righteous, justified, and is a force for change. The odd time it is directed at me, I try my best to figure out why and start with an assumption that there is a good reason. This is particularly so when it comes to feminism.

This question reminds me: Whats the gender ratio at webdip? It seems to be a completely male dominated forum?
I've played face to face diplomacy a couple of times and know some good female players.
But there seems to be a huge gender imbalance on all internet sites.

A cool idea for this site would be to have a census.

Webdip, and I count all users not regular forum users, is probably 90% male. The forum appears to be 100% male, occasionally there will be one "openly female" member, but then she will go away. Each time I don't blame her. Crazyter, CelticFox, djbent. Those were the most prominent. All are now elsewhere. There could of course be a good handful of forum posters who do not openly identify as women, but we would have no way of knowing.

Regardless, the webdip forum is undoubtedly one of the most male-dominated spaces I frequent, IRL or otherwise. And it shows, of course.

Cool in what sense?

In the CENSus sense!

ayy lmao

There's the Thucy I know again. I missed you.

bo_sux

I would say I am a feminist, or a feminist ally. I would happily wear such a t-shirt.

no and no but I consider myself sympathetic to some (most?) feminist aims. i doubt in any case i'd wear a shirt like that into a parliamentary debate, but i also see no problem with someone else doing it

I think any woman on the forum would be well advised not to draw attention to the fact unless she enjoys the thought of being pestered for a female perspective on every issue under the sun.

Also there are an awful lot of aggressive male debaters here. Can you imagine the sort of attacks a woman would face from many of our male feminists if she was strongly against abortion, for example? I certainly wouldn't put myself in that position.

If she was a feminist it's highly unlikely that she would be strongly anti-abortion.

Jamiet, are you suggesting that for one to be a feminist one must be against abortions? (Not an attack, just clarification)

Truthfully I consider myself a feminist, in the aspect that I believe all women should have the same civil freedoms as men do. When it comes to more grey-area debates such as abortion or the womans place in a home, I would say those topics should remain between the partners in question. Can anyone agree/disagree, I would also like some backed up details and evidence.

I apologize, pro-abortions. so the question would be
" Jamiet, are you suggesting that for one to be a feminist one must be pro abortions? (Not an attack, just clarification)

How is a woman's place in the home a "grey-area debate" at all? You aren't within even the same galactic realm as a feminist if you think anyone but an individual woman gets to decide that.

I think he's just saying that it's something to be determined by couples, not societal standards.

Lol, I would never dare debate that as a couple. That stuff is up to her and her alone, and I don't say that out of an alliance with feminists, I say that because I'm scared to death of what my girlfriend and girlfriends of the past (*cringe*) would do to me if I ever disagreed with her on that.

@ Kargo013 "Jamiet, are you suggesting that for one to be a feminist one must be pro-abortions?"

If you use the term "pro-choice" rather than "pro-abortion" yes. "Pro-abortion" is a weird turn of phrase, and suggests you'd go around forcing expectant mothers to terminate pregnancies they want to keep.

But yes, I think that being pro-choice is pretty fundamental to feminism. If you believe that anyone has the right to tell a woman what to do with her body, other than that woman herself, then you're not a feminist.

thdfrance - Do you think a man's 'place at home' is a grey-area of debate as well? Because if you don't and you think a woman's is, then that is blatantly illogical.
The notion of women having a 'place in the home' is one of the primary tools of patriarchy.

@ Jamie

I would say that is one of the biggest problems of modern feminism. Any person who believes an unborn child (for the sake of argument lets say 12 weeks into pregnancy) deserves human rights would be against abortion. You, and many like you, try and impose a vast range of your own beliefs (which really have little to do with feminism) on modern women, and often treat them with contempt if they don't accept them.

Consider a man and a small child trapped in a cave by the sea in which the tide is rising. The man could save the child by picking him up above the height of the water, but choses no to because it is his right to do what he likes with his body. Such a man would clearly be an evil bastard. If a woman truly believes that the unborn child is as human as you or I then having an abortion would be rather similar to letting the child drown. I can quite easily see how a woman can be a feminist and be against abortion.