Not to mention: men generally have to cut their hair way more often than women, but we are so used to thinking that what men do is practical, and what women do is just high maintenance extras, that we just assume that what men do is easier. But long is generally how the hair naturally grows out of your head (both men…

Yet that magazine is like (the patriarchal) society as a whole, full of crap but with a few good bits thrown in. Should I renounce society and go live in a cave somewhere? Of course you can pick and choose which parts of larger systems you agree with.

That’s not completely true. A teenage boy wearing a dress to school? Guaranteed hashing, abuse, etc. Wearing noticeable make-up? Same deal. Formal wear as well, I can’t for instance show up to a interview in a causal-formal flattering skirt and blouse, whereas a women wearing a pants suit is completely fine. The…

You know, the more time goes on, the more I’m disappointed with this comment. Because I respected you as a commenter.

Neither his original comment nor anything he’s said since makes it seem like he has some kind of agenda, or even that he’s particularly desperate to have the question answered. Billington has barely commented on this thread at all since he started it.

If I understand you correctly, you are saying that from a practical standpoint, it makes little sense for those who self-identify as feminists to argue over things like “does wearing a thong make me a good feminist?” when there are way way way more important issues that all feminists can agree to work together on. In…

I’ve asked myself the same question, so no, I don’t think its harsh.

I’ve seen a bit of it here, especially when the subject of cosmetic surgery comes up. I’ve seen plenty however in real life. I used to work for a plastic surgeon and some of my patients faced harsh criticism from friends/family over their choice to get surgery and how doing so negated their feminist beliefs.

I’ll start off and tell you that if I answer the wrong question, it’s because Kinja is not good at threading, and not because I’m trying to derail.

But I think the question is essentially meaningless because there is no central defining authority for feminism. Do *I* think that my feminism is incompatible with…

You do realize not everyone has been privy to every feminist argument, right? People are allowed to ask questions. You don’t want to answer, you can move along, but there’s no need to attack me (calling me gross? really?) or anyone else. His question was posed because he didn’t feel it was answer by what Jia wrote. So…

Yes, I do. I think that feminism is a place where women’s voices should be primary, and the role of men should be to amplify those voices and to use their social power and influence to get them heard among men.

And that begs the question of who decides? I used to have an article from the New York Times on my bulletin…

Yeah, but the debate over choice is super important, no?

Maybe I’m a really bad feminist (no), but the whole name thing to me is kinda pointless.* Whatever you decide, it’s always a man’s surname you’re claiming.

Your original comment claimed that you wanted more information about a movement. Now you’re saying information isn’t enough, you gotta have a firm decision about which feminism is the “right” feminism. Maybe you need to sit down and think about what you want first.

Unfortunately no one can really define which wave of feminism is right. I think it’d be easier if everyone could just toe the party line, but unfortunately everyone’s got their own personal opinions getting in the way.

Getting back to the actual question, as opposed to how dare someone ask that and the ridiculous butt out responses that are about as helpful as a cold sore on a first date, I’d say not everyone is a fundamentalist of their particular ideology. I can be Christian, but sin, I can be Muslim, but eat pork. The question…

Why does he care what women are “good” feminists? How will knowing that benefit him or women? It’s just derailing.

I don’t get what brighter’s comment has to do with Palin calling herself a feminist.

Would it have been less derailing if he asked “is consumerism at odds with feminism in the case of fashion mags that exist solely to get prosucts sold and use esteem basgig to do so?”

I sometimes wonder, who cares? But I also wonder whether it’s worse for people to not want to identify as feminists despite believing in gender equality with an acknowledgement of women generally being at a disadvantage compared to men or for the term “feminist” to be used by everyone and their dog to the point where…