Has Feminism Hurt Women?

Writing about web page http://my.opera.com/khankrumthebulgar/blog/show.dml/129036

Linked to is an interesting article, by a career woman, on how feminism has hurt her.

Here are a few interesting quotes

Far too often, it seems to me, the unwitting price of female emancipation has been heartache, stress and a life spent chasing false promises

That’s what happens when we start to stray from the truth of the universe, as created by God. Men and Women are different, have different roles, think differently and have different biology. We can’t say that men and women are equal in all aspects, when this just isn’t true

Sandra admitted that the divorce settlements at the top of the league were having a trickle-down effect. "I think that it has created a groundswell of anxiety in men, and it is certainly in my experience putting men off getting married at all". So, by supporting and perpetuating an increasingly unfair divorce system, we are in effect putting men off marriage – the institution most women still believe makes them happier and more secure than any other. How sad.

I would personally say that this doesn’t apply to me. I (as a man) don’t currently feel put off by the divorce culture that exists, but maybe that’s because of my faith. Put simply I’m expecting marriage to be for life, with only a few reasons for divorce permitted (aldultery being one). I also desire to (eventually) marry a women who believes the same. Also I’ve not experienced divorce in my close family, so I think that I have less fear of it happening to me.

And so my journey had brought me full circle, from the past generation to the future one, and the thread running through it all was a startling realisation that women are covertly contributing to our own unhappiness. So why had we put up with it for so long? Because to tell the truth felt like a betrayal of the core promise of feminism, an admission of failure. But women haven't failed: it's just that our expectations were unrealistic. We set the bar too high and so have spent our lives crashing into it. The simple truth is that we can't have it all. We can't have everything we want, when we want. (emphasis added)

I think the last quote is the most pointient. We can’t have everything we want when we want. In fact, many of the things we really want are the most damaging to us. We want to rule our own lives, but this is the most damaging thing we can ever do.

From a student’s point of view, we want to live the student life now, living for now, living to excess and partying hard. But this is so very damaging to us. We end up with large amounts of debt, that sometimes we just cannot service. We want something for nothing (as evidenced by the anti-fees campaign that essentially says “I don’t want to pay for my time at university, so someone else must”).So often I think that a more sober mind in students would save so much heartache in latter life.
I’ve seen so many throw-away relationships in my time at university that I am saddened. People in relationships for the here and now, with little thought of the future. Not to say that I’ve been perfect in this and other regards, but I’m in my 5th year of watching the folly of students, and I’ve seen much.

We want to define for ourselves our sexuality, without realizing that god designed us to work a certain way, and that when we go our own way it damages us. We drink and smoke and party hard, neglecting the temple that is our bodies.

Maybe a much more sober mind among students is needed.

That’s it for now.

: 17 Feb 2006 17:39 |  Tags: Feminism General |  Comments (5) |  Report a problem