Not "all women" are offended, just feminists

By Becky Kauffman

Westhampton '09

In the words of Joe Biden, I don't even know where to start.

The fact that almost every country in the world, including America, is a patriarchy is not "subjective." There isn't a single documented matriarchy in history and there are only a handful of argued egalitarian societies ... and the U.S. is not one of them. America is cited as a patriarchy repeatedly by scholars who have spent far more time investigating gender relations in America than Lex or I have, so I don't know why I am wasting my word-limit arguing this.

As a feminist, I too support a woman's right to choose: homemaker, hockey mom, employee, employer, whatever. And when a woman chooses to work, I support that she receive equal pay. However, women currently make 77 cents to men's $1. How is this not proof of systematic inequality? Lex, it boggles my mind that as a woman you would be fighting against this.

You seem to have also misunderstood my point about abortion. As I said, conception is a mutual endeavor. You propose a provocative question: "Wouldn't it make sense that to terminate the result of such an 'endeavor' should also be mutual?" A mutual decision or choice between a man and a woman to terminate a pregnancy is something that neither I, nor seemingly you, are opposed to. That mutual decision requires the freedom of choice, which if it were up to Sarah Palin would be illegal even in situations of rape and incest. However, if a woman's choice differs from his, she is justified, because it is her body and hers alone. Perhaps if preventive measures for contraception were equal among men and women, then we could consider allotting men more say in abortion. But until we "equalize men's rights" by creating a male birth control, this point is moot. And while I will not argue my personal beliefs on the rights of a fetus, I do support every woman's right to choose what is best for her.

Moreover, I never said that a man who wanted to be a part of his child's life should be denied that privilege. I advocate equal rights for both sexes, but currently the rights of men far exceed the rights of women. Men who want equal custody of their children should work with women towards ending the stereotypes -- men as incapable of rearing children, women as being unworthy of equal pay in the workplace. I do not understand how your statistics on single mothers are relevant -- should I be listing statistics on the amount of domestic violence done by men (97 percent) or what percentage of murderers are men (95 percent)?

I'm not sure what this has turned into, a pissing contest? I never claimed that all women were perfect mothers or that men shouldn't have the right to be a part of their kids' lives. I could try to make sense of your statistics, but Michael Rogers wants this to be 400 words, and I've already exceeded that.

Lex, I was not telling you what to do, but simply explaining that anyone who works toward reducing women's choices is working against feminism. And Lex, your fun fact is actually an example of male dominance -- most people don't even know what misandry is, while misogyny continues to be systematic -- which is the real problem here.

Lex, you may want to look up some information on the systematic unearned privileges that men receive before you come back to me with irrelevant statistics or try to claim that patriarchy is "subjective." I suggest Michael Schlacht's "Teaching about Being an Oppressor."

It's unfortunate that the discussion veered so far from the original topic -- Sarah Palin -- but hey, there's always next week.

(Edited by Kate Hottinger because I could have written 10,000 words)

Contact opinion editor Michael Rogers at michael.rogers@richmond.edu