Letters to the Editor
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Couldn't have said it better...
"Feminism includes idiots, maniacs, and mentally ill people; it also includes bright, passionate, and very insightful people (who can also be wrong from time to time too). I really don't quite understand why it provokes people so much; the letters here are troubling but nothing compared to some of the trollishness and visciousness Broadsheet gets on a fairly regular basis.
"I don't always agree with Valenti (nor Broadsheet for that matter), but I am secure in the knowledge that actually don't have to to appreciate a lot of what is said. But I certainly am damn glad she's out there wearing asbestos underwear and swinging away, and I hope she keeps it up, potty mouth and all."
--Canuckistan Bob
"While it seems inconceivable that somehow what you gleaned from the article is that women have very little to complain about, from reading your other letters you clearly have some kind of ax to grind regarding women or feminism or both."
--marktgarten
I couldn't have said it better. Thanks, martgarten and Canuckistan Bob. I don't mind open, sane, civil discussion of women's issues between all segments of the Salon readership but I am really tired of seeing the same old posters who really do appear to have an ax to grind regarding anything to do with women or feminism. Whether they are posting in a calm or belligerent manner, make no mistake about it, they stalk virtually all Broadsheet discussions or articles about women. Sadly, they don't understand that the frequency with which they MUST comment on so many women's issues makes their daily tirades all the more ineffective. I generally scroll right past various posts as soon as I see who posted it because I know there will be very little if any useful discourse; I suspect I'm not the only one who does that. I see many of their comments going unanswered because other posters are tired of dealing with them.
I can understand the occasional dissenting comment to the occasional article but to stalk Broadsheet, etc. with such frequency and such need to refute EVERYTHING makes me think that they are threatened by women, and desperate to cling to what they perceive is their last entitlement in an ultimately evolving world--controlling their women in all or most arenas of daily life. To be contrarian just for the sake of being contrarian will not get your point across. I live for the day when we will no longer need Broadsheet and Feministing because there will be reasonable parity, respect, and decency between the genders and in our mutual quality of life. But it won't happen in my lifetime...so keep on trucking Broadsheet, Traister, Feminista et al!
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Pay Gap Study Looks Meaningless to Me
You can't predict what the gap will widen to after 12 years or whatever because Americans no longer stay in the same job, so demonstrating an "If these trends continue" scenario doesn't work. Because the trends don't continue.
The difficulty with a study saying "right out of college" women make less, is that a comparison of salaries is meaningless without a comparison of jobs. The basic argument, "A woman is paid less than a man" isn't demonstrable. I doubt, for instance, that women writers at Salon are paid less. While I'm sure that a female college graduate who goes to work for a non-profit organization will make less than a male graduate who enters a prestigious business firm.
There's a much larger story than the number crunching suggests.
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MY understanding oif feminism...
...is equal treatment under the law and by socially powerful institutions.
Equal pay for equal work, absolute bodily sovreignty at all times (like men have)...
that kind of thing.
And if I ever start accepting the argument that the patriarchy no longer exists?
Well...I look at this picture of the powers behind the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act:
http://www.theocracywatch.org/bush_signs.jpg
That's why I'm a feminist.
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A prison, WHAT?
Ms. Valenti:
"There is no public space for women; the whole world is a prison where you have to be constantly aware at all times that you're a potential victim."
This statement sounds entirely rash. I could understand how a woman living in New York could feel scared of the possibility, but I'm sure there's men who live there that think daily that there's a great likelihood of them getting mugged and stabbed turning a corner or walking by an alley. This seems to be more of a crime issue (whether it be rape, robbery or homicide) than an issue with feminism.
I know if I didn't feel safe in my current surroundings I would move to a different town. I believe humans should be empowered as a whole to fight their own insecurities and fight crime that affects everyone, not just women. Let's not continue to play the blame game as feminism seems to promote.
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Feministing.com Is Great
I've never felt that Feministing.com is in any way hostile towards men, so I think critisizing Jessica for that is unfair. Without a doubt, it's directed towards women, and its on a controversial subject, but there's no double standard. It should be noted that there are many women who are anti-feminist, for a variety of traditional reasons, just as there are men who find it distasteful. And both anti-feminists, men and women, are challenged on Feministing.com.
In general, I think this new book is absolutely necessary in perpetuating the values and hopes of modern feminists.
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Concerned Citizen
The difference between a feminist and a less-active person, is a person who decides to leave town when thinks are dangerous rather than stand up and fight for a better world. It's silly to treat systemic oppression as a "crime issue" because it doesn't address the underlying cultural questions which perpetuate things like violence against women, the objectification of the female body, and pay gaps. YOU may not see a correlation between thinking of women as sexual objects rather than full human beings, and violence against them, but the rest of us do. You have to first dehumanize someone before you can really open the floodgates of violence against them, lest the emotion of empathy get in your way.
Lastly, it's not about blame but about awareness of the causes of violence. We are ALL part of this culture, and we are all to blame for what our children do in our name. It's time to wake up, concerned citizen, and be less concerned about people like Jessica, who are offering solutions to our problems, and more concerned with the underlying problems she addresses, which you seem to offer no solutions to.