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Criticisms of Feminism
Feminism has attracted attention due to its large effects in social change in Western society. While feminism in some forms is generally accepted, dissenting voices do exist.
Some critics (both male and female) find that some feminists are effectively preaching hate against males or claiming male inferiority, citing that if the words "male" and "female" were replaced by "black" and "white" respectively in some feminist writings, the texts could be viewed as racist propaganda.
Some find that because of feminism, males are beginning to be oppressed. Whilst this view is rejected by a number of feminists, those who make this claim often note that males commit suicide 4 times more frequently than females in the USA, leading them to say that the USA is becoming a country where males are severely oppressed. (See statistics here) The statistics for other Western countries are similar (See statistics for Australia and Canada). Note that since the mid seventies this ratio has worsened; however there could be various reasons for these suicides, and thus may not indicate a greater level of male oppression.
Some conservative minded groups see the feminist movement as destroying traditional gender roles, namely when both parents are success-oriented workaholics, children might suffer from neglect. Some feminists respond that these traditional gender roles served to silence and oppress women.
Arguments from a number of men note that social change and legal reform have gone too far and now negatively affect men and families with children. For example, a number of men consider that custody hearings in divorces are biased towards the mother. While some feminists generally disagree with the view that men are equally oppressed under patriarchy, other feminists, especially third-wave feminists agree that men are similarly oppressed.
Some men also express worry that a belief in the glass ceiling for women has led to women being promoted more than men for the purpose of public relations than for their merit. This could be compared to affirmative action; thus, feminists who favour such a method of reform usually present arguments similar to those used for defending affirmative action (i.e. that such a system is required to offset the results of previous discrimination).
Although efforts to curb sexual harassment against women in the workplace are normally applauded, there are those who note that the situation is such that the concern directed towards women in resolving disputes of sexual harassment is indirect discrimination, in that less concern is given to men, when they are the subject of the claims, or when they are claiming a case of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment can occur towards men in different ways than towards women. It is claimed that women are more empowered to make claims towards men of sexual harassment, whilst cases of sexual harassment against men are not encouraged to make claims themselves, are derided by others, or widely go unnoticed by others.
Postcolonial feminists criticise Western forms of feminism, notably radical feminism and its universalization of female experience. These feminists argue that since the assumption of a global experience as a woman is an assumption that is a white middle-class experience as a woman where gender oppression is the primary one, and cannot apply to women to which gender oppression may come second to racial and class oppression. Today, young women most commonly associate "feminism" with radical feminism, and this has put off a lot of these women from being active in feminism, and this has spurred change to move away from second-wave ideals.
Source: wikipedia.org
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