Notes for a talk at ICMI with the following title: Feminism: Not “progressive”. Not “egalitarian”. Not “liberal”. Not “left-wing”.
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Feminism is not “progressive”: It’s regressive; it is based on misandry, sexist discrimination, hate & bias; it suppresses science (esp. on domestic violence, on female violence and on criminology in general); it is conspiracist; it asserts the existence of a non-existent entity “Patriarchy”; it is ultra-conservative, in its treating women as helpless infants. Infantilism about women is conservative, not progressive.
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Feminism is not “egalitarian”: It demands, and achieves, preferential treatment for a privileged group (women). By definition, this is anti-egalitarian.
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Feminism is not “liberal”: To the contrary, it is socially conservative—women are infants, without agency; it is illiberal & authoritarian; it demands increasing state power; it uses the police and institutional power as a tool of social control; it is moralistic & Puritan. More or less by definition, these are central principle of state-enforced illiberalism, social illiberalism and social conservatism.
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Feminism is not “left-wing”: It has no interest in economic fairness (esp. those at the bottom of society); it is openly anti-working-class. Marxism and socialism are, by definition, left-wing because their primary concern is with economic exploitation, wage slavery, alienation of the worker, co-erced theft of their labour, and so on. Feminism is, in no way, “left-wing”. Feminism is a form of Identity Politics. This, in general, is an anti-left-wing position. Furthermore, it is a form of Identity Politics closely aligned with the State, policing, punishment and incarceration (so-called carceral feminism). Again, these are not “left-wing”. They have been traditionally right-wing positions for centuries.
While no one has the time to break down all the misogynists ideas presented here, I'll give a try at a few:
Feminism, at its core, advocates for gender equality and challenging gender-based discrimination and inequality. While it is true that individuals can hold extreme or radical views in any movement, it is incorrect to generalize these views to the entire feminist movement.
Feminism does not suppress science. Feminists actively engage with and contribute to various scientific fields, including sociology, psychology, gender studies, and more. It is important to foster a critical and evidence-based understanding of gender-related issues, which includes recognizing and addressing biases within scientific research.
The concept of patriarchy refers to a social system in which men hold primary power and women are marginalized. While the degree and manifestation of patriarchy may vary across cultures and societies, if you examine a list of presidents, CEOs, top academics, and billionaires it's difficult to conclude women are given equal treatment-unless you genuinely believe women are inferior, and so have achieved less.
Feminism seeks to empower women and challenge societal norms and structures that limit their opportunities and choices. It advocates for equal rights, agency, and autonomy for women. Feminism does not view women as helpless infants but recognizes their capacity for self-determination and capability in various aspects of life.
This may blow your tiny male feminist brain, but two things can be true at once. Feminism is an ideological infestation which has made some minor contributions while simultaneously holding back research on issues including boys' underachievement in education, domestic violence against men, the sentencing gap and much more.
This is only difficult to conclude if you are a deeply stupid individual. Men have far greater pressure on them to succeed, and they do so in greater numbers despite being increasingly held back. They're also far more likely to fail spectacularly, ending up homeless, in prison, or killing themselves (suicide being another topic on which feminists fight the data).
"Men" do not hold power, a tiny minority of men do (and if you're talking politics, those men are ultimately beholden to an electorate that is mostly female).
Square that with calls to close women's prisons, give them lower sentences for the same crimes, and generally frame all their misbehaviour as a consequence of the patriarchy. Hint: you cannot.
Self-determination? Were you not just complaining about the lack of female CEOs? Truly, the feminist brain is not capable of self-awareness.
Women in greater numbers choose to take time off work to raise children, the effects of which you complained about just one paragraph earlier. Conversely men sacrifice greater portions of their lives working longer hours, further from home, seeing less of their kids. That's why they earn more, but it's not at zero cost and women make a different trade-off, as do men before children enter the picture (that last part should be a wake-up call, but you're too sleepy for that).
Calling people misogynists for seeing feminism for what it is does not hide the fact you're a creepy incel trying to present yourself as "one of the good ones".
While I agree with many of your arguments, we do not call each other names here.