Discussion
  • Read More
    TheFilthyGoatLaura Beck
    11/15/13 10:09am

    Just to test it for myself, I went to google and typed in, "Why do feminists" and the autofill's first option was "hate fedoras".

    Huh?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      floreatTheFilthyGoat
      11/15/13 10:12am

      I guess it's a reference to the whole Nice Guys thing? We always take the piss out of the fact that they wear fedoras?

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      TheFilthyGoatfloreat
      11/15/13 10:14am

      I'm beginning to worry that there is this whole fedora subculture that I'm unaware about. I just always thought it was a snazzy looking hat that I can't pull off wearing.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    floreatLaura Beck
    11/15/13 10:08am

    Love this. In my first year of uni, me and two other girls tried to set up a feminist society, because there wasn't one for our uni yet. All societies have to be voted in by members of the college (known as the JCR) and half of them voted against us existing, so we had to appeal to the college office to be allowed to exist. After that, people (usually women, actually) would come up to me and accuse me of trying to change the college, saying that feminism wasn't needed here, and asking me why I wasn't focusing on real issues. The amount of ignorance from such a selective uni was staggering.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      ilovecarolburnettfloreat
      11/15/13 10:20am

      As depressing as the article. A university, where they generally allow groups for just about everything, and are usually more liberal than society in general, not wanting you to exist. Women thinking it's not needed and not a real issue.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      floreatilovecarolburnett
      11/15/13 10:27am

      Yup, I nearly ended up dropping out of uni actually, people kicked up that much of a fuss about it. When people asked me why I felt it was necessary, I pointed out that I had recently been spiked and nobody believed me, and that the college office made a big deal of apparently identifying me on the CCTV so requiring me to emphasise how much of a McSlut I looked like, then trying to cheer me up by saying I was probably targeted because I'm just so GORGEOUS. The response 80% of the time was usually 'but that's not related to the uni! That's not because you're a woman! That could have happened to anybody!'
      Also this is the same uni that the year before I started the Master of our college gave a speech at the June Ball and said 'there are no poofs in my college!' to which there was tremendous applause and jeering. The most sexist uni in the UK. Definitely. Explicitly mentioned by the National Union of Students for having a serious problem with rape culture. One rugby team has been in the national press twice for the horrific things they've done on nights out. I could write a book about the shit I've seen here.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    RuthSlayderGinsburgLaura Beck
    11/15/13 10:27am

    Just tested it, and googling "women should not" prompted:

    women should not work outside the home
    women should not teach
    women should not vote
    women should not be cops

    Yeah, that's depressing.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      we just keep drivingRuthSlayderGinsburg
      11/15/13 10:43am

      Just typed "Feminists are..." and got crazy, annoying, stupid, and hypocrites. Sigh.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      RuthSlayderGinsburgwe just keep driving
      11/15/13 10:45am

      I got "crazy", "annoying", "stupid" and "sexist". Clearly, we have a PR problem on our hands!

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ : Riot GRRR is RUNNING WILDLaura Beck
    11/15/13 10:11am

    The kind of google search world I want to live in:

    "Who is Sarah Palin?"

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      RuthSlayderGinsburgʕ•ᴥ•ʔ : Riot GRRR is RUNNING WILD
      11/15/13 10:30am

      "Why does my neighborhood have so many affordable reproductive health clinics?"

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      kaleidorsʕ•ᴥ•ʔ : Riot GRRR is RUNNING WILD
      11/15/13 10:48am

      "Who was the 7th female president?"

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Rebecca "Burt" RoseLaura Beck
    11/15/13 11:59am

    *sigh*

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      The Real UnsharerRebecca "Burt" Rose
      11/15/13 12:02pm

      Ugh. Just ugh.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      MisfitToyRebecca "Burt" Rose
      11/15/13 1:43pm

      The real bummer is when you type in "men are for" and it's just dumb Men are from Mars stuff.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    The Real UnsharerLaura Beck
    11/15/13 10:40am

    I'm a guy (and a feminist). I think most guys are mad at feminists because they think we're "out to get them", not realizing the advantages that they have by virtue of being male. They don't have to worry about being catcalled as they walk down the street. They don't have to fight to be respected and listened to in a corporate environment. They don't have to fight a glass ceiling. They don't have to worry about the government passing a law saying they aren't allowed to have a medically necessary procedure. They don't have to worry about being blamed for being raped b/c they dressed a certain way, acted a certain way, or went out drinking.

    I became a feminist because I was raised by a mother who taught me how to be compassionate, kind, and truly see the world around me. I became aware of these inequalities and I am going to do what I can to change things for the better. In my view, feminism will ultimately benefit society as a whole by bringing us closer to true equality and creating better opportunities and lives for women and men alike.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      fortheloveofbeetsThe Real Unsharer
      11/15/13 12:03pm

      We're happy to have you! Yes, a huge part of having male privilege is having the option to be unaware of women's oppression—privilege makes oppression invisible, unless you're willing to put in the effort to look and listen and learn.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      The Real Unsharerfortheloveofbeets
      11/15/13 12:23pm

      Sadly, the knowledge of how society treats women came from personal experience. A dear friend of mine is a rape survivor and another is a domestic violence survivor. The male cops who responded to the calls from the DV survivor didn't believe her on several occasions. She would call me sobbing because the cops left after taking his side while she was the one with bruises and injuries. She eventually found an officer who took her seriously, and my friend eventually got charges filed against the abuser and got a long-term RO against him.

      Sadly, my friends are not alone in their story. Too many women are victims of rape culture, the "if it was really that bad, she would leave" culture, and the patriarchy. I'm a feminist in large part because I never want another human being to go through what my friends did.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    WaeGookLaura Beck
    11/15/13 1:15pm

    "Waiting until marriage is" listed:

    hard

    stupid

    unrealistic

    "female sexuality is" listed:

    More fluid

    dangerous

    "women are" listed:

    objects

    better than men

    shallow

    New Rule: Every time I go to google to search something, I will first search a female positive phrase. Then, if enough people did that, eventually stupid misogynistic crap wouldn't be the first thing to pop up.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      magpienessaWaeGook
      11/15/13 3:59pm

      I just spent the last 15 minutes searching woman-positive phrases. Let's do this thing!

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    ilovecarolburnettLaura Beck
    11/15/13 10:10am

    It's too early to be this depressed. On the link, "Women cannot" did it for me. Most of the others are reflective of stupid shit that people think, and there's no way of getting around millions of stupid people. They're everywhere. "Women cannot" speaks to specific things that women are prohibited from doing. We know women can't do lots of things in lots of parts of the world, but seeing them all together: bleh.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      RuthSlayderGinsburgilovecarolburnett
      11/15/13 10:32am

      It's a real visual gut punch, isn't it? We've come so far, and yet have so far to go....

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    MichaelLaura Beck
    11/15/13 11:23am

    Just tried that for myself:

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      PurpleRedMichael
      11/15/13 12:38pm

      I didn't know I didn't shave.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      cillaboinkMichael
      11/15/13 3:03pm

      I didn't know we hated fedoras...?

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    ScientistaLaura Beck
    11/15/13 10:13am

    My autofills:

    why do feminists hate fedoras, burn bras, exist and not shave.

    Whelp, our work here is done ladies! Lets all go home and eat cheese bra-less.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      ilovecarolburnettScientista
      11/15/13 10:22am

      I am actually at home eating cheese bra-less right now.

      Reply
      <