What do you think feminism is? (Open minded people only)?
A lot of people have the wrong definition of feminism, and a lot of men's rights activists have feminist ideals, but refuse to believe that feminism isn't just for the support of "female domination" as I've heard some people say. Some people are sorely misinformed and I'd like to use this ask to inform people properly, because a lot of "anti-feminists" are anti-misandrists and don't know it. ONLY RESPOND IF YOU ARE OPEN TO HAVING MODERN FEMINISM EXPLAINED PROPERLY WITHOUT BIAS.
Are you a fanatic? (Feminist & Anti-feminist)?
For me to 'swap sides', I'd need to see an end to the misandry that is so ingrained within the feminist movement. You make valid points, that there are extremists on both sides of the camp, however, MRA's - extreme or moderate - are not in influential positions of society, academia, politics, the media and such. Feminists - extreme and moderate - are in influential positions of society, academia, politics, the media and such. It is those who promote misandry, abusing their position of power and /or influence who do the feminist movement such harm. Yet, the moderates do not distance themselves - they insist their definition of efminism is the true one. While the extremist who is abusing their position also insists their definition is right too. If an MRA or such were in a politically influential position, I would still consider myself part of the team... unless he began speaking hatefully about women, trying to convince the masses (through academia, media, politics, etc.) to hate and blame women for everything, including men's own choices. But as that isn't the case - while it is for feminism - there's little point.
Why do (gender) feminists make up false rape statistics?
It is duel edged sword that they refer to false and/or inflated statistics. One being, as you correctly observe, to continue and 'improve' the notion that men are innately evil while women are perpetual victims... just like Andrea Dworkin claimed. The otherside is that an entire industry has been made out of rape and abuses... encapsulating both false & genuine cases. This industry DEMANDS fresh meat to exist. If you stop a dog from having nurishment, it shall die... the falsification of statistics is mearly a means to ensure fresh meat, promote the victim mentality and ultimately keep the 'industry' alive & kicking, which translates to funding (monetary gain).
Does a feminist have to be in favor of gay rights?
Since some of the quotes are 20 years old, you might want to think about the times...that isn't how many feminists or NOW members thought then or now. I support gay rights since it's a civil rights issue and I'm bisexual. But I know some women felt that they symbolically had to identify as a lesbian to show solidarity with lesbians, who were afraid to come out. The NOW members in my chapter were almost all straight, and almost all of the lesbians were closeted. Primarily straight women went to the gay marches, since the lesbians were too afraid to go..the lesbians were afraid of losing their jobs or losing custody of their kids or being rejected by their parents and extended family (in my state, it's perfectly legal to fire someone because they are gay or lesbian or bisexual). I believe in choices for men and women, and believe that sexual orientation is genetic, so I don't see how anyone can make either heterosexuality or homosexuality compulsory. Of course, just like any other movement, there are feminists who don't approve of gay rights, just like there are feminists who aren't pro-choice. Edit: I think people are trying to answer the question, that feminists then and now don't agree with some of the ideas of other feminists! How could male feminists identify as lesbians? Some second wave feminists were very homophobic, others feared they'd be labeled lesbians if they "allowed" lesbians to be part of the feminist movement. And they were right. NOW has always had lesbians at many levels of leadership, so no way can they deny that lesbians are NOW members/leaders. But the 2nd wave feminists were right, openly supporting lesbian rights was a risk, and has helped create a huge backlash against feminists. I am glad they were willing to take the risk, and still are, but the consequences have been/are huge. Lesbian rights is still one of the six key issues that NOW works on, along with racism, abortion/contraceptive rights, economic justice, era, and violence against women:
Why did you choose Feminism?
Feminism as a topic of discussion remained in the back-burner at home -- my parents worked; they shared duties/responsibilities; they brought us kids to take responsibility for our actions; religion was never the main topic during dinners; my sisters are both well educated (in medicine and engineering) etc etc. I encountered sexism at a very young age, but I was either too caught up in the moment, or was robust enough to write it off as a quirk in the grand scheme of things -- I went around it. During a couple of days when I started posting in this forum, I thought I was a Feminist too -- hey, they kept parroting that "if you believe in equal rights, you ARE a feminist" every second, and I fell for it, line, hook and sinker. Thanks to the antis/MRAs here who kept bringing up articles and news clips from around the world, and also for a couple of misandrists/sexists hiding behind the bigger banner of Feminism, I was quickly turned AWAY from it -- as an ideology in the west, and also as a label. I soon realized that given that legal equality has been achieved in the west (and is infact, turning AGAINST men in places like courts, schools and at work), and that social equality cannot be legislated, the only purpose for modern Feminism in the west could be to gain special privileges for one particular gender. This isn't misogyny; this isn't a knee-jerk reaction to a label. I've done my research, thanks to the antis/nons (particularly people like doodle, marx, guns, cameron), I was convinced that I'm doing a great disservice to humanity by calling myself a Feminist. Excellent question.
Do you think masculanists and feminists will ever just team up together against all the others and fight for..
I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I too was idealistic and an equalist. However I have been thru a divorce...and prejudiced against because of my genitalia. That changes a man. Wow what great words you have. You have a great heart, spirit and soul. I doubt regular men and feminists will ever work together. Liberal feminism has taken away a generation of boys from their fathers via divorce court. The divide is growing, social chaos is here and that's human nature (plus a media that has a stranglehold on the USA.) Today women are doing to men what men did to women. Albeit in a different way. If feminists were perfect, they'd be robots. But they are human and make mistakes too. Greed is one of them. Then again I could be wrong; the Nazis started out the same way-people laughed at them till they started to kill. Radical feminists kill thru taking away the family, jobs and other laws. Look at this forum-many men have their questions deleted. How many times is a woman's question deleted? Under Gender, there is no Man's Studies...only Women's Studies. Isn't that sexist?