What the hell is “menz,” anyway?

Victimhood is not liberation

Bloggers using radical feminism as a way to legitimize hatred and rage abound on the internet. Many of these women, according to self-report, are rape victims. That is horrific. Rape happens, and it happens a lot. Rape has been sewn into the fabric of our culture as a weapon used against women by the ruling class (i.e., men). No question about it, violence against women of all forms is prevalent and must stop.

But…that does not justify making all men the enemy. The attitude that all men are rapists, but that some have not yet had their chance to rape and others have not been caught, is not justifiable. The “you can’t trust a man, any man” chant is just wrong.

Being cautious, wary even, is smart. No one is disputing that. The extreme attitude on the rad fem blogs is not about being cautious, though. It’s about rage.

That a rape victim experiences rage is understandable and I would be the last to criticize her for that. That she is mistrustful of men, all men, afterwards is understandable. I am not criticizing that. What I am criticizing is making this rage resulting from being victimized in such a horrible way into a political movement. That IS wrong.

Don’t dress your rage in the clothes of feminism. It’s not. It’s the result of being brutalized. By making it into a political stance, you legitimize it. You turn it into a “liberation” movement. You feed it and keep it alive.

Your rage is understandable (as I’ve said already several times). Do what you need to in order to process it, work through it, and hopefully return to a life that is not consumed by the damage done to you.

Don’t call your rage feminism. It’s not.

What radical feminism is supposed to be….and not supposed to be.

Radical feminism is supposed to be a political movement. Quoting here,

“Radical feminism is a philosophy emphasizing the patriarchal roots of inequality between men and women, or, more specifically, social dominance of women by men. Radical feminism views patriarchy as dividing rights, privileges and power primarily by gender, and as a result oppressing women and privileging men.

“Radical feminists tend to be more militant in their approach (radical as “getting to the root”). Radical feminism opposes existing political and social organization in general because it is inherently tied to patriarchy. Thus, radical feminists tend to be skeptical of political action within the current system, and instead support cultural change that undermines patriarchy and associated hierarchical structures.

“Radical feminism opposes patriarchy, not men. To equate radical feminism to man-hating is to assume that patriarchy and men are inseparable, philosophically and politically.” (Emphases added.)

“

That’s what I always thought it was. But more and more I find those touting themselves to be radical feminists to actually be Rush-Limbaugh caricatures of feminists. Believe it or not, they DO sound like rage-filled manhaters. They made me shudder. Blog-land is full of these women it seems. The chant is “all men are evil.”

Here, for example, we read

“Men rape. Yeah. You fuckin heard me. MEN RAPE. Men fucking rape. Men rape women and girls. Subject verb object. Strangely enough, in discussions of rape, the subject seems to have suddenly disappeared from the equation.”

The blogs are full of this tripe. Yes, some men rape. What’s your point? SOME men rape. So you legitimize turning all men into rapists? Get over yourself. Admit your rage is just rage you’ve found a target for.