Feminism - has it gone too far?

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   DEBATE of the month

I've decided to start a Debate of the Month in
Women's History. Once the month is finished, this thread will simply be
destickied and renamed, and a new one put up in its place.

My idea for this month is women's rights in the West and my suggestion is that they've gone too far in one respect.

Over the last century, women around the world and particularly in the
West have enjoyed a surge in their rights and freedoms but, in my
opinion, a generalized decrease in their responsibilities.

The right to dress as you please, the right to vote, to right to work
in any field you're capable of working in - all of these rights are
good. It's very important that women be allowed to contribute to the
society if only for ideas of the common good. Look at any university
graduating class, at how well the best of the women compare to the best
of the men - often their marks are even higher.

But women in the West lost when radical feminism hijacked the goals of
women's rights. Being a mother or a homemaker is nothing shameful and
if a modern woman, who is free to make her own decisions, chooses that
path then so be it. She hasn't turned her back of women's rights or
anything like this, she's simply challenging the modern interpretation
of them.

Don't get me started on how they carry themselves. I would be ashamed
to walk through the streets in sneakers or flat-heeled shoes. Now I
don't question any woman's right to wear those things, but I do
question some bastardized idea of women's rights where casting aside
your femininity is considered modern and good. During the war in Bosnia
there was something called the "War booty makeover". Young women cut
their hair short, wore pants and sneakers, and did this so the other
side's soldiers would not find them attractive and rape them. What is
fairly common dress in the West is considered masculine and
unattractive because we held onto our femininity through everything. I
think any expression of women's rights should make pink lipstick and
flowery dresses just as acceptable as 96/100 marks in chemistry and
physics. It's freedom for women, not freedom from women - as the saying
goes.

One of the most damaging things I've noticed about feminism in the West
is that it has disconnected women from each other. There are very few
cultures in this world where a woman's worst enemy is other women, and
what they think of her. There are very few where the competition
between women is such a blood sport and the only quality they all have
in common, that I can determine, is a history of radical feminism.

It's also warped women's expectations. Why a 114 pound woman expects to
be make it through the police academy based solely on the fact she has
a clitoris is beyond me. If I'm in danger, I don't want some scrawny
girl a fair sized dog could bring down coming to help me. Now that's
not to say there a women who can't do it. There are women in this world
who are just as strong as any man and they should be free to make it
into such fields without prejudice, but allowing women - or even men,
for that matter - to enter physically demanding fields they're not cut
out for is dangerous and irresponsible.

Lastly it has detached women from their foundations, the home. My
mother worked and I work and I will never, ever tolerate a society in
which women are confined to and solely responsible for the home - but
neither will I tolerate one in which the home is not theirs. The home
is what connects us to society, it's what we are. Even in the most
hardcore, traditional Islamic societies - a woman in the home is free
to dress as she likes and interact with others in a way easily
recogizable even to Western feminists. If we throw all this away, we've
lost something - and call me selfish - but we've lost something men
will never have. We can be, do, and have everything that men can, but
they cannot have the home. It's what sets us apart. It's just like
every city having roads. Could it be different, of course - but it's
not.

So that's my impression. Don't agree, lemme have it. ;)