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Might help also to describe what you think feminism is, since it's one of those terms that is overloaded.

I once had a physical therapist tell me she wasn't a feminist because she thought women couldn't be as physically capable as men when serving as soldiers, and seemed to believe feminism requires treating women exactly like men.

I told her I was a feminist because I believe in equal rights for men and women, an idea she did not seem so opposed to.

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[-] brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

This directly brings up the question of what is feminism and the various waves it's gone through.

I would consider the abolition of a "patriarchy" separate from feminism. I think there are various criticisms of that notion and it's rather cultural centric viewpoint. Raising women doesn't have to come at the notion that men must be brought down. I don't consider egalitarianism to be a zero sum game.

If your definition of feminism includes the dismantling of patriarchy, I don't think I'm entirely convinced patriarchy isn't a mislabeling of the underlying systemic issues in our society. And I don't particularly like the implied core issue being men are holding women back.

Society as a whole has radically changed with regards to how women are viewed and their role in this social construct, even with the current political climate and the unfortunate direction it's turned. The feminist movement has found incredible ground and made significant headway, and I'm incredibly impressed and overjoyed to see it.

I still see a lot of change that needs to happen for us to really reach equal footing. But I may not share the same idea of what the root cause of that inequality is.

As for the discussion of other social justice movements, my underlying beliefs remain the same. Raise the lowest among us, provide the same opportunities and social support, and treat everyone with respect.

this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2025
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