Let me educate you on the feminist movement.... (no, not trying to be a snob)?

I think like ALL power struggle issues, it has a great deal to do with WASP male inability to relinquish ANY control to anyone considered a minority, including women. Why would they not be threatened, whether they want to admit it or not, even on a subconscious level. It is human nature. If men have been in control for the last 2000+ years, its ingrained in them to want to be in control of everything. They are not going to go down without a fight. And that is why they are threatened, whether it is evident to them or not. No one wants to lose their place in society if they are on the top of the pyramid. But that is just my basic and most simplistic take on that answer.

Note to Mad Luv, you may think that the struggle for women is over, but it is far from over. We are really lucky here in the more advanced countries, however we must not forget our sisters all over the world that are still being oppressed in the name of sex and religion. We still have a long ang arduous fight ahead. Check out some of these sources:

http://www.vday.org/congo_splash.html

http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html

http://www.now.org/

http://www.madre.org/

Just to name a few. And as far as American women today, there is still a lot of discrimination when it comes to the pay scale. Check out this site:

http://momsrising.org/

"Non-mothers earn 10 percent less than their male counterparts; mothers earn 27 percent less; and single mothers earn between 34 percent and 44 percent less."

(Momsrising.org)

So please before spouting off, get enlightened!

women do not want equal rights if they did they would want equal pay for equal work and this includes equal amount of days worked something women work less due to time off, PTO, maternity leave, ect, leaving others ( including single women ) to pick up the slack if they wanted equal rights they wouldn't sue for alimony as if they were independant before a marriage, surely it would be reasoned they would be independant after a marriage, but that's almost never the case, and in those cases where the women earns substatially more than the male, they always get a powerful attorney to help protect their assests. a women can anem any man ( legit or not ) on a bith certificate and then go after then man for child support ( even if the man was not the father ) and the state will aggressively go after him on her belalf, in some cases even if the dna proves him innocent ( which btw is a non reimburse fee the accuse male must pay ) some state will still go after the accused if the real father is not found, after all the state does not like welfare roles increased. even if it happens later and the man has been found innocent he cannot back sue the state nor the accuser for child support allready paid, in fact most states will assume he must pay it as bonding with the child ( their assumption ) will have occurred. it's the case of legal fraud only women can commit and get state sanctioned backing for it if women were equal then all women would gladly sign pre-nups and have all live births dna tested to 100% determine paternity, but most women take offense to both notions as they do not liek the idea of signing away what they see as an entitlement to a man's estate / assest once in marriage even if in casual long term living relationship women still sue for palimoney and the stunner is that some liberal courts will award monies so much for the feminist independant women of today BTW is was feminst that got no fault divorce laws passed in most states so a women can cheat on her husband, and he cannot use that as reason for divorce, therefore the courts see the divorce as amicable ( they never are ) and therefore do not award judgement based on fault on one side nor the other ( in theory ) so sound judgement is left out and feminsts laws take over , so a man can be a better child rearing person to a tramp drug user of a mother, but the courts will favor the mother and tax the man for it. feminst also object to porn on the basis that it depowers and degrades women in general, in fact it does the opposite, those in the business have power , not the men, it's men that buy the bulk of the material, not women, women make the money and get the fame ( and approval from feminist oddly enough say look how much power you have to the like of Jenna Jameson and Tera Patrick ).

Feminists don't threaten men we just don't see the need for them. The only difference is a 1 dollar less for pay. An from a economical look women take more time off to care for kids an to go to the hospital for regular checkup. Far exceeds men and raises the cost of a company and the health plans provided. An in a divorce men don't get the house or the car we are expected to start anew. I will pay child care but I hate the idea of alimony it’s an archaic idea that needs to be removed from the courts.

Don't forget that women couldn't have credit cards in their names (only their husbands') until the '70s, '80s.

And, yes! in the new millenium women still only make 76 cents to every dollar a man makes (this is an average based on government statistics).

Oh, and the constant debate on whether a woman "can" be president.

And the Supreme Court just ruled that there is a statute of limitations on the time a woman can file a sex discrimination case against an employer (which means if a woman has been getting lower pay based on her sex for 20 years, but doesn't learn this until after the time period allowed by law, she cannot sue.)

Although there are a lot more women entering law school and medical school now than in 1970, take a look around hospitals, colleges, the US Congress- men get promoted to management positions before women.

And, unfortuately, black women have it even worse. As far as pay scale, management positions, and legal protection, we haven't made enough advances towards equality.

The battle should not be left behind not in the US, not everywhere. However, the movement should not be distorted into fanaticism.

Women across the world are suffering, are struggling to survive in a male dictated environment that has not done anything but create WAR in the world...it is time to change the world order, and turn the table around.

I'm seeing things on this side of the world...it is not possible that every single day the life of a women is ended in the hands of a man...

Cheers

If you're poor or lower-class, whether male or female, you don't have many rights, regardless of what kind of society you live in, but it is definitely worse in societies that revolve around making money. So the feminist movement hasn't helped these men and women very much, except for the right to vote. They try, but the cycle of poverty in this country is generational. If you don't have many opportunities for education or don't have the interest/abilities to succeed in conventional educational systems, you don't get better jobs, nor access to adequate medical care, and you usually live in poor housing.

So if you don't have a lot, and you see others getting more than you, you can get really jealous and bitter. These men and women are getting squat. So it's easy to blame feminists for getting something you aren't. Otherwise, who is there to blame?

I grew up in poor housing, with poor schools, with few job choices, but I was lucky and my parents valued education and sacrificed so I could go to school. Luckily, I had the interest and aptitude to succeed in school and so did my brothers. But most of the people we grew up with live in the same poor communities they grew up in, and so will their kids.

Edit: For middle-class and upper-class men and some women, they had it made for generations, and some of them hate being expected to change their behavior by society-they loved their privileges and don't want to give even one up. They were the top of the heap, and could do what they liked at work, home, and in the community. They're the ones that want to go back to the "good ole days" when men ran everything, and women knew their place! They are outraged that they aren't given the respect and superior rights that they expected.

As a male with some sympathy with feminism, I believe I can express what is ONE part of it.

Many men feel deeply alienated in contemporary society. the causes are much more complex than feminism, but I think one of the reasons feminism gets the blame is this: while feeling powerless and hopeless, many men feel they're being told by feminism that they have it easy as men (the power and wealth in this world is concentrated in the hand of a few who happen to be men, but that doesn't mean men somehow all share in that) and that they are being vilified for the misdeed of a few (when most of the violent crime is committed by a few who happen to be men... you get the point), so men feel defensive and retaliate by vilifying feminism.

it's misplaced anger and sometimes its expression is ugly, other times absurd, but there you have it.

Right to vote, finally, only in 1920, and legal recognition (pleeeeease, are you trying to say we are not people?)

no problemo there.

More work opportunities for women, not to mention get the education to meet our dreams!

no problem with getting it. (girls now out perform boys so we're told - so whats crushing the spirit of young boys? both are equally capable, both capable of incredible intelligence and civility, doing that tho is another question)

more work opportunitys for women

no problem with that. however for that both must expect that there will be a cost - there are only so many jobs oaf any given career path. if more women are getting them - less men are and vice versa.

Striving to make the first birth control pill widely available

no problem with that - especially if all the costs are well known of the hormonal alterations (both physiologically and emotionally and mentally, some studies have proved to be very interesting). Also what about birth control for men - you get the pill men have .... to hope shes using it and not lying (in a loving relationship) granted Im referring to the uk.

Explaining that it is okay for women to have multiple sex partners if they choose too, just like men -- I don't sorry buddies :) I think this kind of made men think of us as objects MORE!

fine on both counts. if thats what you want. just dont expect me or another bloke to consider you such the hot prize if you act or appear to think you are and act as though you can and will just sleep around. thats the price for that. same for both tho, unless your fantasy is in taming and changing the other person.

*Currently fighting for equal pay for equal work between men and women.

thats been a legality in the uk for quite a while now.

*EDIT* if she willing to accept less than thats her - she can take that up with her organisation. I would be interested to find out what the out come would be if its followed up by them, and if required taken as far is it can go. Im already certain the company would have problems explaining why the diffrence in pay.

I have the same problem that many seem to. nothing to do with equality - the lack of it when seems to have more to do with being at the cost of another - and there fore has to do more with the phrase 'all are equal, but some are more equal'

heard something like that before?

Have the "advancements" made by feminists in the past really helped society? If they have not, then they aren't advancements.

Since women have earned the right to vote, things have gone steadily downhill. Our country is dying. Those in DC know it, they just aren't admitting it to the public.

Since women have entered the workforce, inflation has risen exponentially, there are more families living in poverty because more families have two parents who can't get a job, no one is home taking care of the children, the American family structure has disappeared..

Oh, I could go on and on. The reason that we get annoyed with feminists is that they aren't fighting for the common good, they are fighting for their own personal desires, thereby forcing your perception of the ideal life on the rest of society.

The 14th amendment to the US constitution guarantees equal protection under law to all citizens. That ought to have held true for all, but we all know historically, it didn't. To correct the de facto imbalance, "protected classes" were created under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and regulations thereunder. Those regulations and the agencies it spawned have outlived their usefulness, and are now tools of special, self-interest groups -- i.e., self-identified feminists -- to tilt the scales against what they still wrongfully perceive, or claim to perceive, as the "ruling class," or more specifically, the mythological "patriarchy." This has resulted in a "cross-discrimination" effectively, against men. An employer cannot fire a minority or woman without fear of litigation or EEOC interference. On the other hand, an employer can easily fire, or discipline, a white male however, and given the path of least resistance, who do you think loses? This is blatantly unconstitutional , and only one of the excesses and imbalances the ill-conceived Act of 1964 and Title VII thereunder has imposed upon the judicial and commercial landscape, and hopefully its repeal or amendment is not far away.