Creeping up from out of academia and into popular culture is a weird set of doctrines tied to “new wave feminism.” While the word “feminism” often just means treating women and men the same way, these days “feminism” is used to refer to a broad set of ideas beyond “equal treatment” which do not logically follow from feminism or from feminism plus a combination of solidly proven beliefs. I wrote a list of questions and answers to show what’s wrong with the new feminism.
I think Men and Women are exactly the same psychologically. All of the apparent differences are really caused by our culture’s enforcement of male and female roles, aren’t they?
Nope: Testosterone and menstrual hormones have easily observable and well-documented effects on behavior, and the presence of each one is different between the sexes.
Isn’t Evolutionary Psychology a fallacious pseudoscience?
No. I’d recommend Ed Clint’s takedown of these accusations, or this book review which covers many of the same accusations in only seven pages. If you’re not in the know, new-wave feminists have a bee in their bonnet about this field of study because it supports the viewpoint that men and women are different psychologically, and that these differences spring out of genetics, not just culture.
If Men and Women aren’t exactly the same, doesn’t that open the door for sexism?
For idiots it does. For smart people, it’s easy to see that two people can have different abilities, talents, ways of thinking, etc. and that both people deserve respect. Same thing goes for any differences we find between the sexes.
We Live in a culture that secretly supports rape! Don’t we?
There’s no good evidence that rapists are protected by the culture at large or that any sizable percentage of the population is willing to allow rape to go on. See here for details, or read Steven Pinker’s The Blank Slate for a sensible look at this issue.
Doesn’t Porn objectify women?
“Objectification” means “to treat as an object.” In other words, the feminists are saying that porn depicts women as mere objects with no feelings of their own. If you actually watch porn, you’ll know that porn stars are infamous for their sexual moaning. That moaning indicates the woman is being depicted as a subject, one with feelings and feelings that matter, not an object. Just in general: most porn depicts women as wanting and enjoying the sex in various ways, not as “living sex toys,” regardless of what the new wave feminists will tell you.
You’re just saying all this because you’re a sexist Macho Pig.
That’s an ad hominem attack, and even worse: it’s not even true. I won’t say much more on this one, because I don’t think it deserves any more of a response.
