What does feminism mean?

Annie Lennox hosted a debate on the meaning of the word.

There's an interesting article here that I've been meaning to link to since International Women's Day - a discussion on feminism.

It's galling to see, really, how far and how not-far we've come in 100 years. Young women's seeming obsession with WAGishness - who seem to me to be a bunch of airhead, false-titted doormats for the most part who are willing to put up with the most appalling behaviour from men, including rape and beatings, in exchange for cash - is possibly the most depressing, along with the patriarchally browbeaten silly tart who happily says: "I'm not a feminist, but...."

Not a feminist? Then don't have the vote. Don't have the right to custody of your own children. Don't have the right to contraception, the right to work, the right to keep your own earnings from your own labour, the right to not be bought and sold or killed by your brothers, husbands and fathers. The right to be treated like a human being and not an animal has been hard fought for by feminists throughout history, and anyone who isn't grateful to them is a fool. And above all, we should be grateful to live in the West, where a woman's life is not, as ours was just 100 years ago, ruled entirely by biology, and where education and opportunity create a life worth living. 

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I-Wei
Posts: 1
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Re: What does feminism mean?
Reply #2 on : Tue May 10, 2011, 19:46:32
THANK YOU so much, I wish I could link this to my FB account for all to see. Feminism has become a dirty and misunderstood word. This brings home its true meaning. And yet today, the prevailing attitude is still that a woman is somehow incomplete without a man.
trish
Posts: 1
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Fighting for your rights
Reply #1 on : Wed May 11, 2011, 01:02:23
Please, by all means link it to your Facebook account. I do feel that women in the west are in danger of taking a complacent 'bread and circuses' approach to their rights. Rights are something that have to be fought for, and you have to fight to maintain them once you have them - human history is not a tale of ever-increasing wonderfulness, with life getting better and better with each generation. I had women friends in Iran, for instance, who saw their rights pulled out like a rug from under them by the Islamic revolution. We all need to be on our guard.