05-15-2013, 05:54 PM
Recent events in Sweden where I live have made the topic of feminism more discussed than it's been in years. I couldn't find any links to an article in english but basically what's happened is that three young men charged with rape have gotten away with no punishment. They all knew the victim and were at the same party where they started engaging in consensual sexual activities. One thing lead to another and soon the girl changed her mind and wanted to stop the sexual acts. At this point the men proceeded to insert a wine bottle in her vagina - they stopped once they started noticing the fact that she was bleeding and this "mercy" has caused an assumption that they never intended to harm her and therefore aren't guilty. Oh, and she did resist when they spread her legs, but apparently that was out of "shyness" according to the judge.
Another less extreme but still provocative thing that happened is that an online clothes store was selling a unisex shirt. The male model was shown simply standing in front of the camera while the female model for the same shirt was ridiculously sexualized, showing glimpses of her breasts and in some picture her entire behind without any underwear on. Here's the link. It's in Swedish but the pictures might illustrate my point.
http://enblommigtekopp.blogg.se/2013/may...rel-2.html
This has all made me sort of upset because I never really saw any reason for feminism in this country before. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-feminism, I'm merely against the extreme ones that unfortunately get the most attention. I was also certain that sexism was more or less gone in this country and most Swedish feminists have spent their time suggesting increased taxes for men (just for being men) proclaiming that every man has an inner rapist and pointing out how there's only stickMEN and no stickWOMEN in traffic signs. The last part is especially ironic since they assume the figure in the signs is a man based on him not wearing a skirt and having short hair... nice one, you self-proclaimed normbreakers...
Anyhow, obviously I was wrong since our government would give me a heavier punishment for drug possession than they would for raping a girl with a wine bottle. I've discussed this issue with lots of other guys (normal, intelligent, sweet, just average guys) but most of them seem to sort of hesitate when it comes to this topic. "I mean, they were all drunk and she did say she wanted to have sex with them at first...". I've also realized that a surprising number of guys claim to not want a girlfriend who's been with a lot of men before them - a woman like that is probably slutty; a complete whore who hasn't really earned any respect from anyone according to some. Most people agree that dressing in a provocative manner is no rape invitation but when you put alcohol in the picture people seem hesitant to comment - or when it comes to a girl agreeing on sex only to change her mind.
I'm not sure what sort of debate this is supposed to create but in any case I think it's one worth having. Hatred towards feminism is growing and seems to have reached pretty extreme heights. Once again, people fail at differentiating between the bad feminists and the good feminists. Even the good ones face a lot of harrassment, getting called ugly dykes who "need to get laid" or "lose the stick up their ass". A woman calling herself a feminist is bound to get at least one degrading comment about it.
My message is basically finished but just to clarify once more to avoid misunderstandings:
Bad feminist 1: All men are rapists, destroy the patriarchy, it's women's turn to rule now!
Bad feminist 2: I want equality but men who won't pay for my dinner are dicks.
Good feminist: I just want complete gender equality.
Another less extreme but still provocative thing that happened is that an online clothes store was selling a unisex shirt. The male model was shown simply standing in front of the camera while the female model for the same shirt was ridiculously sexualized, showing glimpses of her breasts and in some picture her entire behind without any underwear on. Here's the link. It's in Swedish but the pictures might illustrate my point.
http://enblommigtekopp.blogg.se/2013/may...rel-2.html
This has all made me sort of upset because I never really saw any reason for feminism in this country before. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-feminism, I'm merely against the extreme ones that unfortunately get the most attention. I was also certain that sexism was more or less gone in this country and most Swedish feminists have spent their time suggesting increased taxes for men (just for being men) proclaiming that every man has an inner rapist and pointing out how there's only stickMEN and no stickWOMEN in traffic signs. The last part is especially ironic since they assume the figure in the signs is a man based on him not wearing a skirt and having short hair... nice one, you self-proclaimed normbreakers...
Anyhow, obviously I was wrong since our government would give me a heavier punishment for drug possession than they would for raping a girl with a wine bottle. I've discussed this issue with lots of other guys (normal, intelligent, sweet, just average guys) but most of them seem to sort of hesitate when it comes to this topic. "I mean, they were all drunk and she did say she wanted to have sex with them at first...". I've also realized that a surprising number of guys claim to not want a girlfriend who's been with a lot of men before them - a woman like that is probably slutty; a complete whore who hasn't really earned any respect from anyone according to some. Most people agree that dressing in a provocative manner is no rape invitation but when you put alcohol in the picture people seem hesitant to comment - or when it comes to a girl agreeing on sex only to change her mind.
I'm not sure what sort of debate this is supposed to create but in any case I think it's one worth having. Hatred towards feminism is growing and seems to have reached pretty extreme heights. Once again, people fail at differentiating between the bad feminists and the good feminists. Even the good ones face a lot of harrassment, getting called ugly dykes who "need to get laid" or "lose the stick up their ass". A woman calling herself a feminist is bound to get at least one degrading comment about it.
My message is basically finished but just to clarify once more to avoid misunderstandings:
Bad feminist 1: All men are rapists, destroy the patriarchy, it's women's turn to rule now!
Bad feminist 2: I want equality but men who won't pay for my dinner are dicks.
Good feminist: I just want complete gender equality.