Feminism: Equality of the Sexes

Just came home from my district band practice to answer this, now realizing that I have no life. I will try to refute your arguments in a list, for systematic organization 1.Please, please, answer the debate's original question: "Is feminism a positive movement for women globally, or a negative movement that "belittles" and "threatens" men?" I cannot argue against a point that I am not trying to make. Please answer my question proposed above. 2.We are using the definition I first provided- not the definition you are trying to impose into this debate. I will repeat this definition, since still, we are unclear as to what feminism is- "Feminism is the belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes." The only feminist "group" that I have endorsed, and that I will accept into this debate, is the (United States) National Organization for Women. I noticed that the third definition, "3. Feminine character" you mentioned was not discussed- this shows me that you are cherry-picking definitions that will fit your argument. If you include "feminine character" you must expand upon it. 3."The definition alone separates men and women into two binary categories, with men assumed to be in a position superior to women, because if this was not true, the advocacy of women"s rights would be pointless." Later in your argument, you provide resources that indicate that the women in this country (United States) make less than their male counterparts. Therefore, from a monetary standpoint, men are superior to women. Feminism advocates to change that. "If we are sticking to definition-specific feminism, then it does not take into account racism or classism both women and men face in addition to sexism." I am not ignoring the fact that racism and classism exist- on the contrary, the only feminist group I have endorsed, NOW, states: "NOW advocates for a wide range of economic justice issues affecting women, from the glass ceiling to the sticky floor of poverty. These include welfare reform, livable wages, job discrimination, pay equity, housing, social security and pension reform"... Note that NOW advocates for "pay equity." I will expand upon that in my next argument. 4."The racial group with the lowest average annual salary is African-Americans, as it has been for the entirety of American history." Despite the injustice in this statement, this does not answer the original question posed: "Is feminism a positive movement for women globally, or a negative movement that "belittles" and "threatens" men?"... "Feminism applied in this instance is confusing. Equal pay is a hot issue among feminists, but even if you were to equalize the gender earnings, Latina women were earning the same as Latino men, white women the same as white men, you would still have the issue that Asians are making twice as much as African Americans, so there's no possible way the sexes are equal then, because you still (added: "have") a whole heap of racial differences holding minorities back." Please excuse my analogy, but you are grouping races as if they were separate socially from other races entirely- it seems you are grouping a Noah"s Ark of white men and white women, Asian American men and Asian American women, African American men and African American women, and Latino men and Latina women- they seem, in your argument, to be on completely different levels of possible equal income. For example, you seem to want to equalize Asian women's pay to only Asian men's pay, which is not what feminism advocates for at all. I am going to propose this: Feminism, supporting the economic equality of the sexes, implies that every single man, regardless of race, and every single woman, regardless of race, should have equal pay for equal work. I am not in any way saying this exists now. 5."You might argue that feminism *would* work to equalize races as well, but it does not seem to be paying attention to it currently."". To reply, using the only feminist group I endorse, NOW,: "NOW is a multi-issue, multi-strategy organization that takes a holistic approach to women's rights. Our priorities are winning economic equality and securing it with an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that will guarantee equal rights for women; championing abortion rights, reproductive freedom and other women's health issues; opposing racism; fighting bigotry against the LGBTQIA community; and ending violence against women." (1) Please note "opposing racism".. A quote that rings true from their Racial Justice page, "NOW condemns the racism that inflicts a double burden of race and sex discrimination on women of color." (2) This directly addresses your point that feminism only benefits the well-off and privileged women- you are simply wrong to think that NOW would be content with African American and Latina women earning "80 cents for every white woman's dollar." Because, to repeat myself, African American women and Latina women are, simply put, women- and until African American women earn 100 cents to every Asian man's dollar (because, remember, race and sex are not two separate parts of a person- we are looking at the whole person, who possesses both race and sex) NOW will continue to fight for economic equality for women. 6."Advocating women's rights in this situation leaves the question: which group's rights are we actually trying to get?" To reply honestly, we are trying to "get" women's rights, regardless of race. I am not saying that there are no economic classes in America, and many of these classes can and do revolve around race- I am saying that feminism, in the definition I have outlined, will work to equalize every single man and woman- not, every single Latina woman to her male Latino counterpart, leaving her far behind the white male- that is simply not what feminism is. 7."Saying ALL women are economically worse-off than ALL men is leaving out important class and racial nuances that skew the data into all kinds of different directions, making feminism not actually equalizing women to men." I never said all women are worse off than all men economically. I cannot argue for something I never said. 8."Simply separating the population into two groups, male and female, and then trying to equalize one to the other is not going to garner the intended results." Feminism does not advocate for separating men and women into two groups, and matching them up to their same-race counterpart, and equalizing pay that way. To conclude: Please respond to my original proposed question: "Is feminism a positive movement for women globally, or a negative movement that "belittles" and "threatens" men?" I do not mean to offend anyone who does not consider themselves male or female. NOW advocates for LGBTQIA rights. For the purposes of this argument, I chose to compare men and women, but every single person deserves economic, social, and political equality. I appreciate awr700's discussion. However, I think she is arguing against something I am not saying... Sources: 1)http://now.org... 2)http://now.org...