Feminist: We can't have a feminist future without abolishing the family.

Aldebaran

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It seems feminists may finally be coming out with the truth that we already know about the movement.

We Can't Have A Feminist Future Without Abolishing the Family

In the article:
"Abolishing the family may not have ever been a mainstream proposition, but for a stretch of time in the 1960s and 70s it was a fairly well-known one. Arguments for family abolition date back to Marx and Engels (and indeed, even further, to Plato), but the radical feminist Shulamith Firestone is credited with popularizing the concept on the modern-day left. In her foundational 1970 manifesto The Dialectic of Sex, she identifies the biological family as the basis for women’s oppression because it establishes women as an underclass by forcing them to bear the brunt of gestational labor."
 
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archer75

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Anyone who says these things has obviously been failed horribly by their family. People end up--okay, many people end up--seeking groups that affirm what anyone could see by reading this article: her father behaved like a cruel and selfish loon.

Is it a surprise, then, that she thinks "families" don't work, and that you need support from elsewhere?
 
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Silmarien

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It seems feminists may finally be coming out with the truth that we already know about the movement.

We Can't Have A Feminist Future Without Abolishing the Family

I think you mean: "One radical feminist wants to abolish the family."

It's hardly a new idea, but far from mainstream. There are a couple ideas in it I could get behind, like a more community based approach to caring for each other than simply the family unit (incidentally, this is something I like about Orthodoxy), mixed in with a ton of radical gender theory that is really on the fringe of the feminist movement.
 
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dzheremi

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Silmarien has a good point. Feminism is one of those labels that is so widely applicable that what it means to one person or group of people can be radically different from what it means to others. I remember when I was in high school, my (admittedly Marxist) history teacher had a bumper sticker up on a cabinet in the class that said "Feminism is the radical idea that women are people". 15-16 year old me saw that and thought "Huh...well I believe that women are people, so I guess I'm a feminist."

Surprise -- that's not the whole thing. :D But I have to believe that for some people (maybe a lot of people) who identify with the feminist movement or some of its individual goals, their understanding can be that simple, and doesn't have anything to do with destroying the family or whatever. That's still out there, but let's try to keep it in perspective. (Though I still stand by my other post, in the sense that we can't have the feminist future this lady envisions, and I'm totally okay with that.)
 
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CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN

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Most feminist , I know have families. And they planned to have children, when they want to. Because most are smart about Birth Control. This lady has a negative family thought, because of her past. I have to say, at least not having to worry about family. Brings less stress.
 
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Larniavc

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dzheremi

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All the feminists that I know, myself included, would be perfectly content if their movement became completely unnecessary.

Some people (including some women) claim that it already is, at least in modern western countries.

How do you know when it's not necessary anymore? Who decides?
 
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Tom 1

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Ana the Ist

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People looove it when they can attach a wacky idea to a word they hate.

Like "no families" to "feminist".

Or "global mass suicide" to "environmentalist".

Its a fun game, and I'm sure I play it sometimes.

I don't think she hates the word "feminist"....she is a feminist. She's a prominent feminist author who believes in abolishing the family.

Did you catch that part?
 
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Ana the Ist

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Some people (including some women) claim that it already is, at least in modern western countries.

How do you know when it's not necessary anymore? Who decides?

Well feminism already achieved equality under the law....arguably, the movement isn't necessary anymore.

There are of course, feministf who would disagree....but I would disregard the opinions of career feminists . After all, it's their livelihood....and it's in their best interest that feminism never ends.
 
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MehGuy

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I am pretty critical of most feminists I hear (besides a rare few like Camille Paglia), but the idea of "abolishing the family" is a fringe concept and not really a threat to worry about. Lol.
 
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Ana the Ist

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I am pretty critical of most feminists I hear (besides a rare few like Camille Paglia), but the idea of "abolishing the family" is a fringe concept and not really a threat to worry about. Lol.

Normally I would agree. I've read about wacky radical feminist beliefs for years now and for the most part....the never gain widespread normalization. I think the most ridiculous is the idea that sex with a man is always rape (even in the confines of marriage, even with consent, etc). Obviously that belief wasn't going to catch on.

Fringe beliefs can gain acceptance through simple repetition. Social media allows this to happen in a more pervasive way than ever. I remember long ago when the idea that a sexual assault can happen even if consent is given was considered a fringe idea with no real merit. Nowadays celebrities are going on apology tours for consensual sexual encounters they had years ago.

I don't count on people having common sense anymore.
 
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