Thought-Provoking Conversation on Feminism

Note: M.L = Michael Lovan

My Facebook status post: I learned that radical feminism and anti-porn feminism are updated versions of liberal (classical/"sex-positive"/"3rd-wave") feminism, they came after. So in this case...out with the old, in with the new. To me labels are most often just labels (because often I'm too much of a complex individual to be labelled lol). I just deem myself an INFJ (can feel like an INTJ at times), elite fighter (in essence to Fight The New Drug and its Fighter Club), moral revolutionist, and anti-porn activist but that's pretty much about it. M.L : Hey, just a wee bit backwards! Radical feminism came first, and is otherwise known as the second wave. To be simplistic here, a radical's main objective is liberation from patriarchy. Liberal feminism is the third wave, which is about empowerment. Radical focuses on class, and liberal focuses on individuals. There are a bunch of great books on the subject; I highly recommend Female Chauvinist Pigs as a fierce overview on the the history and differences between the two waves. Me: Oh whoops. That makes sense as I was wondering what came before the 3rd-wave, and I had a feeling it might be rad fem (which actually is 2nd-wave)...but from a logical standpoint, it seems like radfem would come after libfem as radfems seem more advanced in a sense that they contain more knowledge and wisdom (i.e. porn addiction, harms of pornography including its influences on our mindsets and culture, patriarchy, common sexual abuse towards females, etc...) plus they are well aware of patriarchy or "internalized misogyny" ingrained within many cultures and still going widespread today. If anything, radfems seem to be the ones who are free from bondage or patriarchal oppression compared to libfems (-cough- handmaidens -cough-) who think empowerment means prancing around nude, impressing male wankers, and publicly displaying one's sex life.

M.L: I am totally with you in terms of what would make sense - to a decent person. If we look at this in a historical lens, it goes more like - Men oppress women > Women define a movement for liberation > Men co-opt the movement and re-define the movement as one for empowerment If you follow the news back a few decades ago, you'll see some of the broader moments where feminism got hijacked. Like, when Hugh Hefner of Playboy got involved in the women's right to choose and threw money into that political aim. Of course, he wasn't doing that for the women. He was doing that so that men could have sex baby-free. Me: So I guess in other words, "sex-positive" feminism is basically a cover up brainwashing mechanism invented by men to continually oppress females and get off to the sexual objectification plus debasement of them. Patriarchy for control and power still deeply ingrained within our cultures. Makes complete sense. I can see how men can make massive profit off of this from sexploitation of females who got influenced into thinking selling their bodies to dudes is empowerment. M.L: Yes. Feminism was created by and for women. Now suddenly men are feminists? Men are women? Men get to tell women that they don't have the right to congregate without women? If you look at the history of Michfest, an annual gathering of biological women, as soon as men decided they deserved to be a part of it, they destroyed it. Michfest is now literally no more. I am pro-feminism, and more specifically, I am pro-radical feminism. But I don't have the right to tell anybody that I am a feminist. That is not for me to decide. Me: I suppose men find feminism a perfect opportunity to exploit and twisted it around for their own sexual and profitable gain. Now that's manipulative...and here we have males complaining about females being manipulative when they too can be manipulative for the wrong reasons. M.L: Yes. Me: I got to admit, this topic makes me feel enlightened. It feels fantastic to know what's truly going on behind these manmade facades...yet it's a bummer there are still many who aren't aware or awaken. If I had to compare the thinking process between radfems and libfems, I'd say radfems are advanced thinkers (easily see past the BS and say things how they are but get demonized by scummy boys and sexploitative industries) whereas libfems are primal thinkers (place heavy emphasis on sexually showing off one's body and sexuality, which is what scummy boys and sexploitative industries want). M.L: It's a huge bummer. The more you know the more disheartening things can be. That's why it's important to keep on learning. Ignorance is bliss and tantamount to oppression. Another way to think of radical is by its meaning: root. Radicals want to uproot the system from the bottom up. Me: Or another way to look at that is rads don't play around, they get down to the bottom of things, locate the root problems, and from there apply solutions to the corrupt system to improve humanity.

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Michael Lovan is the admin of pornographyFAQ.com