soup in my fly

Hmm, some personal observation from a woman from the class of 1974. I came of intellectual age during the upsurge of the modern radical feminst movement. I literally grew up with it, inspired by it I went to law school.

What I have observed over the years is the personal failure of many radical feminists. Do a thought experiment. Imagine what position a woman would be in today, IF she followed all the recommendations of the radical feminists. Here is what I have observed among my generation.

She would be broke. Radical feminists oppose free markets and generally approve of only a few occupations. Those occupations are distinguished by their low rate of pay. If you are thinking that feminist lawyers make good money, think again, they don't.

She would be alone. Marriage, family, husband and children are all part of an oppressive system.
Marriage is something to be escaped from or rejected. Believeing that all individual men are oppressors does not make for a great marriage. Rejecting marriage contributes to poverty, as there is only one adult wage earner in the home.

Without an adult child to look out for you old age is a bitch; add poverty and it is even worse.

Yes, Kiddies, take if from the Class of 1974, forty years of observations and I have seen that the most ardently "feminist" of my friends are the lonliest and the poorest. Not a good end of one's life, I would say.

isn't it thirty years?

you can point at radicals in anything, but the point (or lack thereof) i was trying to make was that i saw this woman as protecting the status quo.

original feminism wanted men and women to be treated as equals. the problem is is been about a hundred years and that goal still has not been realized.

it is easier to be well off than poor, but the woman after may recognise the latter.

Forty years since I have been old enough to read newspapers, discuss adult topics and observe lives of my close female friends.

My observation has been that the stronger the impact of feminism on a woman's life the lonlier and poorer she is.

Mj, you need to define your terms if you expect to have a reasonable discussion.

What do you define as "original feminism." There have been upsurges of feminism in quite a few different centuries in different countries. To which upsurge in feminist activity are you referring?

What do you define as equal? Legal equality. Women in America have changed laws which disabled them as women qua women. Economic equality? Quite good in America. Economic studies quoting the 70 cents on the dollar thing have been fairly well discredited.

Women as a group show less career dedication than do men. Men who want to succeed know that they will have to dedicate themselves almost exclusively to their career for decades in order to achieve financial and professional success. Men don't drift around as much in their work lives, men do not expect to receive as much psychic reward from work. Hence, they focus more on money rewards and they get more money rewards.

Most women that I know are children when it comes to money. They have no idea how costly it is to waste your twenties. It all catches up to you later. It is a very sad thing to be 50 and broke, very sad. Many women, even with access to education, shy away from truly learning the economic facts of life. very childish still.

Women do not choose many physically dangerous jobs which pay a premium for physical danger such as logging, deep sea fishing, mining and construction.

Yes, the fate of women is quite poor among patriarchal third world societies and it sucks for women in Islam, but, American women are doing quite well by any historical standard.

sorry for the late reply.

you should strike up a conversation in email. no one reads these comments (yet) and i usually don't see them for a few days.

the email is soupinmyfly (at) gmail (dot) com

i look forward to you correspondence.