I have a theory that I wont go into extreme detail about right now, but I’ll expand on a little in this post. I want to make something clear about me and feminism though.

Do I support feminism? Of course! There are still issues and things that women need to fight against and fight for. There are rights to be protected and won, there are societal inroads to make and so on. Feminism is a good thing. A noble thing. An important thing. I want to be clear on that.

ed. note: this post turned out to be longer than I expected, so I split it into a separate post of it’s own.

Some thoughts on extreme feminism.

Extreme feminism is, like most fringe groups,  composed mostly of outcasts who are having problems dealing with the society they find themselves in. They feel alienated, they feel oppressed, they feel repressed and victimized. They turn to a theory of the world that allows them to have a reason for those feelings. In other words, the cult of victimization is their salvation and their ideology is a perfect bulwark to hide behind while judging all they meet to be substandard or evil. There really isn’t much to separate extreme feminism from extreme religion or an extreme militia belief structure.

Here’s the thing though – extreme feminism is irrelevant. The boat sailed, the time is come and gone, the revolution happened without them and they don’t know how to handle it.

The problem with extreme feminists is that feminism happened in a way they didn’t expect, a way that hasn’t fit their preconceived notions of the world and one that doesn’t play into their social problems. it turns out when you give women freedom to make more choices and when you go out of your way (as a society) to protect them from idiots who want to use physical violence on them something wonderful happens… females make choices that empower and excite them. They make choices that are not the asexual utopia of formless overalls… of them put on high heels and a miniskirt and venture forth to kick ass.

Given freedom and safety females generally speaking like sex, beauty and the interplay of erotic and power dynamics in relationships and life. When you grant females freedom and protection they use that power to play the game to win – instead of walking off the field.

This baffles the extremists. They were sure that when the revolution happened females would slip into their burlap sacks and sandals, toss away the razors and turn their backs on sex that might have overtones of kinkiness or passion.

A liberated society finds out that some of it’s females want to get tied to a bed and others want to tie their girl or boyfriends to a bed. Some of them don’t want to have sex at all and others want to bang everything they come across. Instead of asexual political activists we find that females come in bi, straight, lesbian and (at least internally) gay. They want to be mommies and some of them want to find a nice Daddy to sleep with. When you give them the freedom to wear what they want some of them put on miniskirts that will blow your mind.

Women and girls everywhere are enjoying and exploring the power they have, a power they are for the most part free to explore without the fear of being dragged off to a cave or burned as a which. For every [[wp:Dworkin]] you get a [[Britney]] or two. Preferably two :)

The extreme feminists are left in the margins as liberation brings a wave of females making choices that they (the extremers) simply cannot understand. That lack of understanding is so antithetical to their beliefs that they do the only thing they can – deny them. Clearly no female could enjoy wearing a miniskirt or being part of a gang bang – hell, none of them might actually like getting spanked or want a girlfriend who was “conventionally” beautiful.

It must be the patriarchy at work!

No challenge to this belief system will be tolerated. if you disagree and you’re male your a misogynist at worst or a unwitting pawn of your own testicles at best. if your a female then your simply too oppressed or stupid to realize the truth – only they know the truth! If they don’t make a dent in the world then that just proves their point.

Now, an interesting side effect of this worldview is a sort of paranoia. When you get to the point, or when you started at the point, that you truly believe all of society exists to brainwash your gender from the moment of their birth well then, anything is possible. I am not sure if it is extreme feminism that brings the paranoia and victim hood to bloom or whether extreme feminism is sometimes simply a convenient framework for someone who feels outcast to hang their issues on. Probably both.

Anyone who doesn’t agree with you is an enemy. They are all out to get you – hell all of society exists specifically to keep you down and oppress you. No political impurity can be tolerated. No slight can be overlooked – remember, they aren’t insulting you they are trying to repress your womanhood! You can always find a reason to declare them tainted, or stupid or not “pure” enough… in the final defense you can always decide they had it easier than you.

Gossip. Sarcasm. Veiled threats and feigned innocence. Behind the back commentary coupled with to your face niceness. Imagine.

Soulhuntre