feministsaresexist:

permutationofninjas:

reysayshey:

“As men, we very rarely, if ever, know what it’s like to face unwelcome comments and jokes from a co-worker and go through a process of deciding, like so many women do, if it’s “worth it” to say or do anything. We don’t know what it feels like to ask our friends if our arms look fat or to hear comments like “just another ten pounds and you’ll be perfect.” We don’t know what it feels like, because we don’t have to buy Spanx, we don’t have to conform, and we don’t have to combat unhealthy body images coming at us from multiple directions. We don’t know what it’s like to deal with the burden of birth control. We don’t try to understand what it feels like to remember take a pill every day, to deal with the insurance and associated costs, to confront yearly invasive exams, and to live with possible physical side effects. We don’t seem to realize that birth control is not just an issue for women deal with; it’s an issue that we should also take responsibility for. We don’t know what it’s like to have our intuition dismissed, especially when we sense danger and feel unsafe. How would we know? We men are perceptive and women are just overreacting. This is why the sexism we have to combat in this country is the kind we don’t even notice. It’s the sexism that we wave off as, “That’s the way things are.” It’s the kind of sexism we haven’t even started to address in our society at large. And because we refuse to dig deeper to learn about the everyday struggles of women, we persist with behavior that simultaneously hurts women and drives the issue of gender discrimination deeper into a hidden underworld.”

Yashar Ali, “Men Will Never Truly Understand A Day In The Life of Women. But Shouldn’t We Try?” 

The above was one big-ass paragraph, (possibly also a big ass-paragraph) so I’ve broken my version up just a little bit.

Note:  I am not a woman, but for a minute I’m going to pretend to be one.

As women, we very rarely, if ever, know what it’s like to be told that “you can be married or you can be right” and go through a process of deciding, like so many men do, if it’s “worth it” to point it out when your wife is wrong about something or a feminist you know repeats another false statistic because no matter how much evidence you present you’ll still get screamed at.  We don’t know what it feels like to be described as a “rapist,” “creep” or “pervert” simply because we politely asked someone out for coffee, face judgment based purely on the contents of our wallet, be described as worthless and lazy because we want to stay at home and raise our children, or be looked down on for choosing a career in education, child care or social work (not to mention the “pedophile” rumors).

We don’t know what it feels like, because we’ve probably never had to approach someone if we didn’t want to, we don’t have to be a “provider” to get along in life because we have the option of being the “provided for,” and society refuses to see us as rapists, abusers and pedophiles no matter how much evidence there is to the contrary.

We don’t know what it’s like to be told it’s our job to risk our lives and even give them up for people who’ve never done anything to deserve it, or what it’s like to have our rights voided based on some warped interpretation of “justice for women.”  We don’t know what it’s like to not have reproductive rights, to not have the full freedom to choose if and when we want to become parents regardless of how, where and with whom we choose to have sex.  We don’t even consider that men do often know what it’s like to have to remember to take a pill every day, as a man with any of a wide range of illnesses (or even just an athlete with a daily supplement regime) can attest, and that they wish they had the option because what we see as a “burden” would be for them a privilege.

We don’t think that men deal with invasive exams, partly because about half of us don’t even understand what a prostate is in the first place.  We don’t seem to realize that in denying men reproductive rights we have placed them in a position where their lives are tied to our decisions, and that we are expecting them to take responsibility for decisions that they are given no voice in making.

We don’t know what it’s like to be told that our logical reasoning should be trumped by some nebulous “intuition” that women somehow magically possess, or be told that women are somehow better at “sensing danger” despite the fact that statistically men deal with far more violence over the course of their lives than women.  How would we know?  It’s not like we go and look up the statistics rather than simply repeating the same inane blather that’s fed to us by ideologues.

This is why the sexism we have to combat in this country is the kind we don’t even notice.  It’s the sexism that we wave off as, “That’s the way things are.”  It’s the kind of sexism we haven’t even started to address in our society at large.  And because we refuse to dig deeper to learn about the everyday struggles of men, we persist with behavior that simultaneously hurts men and drives the issue of gender discrimination deeper into a hidden underworld.

I get so tired of feminists whining about their “injustices.” when did rape become such a hot topic? I understand that being raped is terrible and inexcusable, but it seems these days that the feminists believe that every woman has been raped. besides that, the only other injustice I think that women face is the equal pay for equal work and the glass ceiling, but even so, it’s not that bad.

if you really want to fight for women’s rights, how about you fight for women’s rights in countries where women don’t get to enjoy nearly as many rights as they do in the US? maybe then you’ll get respect from society.

(via deadbyproxy)