I'm ashamed to say I'm pretty clueless about feminism. Part of this new emerging generation where few would consider themselves feminist, and even fewer would be vocal about it. I'm not sure where I stand - obviously I'm aware that there are still gaping holes in women's rights, and that sexism can come from all angles - I've experienced it from other women as well as from men - but I've never gone so far as to do things like write 'womyn', nor do I subscribe to the 'all men are potential rapists' (only because IMO by that notion, all humans are potential thieves, all humans are potential murderers - it isn't something that really needs to be said).
Apart from that (and even then, I may have gotten it all wrong), I don't really know much about feminism, but I really want to learn. I've got a baby DD and I want to raise her to not feel like she has to conform to a stereotype based on the fact that she is female. But there are some things where I don't know if I'm causing more harm than good - she wears a lot of pink, but that's just because I like pink. She also has plenty of clothes in all colours. Does that make it ok to dress her in pink, or should I stop dressing her like that because it's encouraging shops to only stock pink for girls, blue for boys? I do hate the fact that if I dress her in blue or any colour other than pink, people mistake her for a boy - I'm not annoyed that people mistake her for a boy, more that people insist that I should be dressing her in pink all the time.
So I was hoping people could maybe answer my questions about feminism. If any of these are using the wrong terminology, or seem offensive, I wholeheartedly apologise - as I say, I'm pretty clueless really. These are all out of curiosity and a desire to know more.
- Do most/any feminists hate men, just for the simple fact of being born male?
- I've done a bit of reading around about the issues with feminism and transactivism, but a lot of it is going over my head. Does anyone have a layman's terms explanation?
- What is the definition of male privilege? Does female privilege exist? Does every man have male privilege, and does this make him a bad person?
- In an ideal world, what would men do with regards to feminism? Do most feminists want them to campaign for female rights alongside them? Or is this seen as condescending/male privilege again?
- Is the anger towards men who exist by the gender stereotypes, or towards a society that has created the gender stereotypes? Who can solve this?
Thanks, I'm sorry there's so many questions, it's just something that really interests me. My parents always just had a catch-all policy of treating others as I'd want to be treated (but giving as good as I get if someone mistreats me), but I want to know more about feminism and what it is, and how I can raise my daughter to still treat people as she'd want to be treated, but to not feel bound by gender stereotypes.