Mainstream feminism, or at least the branch that gets the most attention, has a huge blind spot for race and class.

The only real sexism I've faced is being catcalled or sexually harassed, like being groped on public transportation. I've never been made to feel like I was less capable or worthy because I'm female. But I've most definitely come across men who think they are entitled to my body, which is scary and horrible.

Feminism is the bane of any western country's existence. Seriously. Even in college, I see more guys being gentlemen than girls acting like proper ladies. It's so sad to admit but it's true.

absolutely.

i have never been attacked, raped, or denied something for virtue of being a woman. quite the opposite. most men i know have dealt with at least one unprovoked attack or drunken idiot trying to get aggressive.

i have a wonderful STEM job, and work with some truly brilliant people. i have never been denied a job because i'm a woman, i have never been harassed in the workplace and have actually been offered scholarships that were available only to women.

i am so, so sick of having non-STEM, liberal arts women telling me how "hard" it is to be a women in tech. it isn't. i was recently had an old physics teacher from high school contact me and ask me to come speak to his girls about a job in tech, because they all they hear from society is how awful and sexist STEM workplaces are.

THIS is the problem in my opinion. girls are being told from day one that all men are out to get them, and the worst possible fate would be to end up in a male-dominated workplace. victim-feminism and laziness is what is keeping women away from tech, not the patriarchy.

this isn't sexism, this is antisocial people being antisocial

exactly this. so many women will take any kind of inconvenience at work to be sexist, whereas 99% of the time it's just an asshole doing what assholes do, regardless of your gender.

I agree that most Feminist issues are upper middle class white people problems which is why mainstream feminism doesn't appeal to me because I don't fit that description. But at the same time i still self-identify as a feminist because it's such a broad umbrella term that it can stand for so many things (which kind of makes it a little more pointless without more of a clear definition tbh).

I think a lot of the oppression being claimed is social rather than actual? like, it's there if you're looking for it but it won't be if you're not. Most of the time Feminism is attacking ideas and trying to change thoughts and words in order to change actions. And at the end of the day it comes down to semantics and/or morality and that's even harder to agree on.

But just because I haven't experienced something personally doesn't mean it doesn't happen to other people. All that to say, I don't know if it's real or made up or if people are being sensitive. I just tend to believe someone until proven otherwise. But some of the claims do sounds a little anecdotal and circumstantial more than anything else.

I have a similar experience as you do and cannot recall to be discriminated against. I would say even further, in life I came across of a higher number of women who tried to manipulate people around them and kept a double agendas than I saw men with such behaviors.

People are making it up. They conflate hurt feelings with being oppressed.

I think that to some extent they are real, in that yes, these things (wage gap, street harassment, whatever) are in fact happening. However, these feminists put the blame on the patriarchy, or all men, rather than the acts of a few rude individuals or the outcomes of their own choices. But what bothers me more is that they place these inconveniences at a higher priority than the injustices against men.

As a woman who lives in Canada, I have not experienced one iota of sexism my whole life. Most complaints I've heard from women in my area have been about microaggressions at worst. I think the dissonance stems from a misunderstanding of what sexism is; as you said, having weird things said to you is not sexism. My assumption is that most women in the west have never experienced genuine sexism and use the term to apply to their own experiences which they understand.

Generally speaking, feminism and the many "inequalities" of today are the figments of hysterical women's imaginations. Generally speaking. I know there are actually inequalities however they're not as glaring or obvious like they used to be back in the 50's 60's and 70's in America.

I am gonna be honest to myself and say it is all 100% made up from rape culture to wage gaps. If rape culture was a thing being accused of being a rapist wouldn't be so damning. Feminista of course hate men already so they don't have empathy towards their lives. Wage gap isn't real because honestly I have had a job before.... Not only did I not get paid less but I got preferential hiring because I am a woman who has a disabbility. (Said dissabillity since took me out of Construction work though.)

I can name many a time when I recieved preferential treatment but not negative descrimination because my gender. People who struggle in society are honestly just lazy.

Rule #1 to being an attractive woman, don't be a feminist.

Yes the issues are completely over blown and there is nothing more unattractive than an overblown victim complex.

I think it's all bs honestly.

In middle Eastern and Asian countries yes there is a huge issue. You know in these countries the definition of rape is still sane- a woman kidnapped and forced into sex, is what happens there and gets called out as rape. In India for example, even in major cities it's not safe to got out for girls late at night, coz they literally may get kidnapped. In wester countries however, we define rape as "I was drunk and got careless, so maybe I was raped". It actually trivializes what women in other countries may go through. But as we know, feminism is nothing but convenience for upper class women...

Also I am in stem field, there literally is NO pay disparity whatsoever. I recently got heavily downvoted in a female-STEM sub, for saying the exact same thing. Everyone gets paid depending on their skill set and experience level.

After reading the entire thread I do have to say that female-dominated fields definitely do not pay as well as other "equal" (or higher) work fields which are equally split by gender.

The field I work in (now) is female dominated, and for the amount of education, skill and responsibility, we get paid CRAP.

These are probably going to be an unpopular opinions, even for RPW, but:

I am well aware that there is awful sexism that women living in The Middle East, Africa and some Asian countries have to deal with on a day to day basis.

Have you ever asked yourself why you should even give a damn about those women? They are in separate countries in entirely different continents, so why burden yourself with their problems? Just because they share the same parts as you? If that's the case, we really are living in a matriarchy, where every woman, just by being born as such, but contribute to the communal hive-mind of vajayjay. Yes, women are the natural carries of empathy and compassion, but have you ever thought that we might be starting to get into the extreme territory by saying all the world's problems are our own? Are the women in those countries going to return the favor and help us? Where are the Pakistan feminists getting outraged over Rotherham? Frankly, the only people who deserve your compassion are your family, direct friends, and immediate neighbors, not some random women thousands of miles away in the middle of the desert.

And even for middle class to rich women, there are still the threats of rape or violence they face for being smaller and more vulnerable than the men folk.

I've been petite (160cm) my entire life, so please tell me more about when I go out I need to perceive everyone larger than me as a potential threat to my safety. If I actually thought like that I'd stay inside my house and never leave because 99% of both males and females are taller than me; I would never have talked to my amazing boyfriend either since he's 198cm and that's just serial killer material right there... /s

So do you think a lot of these claims of sexism are real, or are people making this up?

Feminism has bred multiple generations to perceive problems where there actually aren't any, so in their head they don't think they're making it up, but in reality they are.

A lot of problems are exaggerated or simply made up.

Here is one example: a recent study by Cornell University shows that women are preferred for STEM jobs at a 2:1 ratio to men.

Feminism gets its power from moral outrage. To maintain power, it has to keep coming up with things to be outraged about.

I've always said I never realized I was oppressed until feminism told me I was and I stand by that. I think our culture grossly overcompensates for history, when I do believe there was a time that being a woman was no great shakes.

Now, my degree is in religion where women play an interesting role there and you could argue some oppression exists in certain denominations of each religion. Politically, I'm personally not sure how I feel about all the about reproductive rights arguements and it seems like we could do maternity leave better/paternity leave should exist.

So, in my opinion it's maybe a mixed bag but feminism on one hand complains that women can't be whatever they want to be and on the other complains when women choose to be something that feminism doesn't value, like a housewife instead of an astronaut.

However, going back to what I said at the top, I believe that it would be a lot easier for me, as opposed to a male, to get in to school to be an astronaut because "oh female ... [insert overcompensation here]"

I think a lot of these are First World Problems. I also think that they are less about women in general, and more about just how cruel some people can be to other people.

I am also aware that there can be more impoverished parts of first world countries where women do face a very real threat of rape, violence and exploitation on a day to day basis.

And even for middle class to rich women, there are still the threats of rape or violence they face for being smaller and more vulnerable than the men folk.

Even this is something I struggle agreeing with. I don't believe that anyone should be a victim of violence or rape, but to claim that the possibility of rape and violence is a "woman's issue" strikes me the wrong way. Men are also vulnerable to these things, in fact men are much more likely to experience violence. The fact is women are safer as a group than men are, because they are less likely to be attacked, and more likely to be stood up for. This is due to the fact that men are naturally protective of women. The possibility of a women getting attacked by a crazy person is really low.

To me being afraid that someone might rape you is a little like being afraid of being hit by lightning. Yeah, it might happen, but the fact that we walk around scared of it all the time is unreasonable given it's likelihood.

The real reason that violence and rape are largely considered a "woman's issue" is because women are scared of it. And since we must protect women from being scared of anything ever, this becomes an issue for society. They are scared of it, because they would be more vulnerable to it (if it happens). Feminists think that being more scared of it is enough of a reason by itself to call it a "problem". But, you don't get less scared of something that is unlikely by... Making it less likely. In fact we are already doing that to the extent that we put offenders behind bars.

Yet as a woman who dabbles in all these things I have never felt significantly oppressed.

I'm in stem as well, and have never once felt looked down upon because I'm a woman. Not by my parents, not by my teachers, not by my classmates, and not by my coworkers. Either I'm really lucky for never meeting anyone in my entire life who was "sexist against women in STEM, or the problem is not as bad as people say it is... I'm likely to believe the latter.

I am well aware that there is awful sexism that women living in The Middle East, Africa and some Asian countries have to deal with on a day to day basis.

Even this I have trouble siding with. Because it's easy to imagine from the comfort of our homes that those poor women are so oppressed, because that is the story our media feeds us. I don't feel comfortable assuming people I've never met, who haven't asked for my help, need it, or even want it.

I face sexism ALL THE TIME. Why, just the other day a man offered to help me carry my groceries to my car, which I bet he wouldnt have done if I were a man. The outrage. Sometimes when I was single I wouldn't have to pay to get into bars just because they wanted to give the pretty little pieces of meat more incentive to attend. Men have become downright offended when I reached for my wallet to pay for myself after a date. I can stand any place in public with a concerned look on my face for about five minutes before men will start coming up and asking if everything is okay and whether I need help. And yes, sometimes men tell me I'm pretty and I should smile, which is irritating when I'm not smiling because of agonizing pain or the fact that someone just died, but I don't take the feminist stance that telling me to smile is a "microaggression" and those men misguidedly trying to be kind and friendly need a kick in the pants and to perhaps sit through a sexual harassment seminar.

Shit, I hate it when men don't act sexist toward me. I'm not a man. I don't want to be treated like one. Sexism puts life on easy mode for women. That's what so many women don't get. I like sexism because I benefit from it, and I'll freely admit that. All I have to do is play my part. Sexist men have sexist expectations of women, and if I uphold what a woman is "supposed" to do I can receive the treatment of how a man treats a lady. The way chores and duties are laid out around my house and the expectations of me are incredibly sexist, and thank god for that. I couldn't imagine the horror of living any other way.