Helen Pluckrose · @HPluckrose
13th Sep 2014 from TwitLonger
Just got verbal lynching on PZMyers blog - RDawkins & feminism, @Gauri_Narayan
I'd disagreed with Myers and suggested there WAS a serious problem in contemporary feminism and given my own experiences. I thought I'd raised a few fairly straightforward concerns but it seemed to many that I'd actually said that I hate all women who aren't me, because of my privilege.
I gave up trying to explain myself. This is how I left it:
I keep getting drawn back in here by claims I mean things I don’t mean, so I am going to summarise my position and leave:
I supported a young woman on Twitter saying she thought the date rape drug detecting nail varnish and other forms of protection could be a good idea. I got called a victim blamer and a rape apologist by some feminists.(I am taking on board everyone’s concerns about the effectiveness of the nail varnish. I am still suggesting each woman make up her own mind.)
I supported another woman on Twitter saying she enjoyed a BDSM relationship and it was no-one else's business. I got called a rape enabler by some feminists.
After reading an article claiming misogyny in atheist groups, I asked for examples so I could help tackle it. I got called a victim blamer for asking and blocked by some feminists.
I came here and recounted this and have been called all sorts of things (including an undrained abscess) and told to fuck off a lot. And this:
"You should leave before you find out the hard way just how little patience people here have for your aggressive cluelessness. People were way too charitable toward you at the start. The truth is, we’re all exactly the kind of feminist you’ve been whining about. So for all of our sakes, piss off now and stick the flounce."
Nice.
I don’t like the way current feminism is portraying victimhood as a universal female experience when it is not. I am just one example of many women who do not feel victimised by our culture. My acknowledgement of this in no way indicates that I think any other woman’s experiences of abuse are false or overstated or deserving of anything less than the greatest sympathy, action and support.
I don’t like the way current feminism has used analogies to portray men as a dangerous group who must all be regarded with the utmost suspicion (like 1 in 10 poisoned M&Ms.) If we think cultural constructions have power, we should certainly not keep equating male with aggressor and female with victim (whilst taking very seriously the actuality of violent and sexual crime by either sex upon either sex.)
I do think there is a problem within some strains of current feminism and I think Richard Dawkins is right to think so and say so.