Something making you feel bad isn't the same as Misogyny

[Major Nikon]

53. All are fair points

- I personally don't have a problem with people watching porn. I don't know enough about it to form an opinion, and if people want to watch it on their own time, it is not my place to jump into their room and tell them to stop. I believe that it's protected under the First Amendment. I also believe that some porn is misogynist, such as porn where women get hurt/abused, or porn that is supposed to humiliate women. I think the audience of these movies are also misogynist.

Flip the genders on this. Are women who watch BDSM porn where men consent to being hurt misandrists? For some, pain enhances pleasure both on the giving and receiving end. That doesn't mean they harbor hate for the opposite gender.

- This is an often misunderstood statement. I don't believe it saying it that way. The correct statement should be something along the lines of, "If you're a stranger, don't do creepy things around me that could be perceived as threatening, and don't invade my personal space. I don't know you and I don't know what your intentions are. I would like to assume that you have good intentions, and I do owe you politeness, but I also ask that you understand where I'm coming from - I don't know for an absolute fact that you aren't out to hurt me. You could potentially be my rapist or my killer." It's a way of explaining stranger danger, danger from the guy who you're at the party with that you think is a nice guy that respects women, or danger from your best friend's old college roommate who you're on a date with. The tl:dr version is, "You're probably not a bad guy, but I'll never know for sure."

It's certainly understandable that some people feel this way. Promoting the idea that people should feel this way is another matter.

- You will be hard-pressed to find somebody who thinks fringe views like this should ever be taken seriously.

It's not as uncommon as you might think. Many feminists believe that coitus(sex) is coercive and harmful to women under the patriarchy. While the statement that "all sex is rape" takes this idea to the extreme, it's not that far out of line with what many believe. You are correct in that they shouldn't be taken seriously, but that's the whole point of the statement.

- As with everything in life, context matters. The problem is gawking. Would you want someone staring at you for 5 minutes without breaking contact? Wouldn't that creep you out a little bit? Nobody wants to be stared at, ever - it's so uncomfortable. Sometimes, in certain situations, it can be intimidating.

Even taken to that extreme it's hard to imagine how this is an example of misogyny.

- I've never heard of someone having a problem with this. It's pointless advice, though - you won't find a women that doesn't understand this already, and sometimes going out into a parking garage at night can't be avoided. The reason why this advice causes anger is because some could see it as taking responsibility away from the rapist and giving it to the victim along the lines of, "Well, you shouldn't have gone into that parking garage at night!" and stuff like this. Women are constantly blamed for things that aren't their fault.

You just explained why some have a problem with this. RAINN (the largest and most respected anti-sexual assault advocacy organization on the planet) gives similar advice. Regardless of what anyone's opinion of it is, it's not an example of misogyny. Victim blaming is a separate issue.

-Even denying that "rape culture" exists is NOT misogyny (it just makes you "feel" bad)


- I disagree.

With no clear definition of what "rape culture" even means, people can disagree with the definition without being misogynists. Some feminists believe porn is part of rape culture, which even you admit is harmless. For some this makes you a misogynist.

- I would actually argue that objectifying is a form of misogyny because it reduces women to objects for male enjoyment. It indirectly surmises that women are not equal to men, and therefore shouldn't be treated like human beings. It ignores womens' humanity, the fact that women are living and breathing people with feelings, and that women deserve to be treated with respect.

Sexuality is part of humanity. Even within the feminist community there's no shortage of those who reject objectification theory. Disagreement over this is not misogyny.

Objectifying women makes it easier to do things that hurt them. It lessens the cognitive dissonance of having the urge to hurt another human being, but also understanding that the human being you want to hurt has feelings just like you. Ever notice the language used to objectify women? What does it reduce them to? Body parts? Stereotypes? A "thing" is a more acceptable target to the human mind than another human - this is always true and has been since the beginning of humanity. Propaganda also takes this concept and runs with it effectively.

Some feminists have been trying unsuccessfully for decades to link objectification cause to violent effect. When what they call objectification is indisputably up exponentially, and violence against women is down exponentially, the rational basis for their argument is at an extreme disadvantage and remember this concept has never been proven in the first place. Rejecting this idea is not misogyny.