Can we have an honest, balanced, down to earth discussion about feminism?

[TaraJo]

These sorts of discussions don't go well for you because you're a fully-indoctrinated pawn in the phallocratic paradigm of oppression (I jest)

Ugh. That sounds a lot like the bs they espouse, except they're more likely to tell me I'm 'internalizing misogyny' and to 'check my privilege' and that if I'm not using the approved feminist terminology, I can be simply dismissed.

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Feminism goes nuts when it gets to Germaine Greer. She is a cretin.

I like liberal feminism, it recognises that fathers like me miss out on time with the kids in the same way my partner misses out on furthering her career. We both lose.

Feminists that say everything is the fault of men, like radical feminists, are cunts.

Yeah, I've had to deal with a whole fuck of a lot of the cunts (and I'll use that word, even if it is incredibly misogynistic). I like equality that deals with issues that hurt both men and women. People like to say men aren't discriminated against, but if you watch what happens to guys who try to be nurses or secretaries or boys who try to baby sit to earn money in high school or, really, if you want to be a male that has anything to do with children, you see a different story.

The feminism I seem to be encountering the most still sees this problem, but instead says "This problem with men is only there because women have this other problem even worse." Personally, I find that incredibly dismissive of real concerns by real men.

However, I am starting to see something else that I like as a result of this: progressive men's groups where they talk about the place of masculinity in our culture and how sexism effects them. The extreme feminists still label them as misogynists unless they focus exclusively on sexism that hurts women. But sites like The Good Men Project are very good places and need to be part of equality. If anything, the radfems are pushing men away from gender equality.