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

[TaraJo]

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

That has never been my understanding. I also concede that the worst aspects of female oppression have indeed been caused by men.

I blame it more on culture, or the patriarchy if you want, and while men have generally had more over all power within the history of our culture, it's been shaped by both men and women. So, yes, most sexist gender roles were created, either directly or indirectly, by men.

However, who originally caused cultural norms really isn't important to me and it's kinda irrelevant. Fixing the fucked up gender roles we have now is important, and that means fixing fucked up gender roles for both men and women. I despise the one sided view of gender politics that says everything is peaches and cream for the guys or outright demonizes them.

But I think Valerie Solanas is the single, biggest example of feminist extremism. I can't really hold her completely responsible for her actions, though, because, from what I've learned about her, I'm pretty confident she had paranoid schizophrenia. However, the extremism came in that she wrote her The SCUM Manifesto, with SCUM as an acronym for "Society for Cutting Up Men." She had no trouble finding someone to publish her work and if you bring her up in feminist circles today, many feminists won't hesitate to defend her. If we're going to acknowledge that the Bible is barbaric for demanding we kill anyone who wears clothes made from more than one fabric or who works on Sunday, can't we also acknowledge that when someone suggests destruction of the entire human race simply because they're born with a penis is also barbaric? And when a radical feminist tries to defend those ideas, can't we realize they're just as absurd as the Christians who try to defend Old Testament law?