Why do feminists have such a bad reputation?

[TaraJo]

I Think you have a unigue out look on this. Reverse Sexism is definatly and issue and thank you reconizing that. IT is true women do have it bad in some situations. I believe where the worse misandry and male discrimnation occurs is with in the legal system. Where a man is torn apart like the poor sheep he is. Thank you for your open mindedness. I think it is taking a step further to realizing our potiental as a species.

Thank you, but I guess my little rant is what got me to first notice how many batshit crazy feminists there are out there. I mean, it's common knowledge to most transsexuals that there are absurd feminists because of books like Janice Raymond's 'The Transsexual Empire' and events like the Michigan Womyns' Music Festival (a women only event that specifically excludes trans women). You can find blog after blog after blog of self-described radical feminists piling on the hate for transsexuals. So seeing hostility from there doesn't surprise me a bit.

What does alarm me is when we see a lot of transsexual feminists or transsexual friendly feminists, who take all the hateful attitudes of feminism, take out the hatred of transsexuals, and then claim they're a whole new branch of feminism. The similiarities alarm the fuck out of me!

-Both groups are very hostile towards men (and while some within both groups are open about that hostility, others claim no hostility and can't understand why anyone would think otherwise).

-Both groups talk about rape a lot. If that was it, I'd be more understanding. The Steubenville case deserves to be talked about and Todd Akin deserves to be mocked. But they expand the term 'rape' to the point that it can mean everything and nothing simultanously.

-Both groups chase away people who would otherwise be allies. The video on page one; remember that? It was in response to a Warren Farrel speech. He was so supportive of National Organization of Women that he was actually on their board. While he still identifies as a feminist, he also now describes himself as a masculinist. That's when shit hit the fan and he went from being an ally to being the enemy. You have to be 100% on their side or you are the enemy, a trait that is alarmingly familiar to George W. Bush foreign policy (remember him saying "You're either with us or you're with the terrorists).

-Not even attempting to find common ground in a disagreement or debate. I'm the exact opposite on this, or I try to be. When I interact with people, especially online, I generally pre suppose good intent. It's a big part of what I picked up from reading "How to Win Friends and Infuence People." The first chapter went on to describe evil people throug history from Al Capone to Hitler to Pol Pot and a common thread in all of them is that they all saw themselves as good people. Pretty much everyone sees them as good, so the differences between one person and the next aren't about 'good' and 'bad' but it's about a difference in perspective. I want to understand that different perspective, especially if I'm in an argument with someone. They don't seem interested in any perspective other than their own, even if they have the same opinion on some topics.

It's almost like seeing the matrix for the first time. They were always there, they were always crazy and I went along with them for a long time because I didn't pay attention to them. Now that they're hurting me and people I care about, I notice.