Feminist Group

[enriquetta]

45% of congress is made up of women, lots of women lead companies, no predjudice that women can´t be doctors or scientists (which there are a lot in the US). I think Argentina is ranked as 7 in the world as a good place to be a woman, much ahead of the US and UK.

Hi there! I agree and disagree with you, I think Argentina is advanced related to gender relations comparing to other south american countries, but it actually ranks 32nd place on the Global Gender Gap Index and 71st on the Gender Inequality Index (the UNDP one!!). Of course its very debatable how much you can measure on an index but still, they do show the inequality in oppportunities... I am VERY INTERESTED in where you saw that it was among the top 10, as it is something that could be relevant for my research

The quotas law is amazing, and it is true it is beyond 40% participation in congress, which is among the highest in the world, but there are several issues within this insertion of women since there is a very strong division within congress of women for health education and other issues and other themes, such as economics, national defense being dominated by men.

I notice that in some ways there is a lot of discrimination, with the advertisment I totally agree, but also with their general ideas of what is considered feminine and masculine behaviours.. I have argentinian girlfriends that would never call a guy if they are interested, they still think it is not seen as something positive by men if they take initiative and so on.. of course, Im talking about the experience I have with my friends, but still. It is always a schock to hear this things..

 

[Gringoboy]

It's interesting to ask whether having a woman president or prime minister really empowers women.
Taking CFK and Thatcher as two examples, I would say no.

 

[French jurist]

I'd love to see the Femen militate here.

In memoriam, a French ad from the 1970s

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

I'd love to see the Femen militate here.

In memoriam, a French ad from the 1970s

Dude! Check out that hair cut! That's so 70's! I've never seen so much hair before! And check him out ... with that pipe and sweater!

 

[Yogur griego]

I'd love to see the Femen militate here.

They are too afraid of you and Ceviche.

 

[Irelander]

[font=Helvetica Neue'][background=rgb(255, 255, 255)]"In the documentary we interviewed Victor Hugo and he had a great quote:
'Who said that machismo is a tool used by men to opress women? Many of the largest proponents of machismo are women. Machismo is a system of discrimination that has as many male as female victims.'"

What a f*cking idiot. He really could have expressed himself better. Machismo negatively affects men as well as women, very true, but not nearly to the same extent.
[/background][/font]

DontMindMe, I think you need to look over the fence a bit more, and consider how macho culture affects men before quantifying the "extent" to which one gender suffers compared to the other. Suicide, for example, is almost exclusively a male phonomenon. One could of course argue that it's because men are one-dimensional morons who just self-destruct when things don't work out - in that case there's nothing to discuss. But if one believes that the processes by which men destroy themselves, their relationships with women and with their children, is due to what we could broadly call 'machismo', then there is a lot to discuss.

Call me a bleeding heart liberal, but I feel the pain of the wife-beater, the child-beater. They have been brought up, by men and women, to be half-men, to kick "downwards" against their own opression. It takes a special courage to face up to what machismo had done to them. A feminism that quantifies what they go through as less than female suffering only makes it harder for them. Maybe Victor Hugo could have expressed it better, but can you imagine what would happen if he said something like: "I'ts so goddam hard being a man, having to bottle it all the time" ? - he'd be on the front page: "Victor Hugo's Problems With Masculinity" "Victor Hugo Doesn't Like Being a Man" Why doesn't he get a sex change ha ha ha....

 

[PhilipDT]

Suicide, for example, is almost exclusively a male phonomenon.

While its true that men kill themselves several times more often than women do, don't you think calling it "almost exclusively a male phenomenon" is a bit of a stretch? 20% of suicides in Argentina are committed by women.

 

[Montauk_Project]

Machismo effects men by making them be "tough", go to war, not express emotions. Machismo also offers beneffits to women (at least pretty women).
I ask if many women will be willing to let go of their bennefits--not being taken out to dinner, having to do heavy labor, etc. In Argentina a lot of women as soon as they become mothers stop working and treat themselves as some kind of semi-diety, untouchable, owner of the child, etc. This behavior has negative impact on their children who learn machists principals. In our football documentary, most of the female players said it was their mothers, not their fathers, that prevented them from playing.
Personally, I think both men and women need to abandon this idea of "war of the sexes" and both move towards real equality which means a constant analysis and negotiation. Most of what we think is a sex trait is learned behavior--for example, there is no maternal instinct in women. Men need to learn to cry, women need to learn to fight.

I participated in a lot of feminist organizations in University and I got tired of "the men don´t let us speak"--well, rip the mic out of their hand. To scared? Take a self defense class. You have to liberate youself.

I also ask if catcalls are so horrible--as a poster said, if you start a conversation they will stop. If you say "I want to fuck you" they run away. I beat the shit out of a man who said something to me and no one bothers me anymore (at least on my street). They don´t stop you from doing your job. I think it is better to focus on sex crimes, rape, discrimination, etc. And I insist, they can get pretty nasty in the US. I don´t like them either, but luckily the young generation is leaving this custom behind.

I appologize for having the incorrect stat, I will look at post next week (will be off email for a bit). Maybe it was just about representation in goverment (I remember Rawanda was also very high, for other reasons).

I write this as my Argentine husband is washing dishes, as he does everyday.

 

[Irelander]

Ok.... "overwhelmingly a male phonomenon"... how about that?

 

[Yogur griego]

'"Rather predominantly a male phenomenon''.

Anyway, in all my naïvite I didn't know about this. Where did you get that information from? (friendly tone, not sarcastic)