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In reply to the discussion: Battle of the Sexists [View all]redqueen
(115,103 posts)That's what got all the "us vs. them" shit stirring started.
And yeah, most people aren't shit stirrers in real life. If a woman complained about being harassed on the street, very few women would say she was attacking men. Very few men would men would lay into her about how she's criminalizing male sexuality, or ask her if men should ask her permission before "admiring" her.
What I would think is that anyone who reads this forum would notice what is going on when this kind of derailment happens. And it happens every time feminist issues (the ones that still aren't appreciated by many on this site, anyway) are discussed. It used to happen when we tried to talk about rape culture. Then a few high profile cases actually got the conversation about rape culture going, and now fewer people will start this game during those discussions.
Street harassment is still one that people are brave enough to use as shit stirring opportunities.
Men and women are people, but misogyny is woven into the fabric of our culture. That is what is not obvious to most people, and many people really don't like facing it. Many others simply like it the way it is, and so they try to muddy the waters so that the signal to noise ratio becomes such that most people just tune out.
It's sad, but that's what's happening.
You may not know this, but journalists and bloggers have been talking about the avalanche of hate they get for supporting feminist issues. For years. It is a backlash against the recent advancements women have made, and it is currently still growing.