Okay so I just read through the entire thread. (By the way some amazing arguments, be proud of yourself folks.) Which when you look back at all of it, there is a LOT. But I feel it was a worthy read.
Before I even start please realize that it is essentially 5 in the morning and I have been sick the past 2 days, so I apologize for any discrepancy, but I felt if I did not type this now I would forget all my thoughts.
First off I am a male. Secondly I am a feminist although not very actively.
Now a couple points and this first one goes out to men in general: BE AWARE you do have a time of the month as well! Yes its true, once every month or so men have a hormonal imbalance just like women. I have read it and heard it for years and if you don't believe me read up:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=431376 (Yes I understand there is hyperlink but I am trying to get to bed so please forgive my laziness.) It is not exactly the same thing but we do have a form of it. Get used to the idea, really take a good look at yourself for a few months and you will find days where you have felt "off" from your normal self.
Another thing and I know it has been discussed however this is my view: Feminism tends to get associated with Females and only female equality an awful lot and its not hard to see why. But in case you don't multiple memory studies in psychology (I just studied this in Psychology 201 I can post the book name later if you wish to research) show that the average (most common) way memories are stored is by association. And due to the beginning of the word Feminism being the same as Female (Fem) and the fact that females are mentioned in the meaning of the word. This association is what stays with the average person whom has only every so often heard the word without looking into it with any further detail.
However, Feminism as a whole goes both ways. Feminism is about equality for both males and females. SO if you believe that men should have the same equality as women or women should have the same equality as men, you have a feminist belief. (Being nerdy I know but ex: if Feminism means XX = XY then Feminism also means XY = XX)
Okay now that I have that bit off my chest I did notice something else that started to be discussed and then got veered away from.
Morals. All equality is different in the perception of each person. So the argument at hand is one of the hardest type, one of morality. Convincing someone to change their moral code can be one of the hardest things you could ever do. Also, when dealing with morality, you have to consider that how they were raised, how they were educated, personal events and interactions, and where all of those things happened. All of these things and more can go into just one of the aspects of the equality attempting to be reached. Even if it is trying to be reached by both sides, there can be a breakdown of allies in the argument let alone foes.
My thought is this: What, where, and how do you think equality should be? And if you were to be lenient toward letting some part of your ideal be compromised what would it be?
Now I agree and disagree with a lot of different things that were said, (such as female circumcision ~Shudder in disgust~ which is awful) But for the time being to keep it simple; I mainly agree with Malaria on many of her points. Although I do have some different views which I will discuss later with a fresh mind.
Thanks for the evening of intrigue and thought, Hope to be discussing this again later today.
