Emma Watson: Feminism can never succeed unless men are part of the conversation

[Shankapotomus]

62. I wish people would stop

equating Feminism with some women who may do Feminism poorly or go to extremes. Each women's experience with patriarchy is going to be different and some are going to be more defensive and reactive then others. Those women who lash out at men I sense have been victimized and hurt more. You're not going to change them by telling them they are wrong or by labeling their anti-social coping behavior as "Feminism" or as "The problem with Feminism."

I think people (men and women on both sides) are failing to see the difference between Feminism and someone's or their own personal coping strategy for the effects of Patriarchy. A coping strategy is not Feminism. Some women are going to need to cut themselves off from all men to recover depending on the severity of the patriarchy they have experienced. What drives them to even more extremes and occasionally anger, is telling them, no, you're wrong.

Men should recognize they are going to see a range of coping strategies from women and some of them are going to be extreme and off the mark just as the behaviors of men can be extreme and off the mark. But that doesn't mean those behaviors are "feminist" in nature. In fact, I think I could make a pretty good argument that when a "feminist" usually runs afoul of others, it's typically when they have been trying the behave more "masculine". So the masculine ethos or culture seems so corrupted that even if a woman adopts it as a way to advance Feminism, she runs into problems with others. Something to reflect on.