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

[stevenleser]

128. I have several problems with that. First is that a gender biased term is not needed to describe it

if and when it occurs.

Second, what you have described would seem to be a pretty narrow circumstance but is laced with several subjective terms and puts the woman in question in the position of being able to speak about all women based on their supposed superior experiences and knowledge which is in all likelihood not warranted.

Who decides when a man is "teaching" a woman or when they are simply discussing? Who decides when a man has offered no "recognition of a woman's actual knowledge of the topic". Why should a woman necessarily be able to speak for all women? In some cases that might be OK. But if it is, if she really has that knowledge and experience, why does she have to shut down the discussion with a gender biased term?

I was having a debate with a conservative woman on Glenn Beck's network when I cited a poll that said that even a significant amount of conservative women were concerned that Republicans weren't adequately addressing their rights. The person dismissed what I said because she was a conservative woman and she wasnt concerned. I looked at your definition. Should she have been able to accuse me of mansplaining? It seems like she should based on the definition you offered. In fact, she accused me of it without using the term. She shut down the discussion.

That is what terms like that do and that's the problem. Just because you are a member of a particular class doesn't mean you are right when that classes issues are being discussed. It's a convenient way of shutting down the discussion if you don't want to deal with the arguments. That's all it is.