I think at this point in history in many first world countries, or at least the one I live in, the idea of trying to reach equality by only focusing on one gender is myopic and counterproductive. There are many areas in which I think things need to be improved for women (like better representation in politics and business) but I also think there are areas concerning men that need to be improved as well (such as a legal system that's biased against them and a higher incidence of homelessness). What we should be doing is trying work on all these things, not just half of them.

I couldn't agree more. I was going to say something similar, I'm glad you brought it up.

I'm no feminist myself but to be fair I reckon that today's take on feminism is not concerned with legal rights like it was up until the mid-20th century or so, along with the civil rights movement and all that. It's more of a philosophical "movement" (a very loosely coherent movement at that, hence the quotation marks) more keen on casting light on certain gender-related presumptions and social patterns rather than taking direct political action. It's not so much of an issue about wether women "should" be at home with the kids or pursue a career or whatever, but more about trying to explain why women and men in general are associated with certain phenomena and expectations in the eyes of the world.

I sorta figured you were a dude.
A feminist dude would be... Different.

I know feminist men. You can be male and support the equality of women, same as you can be white and support equality of race. The fact that you think it's weird for a male to be feminist is perhaps a sexist expectation of men in and of itself. ;)

I am not saying that it's misogynist to believe only women should stand up for women's rights, I'm merely pointing out that there are social inequalities for BOTH men and women that you may not have considered.

I don't think equality is about letting women become men, it's about acknowledging that everyone is equivalent to one another, whether that's achieved by women remaining unshaven, or men taking pride in being stay at home dads and enjoying yoga.

Ah, I think that women should have the same rights, indeed.
But I guess men and woman are not equal. I mean, they do differ.
There's always exceptions, but it's not like it's a good idea to treat my male friends like I treat my female friends and the other way around. And I don't mean that in a sexual way.

I'd sure love to illustrate my thoughts on this, but I can't find the right words (again).

I completely agree with this.

Well, technically, statistically most college graduates are women, and there's been very little to match the wage gaps. So, yes, there is still a place for feminism. Even if society is legally fair to women, there always has to be a force to encourage, and support, and push for women to strive harder.

Apart from that, I am kind of iffy on some feminist values. I feel that sometimes feminist people tend to be incredibly irony illiterate, and overly preachy. I've seen to the point of trying to construe the word "bitch" as some sort of sexist epitome.

However, there are some values I do agree with. One I definitely see is the struggle against the cosmetic/tabloid industry. An industry that profits off of creating an image of feminine beauty that is literally unattainable(Plastic surgery, starvation, camera tricks, photoshop enhancement) yet consistently wants to push women to attempt to reach paying hand over fist to enhance themselves to this illusion of perfection to attract mates that it's statistically proven men don't even expect them to strive for.

Worse yet, from this, there are so many women who obviously conform to this standard of beauty in order to achieve some level of mainstream exposure (entertainers across the board, pretty much. From Jan the weatherlady to Jessica Alba) who turn around and try to defend their "beauty" of which obviously they've attained only to procure economic success, as some sort of skewed pro-feminine viewpoint.

For reasons like mentioned above, I think there's very much a need for feminism, and always will be, really.

Well Vanilla, ya jackass, I was writing out a traditionally incendiary response to this question when none other than my Feminist girlfriend asked what it was that I was working on.

I started writing that 90 ****ING MINUTES AGO. This is the last time I do anything like this when she's home.

This is one of few, if not the only, entries here that actually approaches what is asked for in the thread start.