living islam _ Islamic tradition

    The Inevitability of Failure

    The Assumptions and Implementations of Modern Feminism

    http://leaderu.com/orgs/cbmw/rbmw/chapter18.html

    David J. Ayers

    (She claimed that) sexual differences, universal as they are,{1} are all caused by culture and socialization and thus are malleable and subject to redefinition.

    To ignore competing arguments in an area of such broad ramifications as male/female differentiation is more dangerous than the Soviet refusal to debate Marx.

    As we shall see, feminist ideology has profound implications for the family, business, the economy, politics, the military, marriage, sexual preference and identity, childrearing, and education... NOW founder Betty Friedan referred to stay-at-home mothers and male breadwinners as "obsolete."

    A large number of studies have documented the strong and unrepresentative leftism, including pro-feminism, of the "social-cultural specialists."{10}

    Every year, thousands of feminist books pour off the presses. . . . In contrast, books that present opposing viewpoints are rare.

      Feminism in its contemporary form is an empirical doctrine leading to recommendations for social action. The doctrine has three main tenets:

      1. Physical differences apart, men and women are the same. Infant boys and girls are born with virtually the same capacities and if raised identically would develop identically.

      2. Men occupy positions of dominance because the myth that men are more aggressive has been perpetuated by the practice of raising boys to be mastery oriented and girls to be person oriented. If this stereotyping ceased, leadership would be equally divided between the sexes.

      3. True human individuality and fulfillment will come only when people view themselves as human repositories of talents and traits, without regard to sex.{13}

    Generally, this is a pure "nurture" argument, reflecting a school of thought that sees all human morality, thought, and behavior, ultimately, as products of culture and socialization. Referred to broadly here as the "cultural determinist" school, this implies an extreme relativism. All aspects of human life, outside of necessary physiological functions (breathing, eating, etc.) are seen as subject to variation.

    In fact, all the major positions of feminism can be traced back to the assumption that there is no significant difference between the sexes. To feminists, all (or almost all) such social dissimilarities result from male dominance and oppression, and "justice" requires the eradication of such "unnecessary" differences.
    (But to ignore any) innate biological difference, ... is a fatal mistake, "since if there are important biologically-based differences between the sexes, the rest of contemporary feminism falls apart . . . what is obviously unattainable cannot be the object of rational human effort. In this sense, if the factual assumption of feminism is wrong, the rest is irrational."{14}

    Are the Feminist Presuppositions True?

    The fundamental feminist assumption is increasingly being shown to be fallacious.

     

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