Honestly, this is a bad example, but it's comparable.
Do you think all slaves wanted to be freed when slavery was ended? I am sure some had it pretty nice on a plantation where the masters actually respected some of them, but when they were freed, they had to go out and find a real job, a home, etc.
Have you ever read Toni Morrison's
Beloved? Just curious. Not sure how too historically accurate it is, but if things are anything like what she described, no one would want to stay on a plantation. Sure some slavemasters may have been nice, but I wouldn't bet that most of them were. It's pretty well known that most were beaten extremely badly.
Some might have gotten jobs on their former plantation but not all did. Then later, when civil rights was in full swing, I can imagine some black people didn't like all the attention they were getting for the sake of it. How does this relate? Affirmative Action.
If a black man gets a job, a lot of people automatically assume it's affirmative action. Some black people HATE affirmative action because they are looked down on for just being a better worker, but that comes with the territory.
Definitely agreed. I personally think that most of what's being done with affirmative action is a mistake. To treat someone as an equal means not giving them special treatment. It's almost like saying "You're not smart enough to get into this college, but we did something wrong to you, so we'll help you out." If I was ever involved with admissions in colleges, I would never take race or gender into account. Past experiences in someone's life--maybe, but to let someone in because they're black or a woman is just stupid. That's the opposite of equality.
Women wanted to be liberated from the oppression of the male minority who held power. Now, that that has happened, it's really hard to go back to being a chivalrous person. I'm not sure if this analogy stuck, but what I am trying to get at is that not all women wanted to be liberated, but now that it's there, they can't just say "oh, I don't want everything changed over."
I think there's a good deal of difference between race differences and gender differences. There are clear differences between genders and they do have different roles because of those inherent differences. Not so among races. But my problem with women's liberation is because they've been trying to tear down those roles, when I feel like they fit the genders well and are helpful.
The way I see things is that the human race was created in halves. That we were meant to operate as a human unit--composed of a man and a woman (this is part of why I disagree with homosexuality). They are opposites not in the sense that they oppose one another, but fit together almost as two puzzle pieces do. They compliment one another. As a result they have different roles in society and in the family. I don't think there's a problem at all with this and I see it as all part of God's artistry. Feminism, unfortunately, has been made into trying to destroy our gender roles which I feel are integral to who we are. I believe in the past it's served it's purpose, but is way overdoing it at this point.
Although it was somewhat forced upon them, it was done by those of their own kind. (I don't mean "their own kind" to sound sexist, that's just how I put it into words.) Women wanted to be treated equal, which is really how it should be. Those women who don't like liberation are those who are too lazy to learn to do things themselves. There is really no belief behind why they should not be equal at this time, except those few extremes, and the basic laziness of just wanting men to do things for them.
I feel like it started from women with the right idea, but it got out of hand somewhere. See what I just posted in response to CK.
But I've experienced a similar situation as Jam. My family and I (minus my older brothers) went up to Maine to a cabin we have up there--it's pretty primitive. No running water, no electricity--the works, or lack there of. So up there we had my father, myself (an 18 year old male at the time), my mother, and my younger sister (about 13 years old). When they were up there we asked them to do things like washing dishes, cleaning the cabin, et cetera. They half-jokingly said we were being sexist. They felt like we were putting them into this gender role, but I think in reality they were just lazy. So later on our motor breaks for the boat, and so we decide to head back home early. Problem is, the cabin is across the lake and to get back to our car we need to cross it.
So here comes the problem. We have a boat, not a canoe or anything, a motor boat full of our belongings and we need to paddle across. My dad and I are doing our best to paddle and recruited the two women to help as well. However, they were less than happy about that. They complained the whole way, hardly paddled (at times I looked back and they weren't paddling at all but were just talking with one another), and during the whole thing felt like "This is what the men should be doing!"
So I ask you: Are gender roles still applicable? In the event of washing dishes and cleaning, they felt like the answer was a clear no. But when we throw out gender roles and ask them to paddle it's "Why ask the women to do a man's job?"
I think women who aren't doing what they could be aren't lazy, but are just conforming to their role. And there's nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately women having freedom doesn't seem to mean the freedom of just being a traditional housewife. If that's what she wants--why can't she go ahead and do that? The problem was the fact that they couldn't do what they wanted. The same situation is happening now. Traditional housewives are getting looked down upon. This is just as wrong as not allowing them to have jobs.
Honestly, all of the "making up" for past offenses like not letting women or african americans vote, or enslaving african americans, and other horrible things that were done... should be worked to an end. Sure, I open doors for girls, I pay for the dinners, I ask them out, I lean in for the kiss... not them. There is science involved, as in men are just naturally stronger than women, but it doesn't mean that men should be making up for our wrongdoings for the rest of eternity. The world needs equality, and we will truly be at that point when nobody is making up for their past mistakes when people were not equal. Yes, we must of course work to that point, because there still is some making up to do, in my opinion. This idea is also similar to affirmative action, which is a bit unfair, and I think the wrongdoings are nearly made up for, but it still possibly needs to be in effect a little while longer. The day Barack Obama was elected president, my dad had tears coming down from his eyes, because of all that has happened in the past, and the fact that it is such a landmark on the timeline of equality.
Affirmative action I talked about a bit earlier. As far as opening doors and everything--that's a gender role thing as well. I personally think people need to get over the fact that men and women are different and do things differently. I pursue the woman and not vice versa. I don't have a problem with that at all and the women I know don't have a problem with it either. They want to be pursued. That's how it works. For some reason our generation is obsessed with screwing up the way things were supposed to be.
As far as Barack Obama becoming president--it is a great event in history, but I do feel like it's a bit off topic. I personally don't think we should have a woman president. That's not sexism, that's just intelligence. Men are more naturally made leaders than women. I don't think they shouldn't take office, but I feel like being the leader of a try is not something a woman is capable of doing. That's not me saying that they're not equal to men, they merely have different responsibilities. And likewise, me saying that, had I the choice, I would have preferred either of my brothers to have been on the boat with my dad and I rowing instead of one of the women isn't sexist either. I just know that the two genders are built differently--physically and mentally.
I feel like gender roles need to be preserved. Limiting the rights of women is wrong, but gender roles developed not because of societies but because of nature. Sticking with what's natural is closest, in my opinion, to what God's original plan was. And, I don't know about you, but I don't claim to know more than God. He's in Heaven, I'm on earth. I don't have much to argue about with Him, to be honest.
