A developer with M.Sc. in Computer Science. Working professionally since 2010. In my free time I make music and cook.
Also I don't and after the recent events will not have Twitter.
Location
Budapest
Education
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE - Budapest Hungary) Computer Science M. Sc.
Feminism become such an umbrella-term that it is very easy to advocate for it or to dismiss it, purely, because the views and folks in it a very diverse. It's a brand that is constantly being attacked and at the same time fear is instilled in people about it.
The tactics employed are finding a couple of extremists (which in such a diverse and large group there always will be) and amplify their voices.
Maybe it would be easier to advocate for concrete measures, like listening to everyone with empathy. Or advocating for understanding the whole spectrum of neurology, the natural variance of mental states and the fact that not everyone's gender will match their sexes.
I have felt that talking about concrete issues are generally better received then the (mostly externally) overpoliticized term of feminism.
In our daily lives though, it is important to catch casual sexisms in the act. Calling out your colleague who wants to "unbutton her shirt a bit more" (more of this in my next article), or the colleague who thinks "men must get conscripted to learn respect of authority".
The moment we stop normalizing this we are going to be the force of change.
I'm a friendly, non-dev, cisgender guy from NC who enjoys playing music/making noise, hiking, eating veggies, and hanging out with my best friend/wife + our 3 kitties + 1 greyhound.
You're right that so many folks out there try to make "feminism" fit their agenda, and they cherry-pick the most extreme instances to label as "feminist" to try and paint a picture that isn't really representative of how most feminists think and behave. It's messed up!
I love your point about focusing on the concrete issues... getting folks to listen and treat each other empathetically is something that everybody should be down with! People get so hung up on the terminology that they just stop listening. I think sometimes we should all just stop and say hey let's really break down what these words mean to make sure that we're talking about the same thing. I'm a feminist because I agree with X, Y, & Z. It sounds like you don't like feminism because A, B, & C... Am I right? I think in many instances, we'll find that we agree more than we disagree. And if we do disagree, at least we'll know what the heck we actually disagree on.
Anywho, thanks so much for chiming in here! Appreciate ya.
A developer with M.Sc. in Computer Science. Working professionally since 2010. In my free time I make music and cook.
Also I don't and after the recent events will not have Twitter.
Location
Budapest
Education
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE - Budapest Hungary) Computer Science M. Sc.
Feminism become such an umbrella-term that it is very easy to advocate for it or to dismiss it, purely, because the views and folks in it a very diverse. It's a brand that is constantly being attacked and at the same time fear is instilled in people about it.
The tactics employed are finding a couple of extremists (which in such a diverse and large group there always will be) and amplify their voices.
Maybe it would be easier to advocate for concrete measures, like listening to everyone with empathy. Or advocating for understanding the whole spectrum of neurology, the natural variance of mental states and the fact that not everyone's gender will match their sexes.
I have felt that talking about concrete issues are generally better received then the (mostly externally) overpoliticized term of feminism.
In our daily lives though, it is important to catch casual sexisms in the act. Calling out your colleague who wants to "unbutton her shirt a bit more" (more of this in my next article), or the colleague who thinks "men must get conscripted to learn respect of authority".
The moment we stop normalizing this we are going to be the force of change.
This is a really thoughtful comment, András!
You're right that so many folks out there try to make "feminism" fit their agenda, and they cherry-pick the most extreme instances to label as "feminist" to try and paint a picture that isn't really representative of how most feminists think and behave. It's messed up!
I love your point about focusing on the concrete issues... getting folks to listen and treat each other empathetically is something that everybody should be down with! People get so hung up on the terminology that they just stop listening. I think sometimes we should all just stop and say hey let's really break down what these words mean to make sure that we're talking about the same thing. I'm a feminist because I agree with X, Y, & Z. It sounds like you don't like feminism because A, B, & C... Am I right? I think in many instances, we'll find that we agree more than we disagree. And if we do disagree, at least we'll know what the heck we actually disagree on.
Anywho, thanks so much for chiming in here! Appreciate ya.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply, I really appreciated it!