Anyone else feel like a lot of "female empowerment" material is just another coat of paint for shitting on women?

[The Ugly One]

I feel like this is fuel for gender war slop on social media and it will embolden men to be more hateful towards us as well as dividing other women and causing in-fighting. A lot of these trends are manufactured by companies so take that into mind.

It's not actually empowering at all to hate the opposite sex. It's enervating. No power is gained; nothing is won.

 

[Not 6 Foot]

"Female empowerment," is either sexual freedom (to such an extreme degree that your butthole is permanently in circulation) or it's pretending that basic stuff women do is amazing when it's just... average.
At least nowadays.

Most empowerment thinking forgets that you're never going to be considered normal in society if you keep pretending that the achievements you're celebrating are an exception to the rule, rather than the norm.
Also, women's sexual liberation was never about freedom to be a literal whore so I don't know why society, at large, pretends it's cool to encourage young women to open an OF account.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

girls aren't conditioned by shitty pop music and girly media to be a certain way, its the other way around, those things are like that because thats what girls relate to. Those cultural products want to minmax the most consoomers by representing their target demographic, if young women are bitchy, catty and petty the current popstar idol will make a song about it and collect her billion dollar paycheck.

Same thing with rap/latin urban and niggers.

 

[Bees]

the girl in the bleachers is on a Something Awful forum trolling people

....nonny how could you...I thought we we postin' pals....

 

[Cherry Eyed Hamster]

The aspect of female empowerment I find most bothersome that ties into the 2000’s female empowerment movement is the commodification of women’s and girls’ bodies as ‘empowering’ instead of just coming out and saying it was for the male gaze. It was a cynical attempt to undermine feminist arguments on capitalism and exploitation of the female form and subvert it by framing it as women choosing to bare themselves because they were ‘powerful’ and confident. This got started around the 1970’s and magazines like Playboy made a killing. Then you had neoliberal women defending this and women who critiqued it were labelled as extremists.

 

[S@credC]

Also, women's sexual liberation was never about freedom to be a literal whore so I don't know why society, at large, pretends it's cool to encourage young women to open an OF account.

Well, part of society is men.

Hmmm, now who would reap the benefits of a generation of scantliy clad, sexually indiscriminate young women....I just don't ~*know*~.......

The aspect of female empowerment I find most bothersome that ties into the 2000’s female empowerment movement is the commodification of women’s and girls’ bodies as ‘empowering’ instead of just coming out and saying it was for the male gaze. It was a cynical attempt to undermine feminist arguments on capitalism and exploitation of the female form and subvert it by framing it as women choosing to bare themselves because they were ‘powerful’ and confident. This got started around the 1970’s and magazines like Playboy made a killing. Then you had neoliberal women defending this and women who critiqued it were labelled as extremists.

Perhaps it's just me, coming from a Catholic upbringing, but from my perspective, the "aspiring slut is actually taking back power" never felt like real empowerment, and more like blind rebellion against authority figures who were more conservative. I have no idea if that was the majority of girls' experience, but looking in, it really did feel like dumbass pendulum swinging back from a strict household. No thought, not long term thinking, just, "What will piss my loser parents off the most?"

Which is stupid AF, because it's ultimately so self destructive.

 

[Blue Flying Leaf]

Hmmm, now who would reap the benefits of a generation of scantliy clad, sexually indiscriminate young women....I just don't ~*know*~.......

People who see women only as a tool for recreational sex/gratification/porn instead of a life partner

pretends it's cool to encourage young women to open an OF account

That's just marketing. It used to be that "broke and bad performing women in math" wanted to be strippers/actress etc ...

Perhaps it's just me, coming from a Catholic upbringing, but from my perspective, the "aspiring slut is actually taking back power" never felt like real empowerment, and more like blind rebellion against authority figures who were more conservative.

Every kid is rebellious. That doesn't mean becoming a "slut" rebellious, that takes programming. Like today with influencers and OF

I have no idea if that was the majority of girls' experience, but looking in, it really did feel like dumbass pendulum swinging back from a strict household. No thought, not long term thinking, just, "What will piss my loser parents off the most?"

Many women today are a product of hippy doped up parents. You still posses the brain to view things critically, they don't.
They don't see what family is, because they never had one to compare with and hippies loved to sleep around.
People said that the entire hippy movement was created to destroy actual families which may be partially true.

 

[Liber Nihil]

There's also a bent of female "empowerment" that says, 'Men are trash and we girls can sink to their level!'

There’s a whole book about this exact thing.

 

[weirdMcGee]

This is why I started to hate the mindless sex and body positive movements for overglorifying unhealthy lifestyles for the sake of "girl power" while labeling anyone else as "Nazis" or "prudes". I'm glad more people are waking up to the absurdity that loving bdsm and being morbidly obese is not good at all. Hell, it's not good for society either yet the fetishist up top wrap the benefits while we all suffer from it.

 

[Froggy Fresh Sextape]

There’s a whole book about this exact thing.

I've read it, along with Greer's books. They're worth reading and honestly I think second-wave feminists were objectively right.

Consent-based sexual ethics just don't really work when society's nudging you to consent to things you don't want, much less your porn-addled partners.

It's a hard needle to thread though since if you start talking about this stuff people think you're like a Pentecostal preacher who dances with rattlesnakes.

 

[Unredacted TND]

I dislike the word female empowerment, or better, i dislike the word empowerment itself. What does empowerment mean? How can one be empowered? By feeling powerful? Of what?

Of herself? Feeling powerful of herself is not even correct usage of the word.

Sorry for sperging out. Yes, i agree, shitting on femininity is generally just a way to shit over women, without looking like that. There are legimate criticisms of femininity but most of the time, it does not go beyond "women bad" especially when given by a man.

 

[2mm and 99 others]

I dislike the word female empowerment, or better, i dislike the word empowerment itself.

Because none of the 'empowering' things are done by those who are actually in power.

 

[weirdMcGee]

I dislike the word female empowerment, or better, i dislike the word empowerment itself. What does empowerment mean? How can one be empowered? By feeling powerful? Of what?

Of herself? Feeling powerful of herself is not even correct usage of the word.

Sorry for sperging out. Yes, i agree, shitting on femininity is generally just a way to shit over women, without looking like that. There are legimate criticisms of femininity but most of the time, it does not go beyond "women bad" especially when given by a man.

I thought I was insane for not buying this "empowered" bs especially when it's used as excuse to whore themselves in front of strangers. Women can do as they please, maybe not in a choice/lipstick feminism way, but in the sense of prioritizing personal self interest and comfort over the validation of others. That to me feels more empowering than commodifying yourself for lonely men.

 

[Unredacted TND]

I thought I was insane for not buying this "empowered" bs especially when it's used as excuse to whore themselves in front of strangers. Women can do as they please, maybe not in a choice/lipstick feminism way, but in the sense of prioritizing personal self interest and comfort over the validation of others. That to me feels more empowering than commodifying yourself for lonely men.

Agreeed. If you want to "whore yourself out" just do it. You don't need excuses, it makes you look laughable. I like your pfp, by the way.

 

[Liber Nihil]

I dislike the word female empowerment, or better, i dislike the word empowerment itself. What does empowerment mean? How can one be empowered? By feeling powerful? Of what?

Real empowerment is being educated and self-sufficient. Having access to resources, knowledge, and opportunities. Not having to degrade yourself or rely on the whims of a man just to survive.

I think a lot of women conflate male validation with empowerment. This is particularly true for the ones who argue in favor of “choice feminism”. Naturally, the choice in question just so happens to be one that pleases men first and foremost. It’s part cope for leftist women who don’t want to deal with the cognitive dissonance of being a “feminist” complicit in her own exploitation, part shallow, pseudofeminist analysis that’s really just libertarian capitalism for girlbosses.

Most of us have never actually known what it feels like to live in a world where we can exercise true autonomy free of coercion. We’re socially conditioned to seek approval and conform to the expectations men set for us, all the while having an endless stream of insecurities hammered into our collective psyche from birth. The unfortunate reality is that women are far more accustomed to being disempowered than anything else, so almost any bit of positive reinforcement in a world that’s constantly tearing you down feels like you’ve suddenly gained a huge advantage in life. If you haven’t put in some real work to unpack your internalized misogyny, you’re only going to settle for scraps.

 

[raspberry mocha]

A lot of what passes as empowerment just boils down to an acceptable male fantasy of women "being badass."

 

[Squanto Airi]

A lot of what passes as empowerment just boils down to an acceptable male fantasy of women "being badass."

After reading lives of female saints and looking over what counts as "empowerment" nowadays, I have to agree.

I may be a moid, but I'm pretty sure this is what women really want to do instead of careers or whoring out: beating the Hell out of the manifestation of the Evil One with a hammer.

 

[Stabby_Pencil]

A lot of so-called 'female empowerment' certainly centers around men for some reason. Like the same things and want the same things as men with similar interests you must be a pick-me and not just a woman that has similar interests and want. Don't want to whore around then you must be a prude. It certainly does feel like we're in an era of disempowerment that is calling itself empowerment.

 

[Froggy Fresh Sextape]

I think a lot of women conflate male validation with empowerment. This is particularly true for the ones who argue in favor of “choice feminism”. Naturally, the choice in question just so happens to be one that pleases men first and foremost. It’s part cope for leftist women who don’t want to deal with the cognitive dissonance of being a “feminist” complicit in her own exploitation, part shallow, pseudofeminist analysis that’s really just libertarian capitalism for girlbosses.

Yep, exactly. Second-wave feminism flew too close to the sun because it was asking the real questions. I'm friends with a sociology professor and admin told her she could cover it but not too in-depth because it's aggressive and some students would complain. Well isn't that the point? (she is the one who got me into Greer btw)

Third wave was nice feminism with intersectionality and trans women are women and Muslim women can wear hijabs if they really want to! It's like they entirely forgot societal conditioning exists. Is a choice really a choice if you've been coerced into it?

 

[ADOLFHEILKANYE]

speakin of competition, i notice the girls in the class are more fast learning and more likely to be dedicated to the subject more than the guys, got any explanation?