To preface, I originally posted this in r/TwoXChromosomes, because I wanted genuine discussion, and perspective from a large group of females, with a general tendency towards feminism. I didn't want an echo chamber of people agreeing with my stance. Unfortunately, the post was quickly deleted for reasons that weren't explained, as it was claimed that it was an advocation of Men's Rights and not a criticism of feminism. Since it seems to be the modus operandi there to simply delete anything from someone with a dissenting opinion, I suppose I have to get discussion on the subject elsewhere

Feminism has always been such a strange topic for me. For so long I could never understand why it made my blood boil and caused me so much utter and absolute frustration. For so long I struggled with my inability to support the movement in modern America, and honestly, I hated myself for it for quite some time. I believe absolutely and utterly in the idea that all people are equal, that we should be just explicitly on our character and our merits, not on our skin color, gender or any other superficial quality. I starkly identify as an egalitarian, and demand a degree of equivalence for everyone. I dream of a world where all humans are equal.

So why then did I have such an aversion to feminism, if its goal was intended to bring equality between the genders? After many multi-hour discussions with several feminist friends of mine, I was finally able to appropriately understand why I felt the way I did about modern feminism, and happily, once I understood my feelings, my guilt was completely dealt with.

The goal of Feminism is to bring 'equality' between the genders, however it is done from the female narrative. Feminism itself was an extremely potent and influential movement, and had an extraordinary amount of power in regards to pushing for legislation to support women, which I respect and have unlimited appreciation for. Unfortunately, I feel as though the pendulum has swung further than it should have. As it stands, women possess all the exact same fundamental rights and liberties that men do, in addition to the freedom to have abortions (which I wholeheartedly support), yet there isn't an equivalent options for males. The fact that males are lacking in that regard, means that the rights between the genders have become skewed. In addition, I feel like men are treated as absolutely disposable entities when it comes to the legal system -- they receive harsher penalties more often, their complaints of rape are underminded and ignore whilst a woman can make false allegations and have someone imprisoned and labelled for the rest of their lives without any sort of evidence of a crime whatsoever, with no real recourse for their perjury. Women aren't eligible for drafts and aren't forced to enlist in the reserves upon turning 18. The issues I feel facing women are absolutely social, and given their nature are much less impactful than the issues that face men in Modern America. So while feminism is a potent force for legislative change, the issues that face women now are almost completely social in nature and you can't really legislate social change without absolutely forcing the pendulum entirely in favor of one sex.

Those thoughts aside, I also dislike the tactics of feminism, and their desire to misrepresent statistics. The biggest one for me being the Gender Wage Gap, women making $0.77 for every $1.00 men make, when in reality the gap is actually under $0.04 when comparing equal careers and education, with single women without children actually making more than their male counterparts in the same position. Domestic violence statistics are also quite interesting, considering that nearly half of all domestic violence victims are male, and there is only a single battered men's shelter in the US, whereas there are over 1500 for women, another representation of our societies callousness towards men and the disposability of males in general.

There is so much that I want to talk about, but I don't want to clog this up. I appreciate all of your comments, and I would love for someone to help me modify my perspective or enlighten me further on the issue.