...how would feminism actually impact on your life?

I ask this question because virtually every woman I meet is completely pragmatic, and virtually none of them actively identifies as being feminist. Most of them aren't remotely politicised and just want to enjoy life. I find many people to be shallow consumerists in this sense, but they're not bad people, they're not malignant, they wouldn't hurt anyone, they're just shaped by the prevailing culture.

Undoubtedly feminism is talked about here nearly as much as any topic, yet I feel it has barely impacted on my life at all. If I were to stop reading PPD and stop reading the media completely, I find it hard to believe that feminism would have any meaningful impact on my life.

Third-wave feminism can be particularly reviled, and you do get some contemporary feminists saying some daft stuff in the press over here. But I was trying to think about the ways in which feminism might have impacted on my life, and I came up with the following:

(i) The biggest impact by far is that it is now automatically assumed that women will be part of the workforce, and I think there is even a cultural assumption that being a housewife and caring for children is somehow demeaning. We now pay people to care for our children so that we can work to pay tax. At least someone benefits, although I can't help thinking it's not at least 95% of the population.

This has had all sorts of economic impacts, but particularly in the UK, it is now extremely difficult to buy a house with one income, and for many to even buy a flat / apartment. This is not entirely caused by women entering the workplace in large numbers, though, probably the biggest factor has been the government encouraging people to view property as an investment.

And, although this hasn't impacted on me personally, it is now extremely difficult for anyone other than privileged women to have a child and then stay home to raise it. This is already an economic impossibility for most women.

(ii) Certainly women have become more demanding with regards to dating, and I'm certain feminism has played a role in this. But it's easy to blame external factors for your own foibles, the reality is that failures in my dating life have largely been my own fault; possibly genetic factors have played a part as well.

(iii) Despite this, it's probably easier to get laid than in the past, and feminism has had a major impact on this by telling women that it's okay to embrace their sexuality. This has also led to more adventurous, varied and better sex.

(iv) Possibly what I call "The Hapless Male, The Competent Female" has impacted on me and could be partially attributed to feminism. I don't really feel that it has because I'm just myself and if people like me then great, and if they don't then go fuck yourselves. And I don't have some tribalistic need for in-group identification. If women view men as idiots in general that doesn't really affect me because I'm not like the average guy in the street and I feel anyone who meets me will see this. Nonetheless, this is a gnawing, nefarious influence on society.

Here are a few issues that don't affect me.

(i) The rape laws have changed in the UK, and are quite ridiculous now. However, I would never even consider having an inebriated one-night stand and this is extremely unlikely to affect me.

(ii) I suppose there is evidence of positive discrimination / affirmative action in some areas. It is argued that females are handed advantages in education. I just don't care about this at all. I didn't enjoy school or college and couldn't see the point in anything I was studying. I always wanted to be a writer. I am a writer. It took a lot of practice, but no-one asked to see any qualifications.

(iii) It is now theoretically illegal in some parts of the UK to catcall. Which is ironic as I've seen a couple of women being wolf-whistled in the last couple of weeks (jokingly by someone who they clearly know well). I tend to disagree with this law, but it won't impact me in the slightest as I'm introverted, polite and typically English and would never dream of catcalling anyone.

I really can't think of anything else. Compared to the forces that economics flout over my existence, feminism is a damp squib.

My view is that people obsess about feminism, as with many other things on the Internet, but in reality these issues usually have little or no impact on their personal existence.

I believe that if I stopped reading the Internet, I would probably never hear anyone use the word 'feminism' ever again. I probably wouldn't think about it ever again. And the impact that it had on my life would be extremely minimal.

So how has feminism impacted on your life? And how would it impact on your life if you stopped reading the Internet?