I sit near a young woman at work who is quite conservative. We talk a lot about politics and male-female issues. She is thoughtful and has an honorable view of the male-female dynamic. She also agrees that feminism is hypocritical and detrimental in many ways to society.

Well the other day, another woman who works near us struck up a conversation with me that pretty much blew me away. She said that she was a feminist, but that feminism had gone far astray in male-bashing, lies about rape and domestic violence, and in screwing up women's lives.

She is angry that feminism has browbeat women into thinking that being a stay-at-home-mom = patriarchal brainwashing, because the happiest years of her life thus far were when she either stayed home with her child or just worked part-time to spend more time with her kid. I mentioned the 'wage gap" and she was aware that it was BS.

We agreed that both men and women should have liberty and opportunity to pursue their life goals, but that Feminism has taken a militant turn which is not positive. She admitted that it's not really possible for her to talk to her female friends about this unless she wanted them to gang up on her.

Just thought I would share this positive story. It shows that bright and reasonable people can make many of the same observations about society as we do, without ever encountering the men's rights movement.

Addendum: In case you were wondering, I work in a fairly private corner of my department so I am not too worried that people overhearing will look to stick a knife in my back.