# Feminism **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 18, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feminism/644429 "2012-12-18T16:00:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feminism/644429/21 "2012-12-21T14:51:04Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Another example is the word ‘patriarchy’, which, despite its official definition, makes the current situation sound like “males get all the good parts”, which is patently untrue. The fact I might actually have to list ways in which the current sexist culture harms males is, in fact, a rather large example of how the current sexist culture harms males. Congratulations, you just hit on one of the touchstones of modern feminism. Better hurry up, they’ve been discussing it for about a decade now. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feminism/644429/22 "2012-12-21T15:57:54Z")
What does “free reign with the rota” mean? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feminism/644429/23 "2012-12-21T22:47:18Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Congratulations, you just hit on one of the touchstones of modern feminism. Better hurry up, they’ve been discussing it for about a decade now. Within universities, correct? This doesn’t translate outside universities very well, which is fairly common for academic subjects. Also, being snide is wonderful at actually getting people to your side. And you wonder why so many women don’t identify as feminist. [And it’s also stuff like this](http://theglamoroushousewife.com/2012/08/can-you-be-a-housewife-and-a-feminist/): > [@](#): > > It is the notion that one can’t be a housewife/stay-at-home mother _and_ a feminist. I cant link to one article or blog post that made me start thinking about this, it was more from conversations I had with various women. > > [snip] > > First of all I want to define the term ‘feminist’. I believe that a feminist believes men and women are equal. Period. That doesn’t mean we are the same, that doesn’t mean women have to act like men and vice-versa, that doesn’t mean I hate men or think I am better than a man, or think **a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.** Bolding mine. She, of course, has taken the tack that she can define what ‘feminist’ means for her, but a lot of women, as we’ve seen in this thread, simply decline to be feminists after meeting the culture she’s met. And if you think she’s an isolated incident, get out of the university once in a while. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feminism/644429/24 "2012-12-21T23:09:08Z")
> [@onetwothreego](#): > > I am not a feminist. I am a just a female who wants to earn enough money to pay off my grad debt You have grad debt? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feminism/644429/25 "2012-12-21T23:36:46Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > You have grad debt? That _is_ some irony right there. And to demonstrate how very different the world is for women today, it took me a long time to figure out what you meant by that. I was all ready to defend graduate students and everything. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feminism/644429/26 "2012-12-22T00:46:32Z")
I don’t see anything unfeminist, or feminist, or in any way feminism-related about changing one’s shift at work. I’d feel a lot more sympathetic towards you if you _were_ complaining that this change made your own shift much more difficult, but your coworker’s personal beliefs and sexuality really have nothing to do with it and are none of your business anyway. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feminism/644429/27 "2012-12-22T01:04:40Z")
All of you, GROW UP! ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feminism/644429/28 "2012-12-22T02:36:02Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > What does “free reign with the rota” mean? “The rota” is a Britishism for “the work schedule”. So the people at the OP’s workplace can essentially choose their own hours and what tasks they work on as long as everything essential gets done. And as I’m sure you know, “free reign” is an example of [“the triumph of folk etymology over origin”](http://www.dailywritingtips.com/free-rein-or-free-reign/). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feminism/644429/29 "2012-12-22T02:40:50Z")
My personal opinion is anyone who so misuses the word slave has no business criticizing the way other people use words. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feminism/644429/30 "2012-12-23T01:21:09Z")
> [@onetwothreego](#): > > So…I have a slave job, but it’s a job and I need the money. Like most slave jobs, it’s poorly organised. As a result of the lack of organisation, we are all given free reign with the rota. > > I work with this girl. She claims to be an asexual feminist. Today she abandoned her shift with me to work another shift with a boy she has a crush on. > > It’s not really the fact I had to go on a wild goose chase to find work I could do alone, it’s more the irritation I feel towards her mistakenly classifying herself as an asexual feminist. > > I’m not a feminist. I am a big fan of Iris Murdoch, Cordelia Fine, Leila Ahmed. Not a feminist though. > > However…I get irritated when feminism is self-attributed to women who don’t stand up for the tenets of their ‘belief’. > > This girl is one in a long line of girls who act like this. She even had the mendaciousness to say ‘..the word feminism sometimes makes me cringe.’. > > It’s the irony that gets me. > > heyho A posturing young woman claims to be detached from sexual interest and uninterested in boys, but then throws that overboard when one happens along that presses her hot buttons. This has never happened before in the history of the world! Call Snopes! It’s got to be a lie! Hint. Posers aren’t just men. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feminism/644429.md?page=1)