Feminist fallacies. Part 1

Feminists are inherently illogical. The reason for this is that feminism is essentially an emotionally based ideology as opposed to a logic based ideology. All feminist arguments essentially boil down to one of two statements


1) I don't like this so its wrong.


or


2) I say its wrong so its wrong.





No matter how much they may attempt to dress their arguments up in a veneer of rationality or logic, that's all it is.





Since I see many of these illogical fallacies passed off as truths on a regular basis, this will be the first in a series on the various feminist fallacies, and how not to fall for them.


1)"how I look doesn't validate or invalidate what I'm saying. "

You'll usually hear this hoary old chestnut when pointing out to a 400lb woman (think Ragnell) that her views on the depiction of women in comics and the media might not be as valid as another woman's who isn't a huge beast. Now while its a very PC statement, like most PC statements its also bullshit. Jealousy is in fact a powerful motivator and it isn't unreasonable, in a situation where comments are probably motivated by jealousy to view said comments as sour grapes. I mean lets face it, If Roseanne Barr were to say "any woman who wears a thong is a slut" would it really be unrealistic to think he views are predicated on the fact that they don't make thongs that big? Lets put this in other terms, say a friend of yours had recently tried out for the football team and hadn't made the cut. Would you view his statement that "only brain dead morons play high school football" as anything other than sour grapes? So why then is it "invalid" To point out that a women who could not be described as attractive if you were being more charitable than Bill Gates might just be criticising the way Powergirl is portrayed due to jealousy? Is it truly unreasonable to think a woman who would look like a beached whale in a swimsuit has a different perspective on attractive women in skimpy outfits that a woman who is herself attractive? And if this woman, due to her "body issues" wouldn't feel comfortable wearing said outfit herself, why should take her statement that "no woman would do X in Y" outfit seriously? Like it or not, statements made due to jealousy should not be taken at face value.


2) Its sexist that as a woman my ability to do a job, think clearly, react rationally etc is sometimes questioned due to what time of the month it is yet no one ever question a man because of the calender.

Now the problem with this fallacy is that women do in fact become less rational, and more emotional at certain times of the month. Granted this effects some women more than others, but it effects all women to some degree. This isn't a sexist view, its a biological view. At certain times of the month a woman's body is flooded with hormones which increase emotion and decrease reason. It does in fact make them more irritable, less able to use whatever native intelligence they have, less able to think clearly without emotion clouding their judgement, and less capable of handling stress. Yet despite these unarguable facts, they want you to believe that its sexist to recognise this.

3) "pressuring" a woman to have sex is the same as rape.


This one is a bit more tricky as it depends on how they define pressuring. For example the line" if you really loved me you would sleep with me" Now there's no doubt its a bit of a scuzzy tactic, but to claim its rape is ridiculous. The fact is in many relationships there are those who attempt to guilt or coerce their partner into getting what they want. There no real difference between a woman "withholding sex" in order to get what she wants, and a man using "emotional pressure" to get what he wants. Both are tactics which show you really don't care about the other person but neither can be considered anything more than that. The problem is many feminists want to conflate "buyers remorse" with rape. You say you got drunk and had sex with a guy your embarrassed to admit you had sex with? He "raped" you by using chemical means. Your boyfriend told you he'd break up with you if you didn't put out? he just "raped" you through emotional coercion.

Now that's not to say that actual rapes don't happen, but when a woman is actually raped there's no ambiguity, rape is rape, pressure is not.

4) Abortion is a "woman's issue"

This is one of the most prevalent and wrong headed fallacies out there. Its so prevalent that many men will tell you "My opinion on abortion doesn't matter because I'm not a woman" others will even go so far as to state no man has any right to express an opinion on abortion at all.

This is pure unadulterated bullshit. Abortion and whether it should be legal or not is a human issue. Like it or not it takes two to create a life, one man and one woman. Granted that life spends its first nine months in a woman's womb, but the idea that its a part of her body is simply biologically inaccurate. Human life begins at conception. From the moment of fertilisation on that life is separate from, though dependent upon the mother.

You will also often hear fallacy 4a - Its wrong to force a woman to be a mother. This is wrong for several reasons. One every woman already has reproductive freedom. She has the choice whether or not to engage in sexual intercourse. Unless she was raped, the issue of reproductive freedom became moot the moment she consented to sex. Second the same women who claim its wrong to force a woman to be a mother have no issue whatsoever with forcing a man to be a father. Many times you'll hear the statement "you cant compare 9 months of suffering to paying child support" except that for one, its not nine months of suffering, for the first three at least, the pregnancy has little or no effect on the woman whatsoever. Second they fail to take into account the massive burden child support for an unwanted child takes on the average man. Assuming a median income and median child support payments, the average man will have to work between 10-20 hours a week extra in order to meet those obligation. At ten hours a week, over 18 years, that equals over one year of additional labor in order to pay for a child he never wanted. If its wrong to force a woman to carry a child she doesn't want its also wrong to force a man to support a child he never wanted. Conversely if its OK to force a man to meet the financial obligations of fatherhood then there's nothing wrong with not allowing a woman to slaughter a human life because she doesn't want it.
Bottom line if two people consent to have sex together then they both must be willing to live with the consequences, if not then you both need to keep your damn legs shut. Also and its sad I even have to say this, but MURDER IS NOT A RIGHT

5) Women earn X% less than men, which is proof of sexism.

This is a fallacy based on people misunderstanding of statistics, and on the refusal to take into account personal choice. Yes if you compare the median income of all men in the US, with the median income of all women in the US, women as a whole earn less than men do. This is not due to sexism, its due primarily to women's lower labor participation rates over their lifetime, the fact that women are more likely to suspend or end their careers early to care for their family, the fact that women are less likely to sacrifice time with their family to get ahead in their career while they are still working, and the fact that men are more likely to go into high risk, high stress (and thus high paying) career's. The fact is when you compare men and women with the same or similar experience, education, and work habits, there is no"wage gap"



Stay tuned for the next exiting installment of "Feminist Fallacies"