Feminism- valuable success or grotesque failure?

[Gabu]

When the feminist movement started, it was a very good thing.  Women were drastically looked down upon when they tried to do anything that was a "male" thing to do for about the first two-thirds of the 19th Century.

My grandmother and mother and living proof of this.  When my grandmother graduated from high school in the '30s, she wanted to be a doctor.  When she went to talk to an advisor about the issue, the advisor sternly informed her that she actually wanted to be a nurse.  That was the end of that.  When my mother was going to university even in the '60s, none of the professors took her seriously because they all figured that she was just there to find a man, get pregnant, and become a housewife.  Clearly, radical reform of this situation was needed, and the feminist movement was there to do just that.

Today, women are very, very close to achieving total equality in the workplace.  There still are some lingering stigmas that make women feel like they shouldn't do "male" things, but if a female does decide to do a "male" thing, nobody will argue.  Most would even encourage her.

There's just one problem: the feminist movement hasn't died down.

Not satisfied with equality with men, now the feminist movement (or at least a large part of it) seems dead-set on making men inferior to women.  For example, sexist jokes against men are perceived as an expression of a woman's liberty, while sexist jokes against women are considered disgusting, misogynistic, etc.  Women are allowed to playfully hit men - that's "cute" - but men aren't allowed to playfully hit women - that's "assault and battery".  Men are looked down upon both when they're the giver and when they're the receiver of abuse, the former because their actions are rightly perceived as horrible and the latter because it's supposedly a reflection of a man's inadequate masculinity to be pushed around by a female.  Females, on the other hand, get off scot-free in both cases.

I'm all for female equality to men, and it's because of that, not in spite of it, that I can't stand the modern feminist movement.  They've gone past wanting simply equality for females, and in doing so, they've gone too far.

If a feminist does want simply equality, good for her.  I agree completely and will cheer her on.  From what I've seen, however, she wouldn't represent the majority of feminists.

[Gabu]

I find it interesting that some posters think that the feminist movement has achieved full equality when women aren't even paid the same as men for the same work.

I said that they're "very close".  I recognize that they're not equal yet, but if you look at the way that it used to be, you'd agree that that statement is true.  Receiving less pay than men for the same work, while it's something that obviously should be rectified, is not exactly comparable to the way women used to be treated.

As I said before, if a woman really does want to fight for female equality with men, I'll fight along side.  That said, however, it's just a fact that a large chunk of the modern feminist movement wants women to be superior to men, whether they want to admit it or not.