Turns out I am sexist...

So here is my follow up blog to "Am I sexist?". Despite the title, people who gave me, reasoned, educated responses tended to think that I wasn't in fact sexist. Some said misguided and admitted ideological differences, others were fully on my side, whilst a significant proportion at least tried to give me a reason. Here is a quick review of what I have learnt from the feedback:-

Some people don't have a sense of humour I dislike studying feminism = I don't care about (or in some people's eyes, advocate strongly) the oppression of women. I don't actually hate feminism everyone. Though I am starting to dislike many feminists for reasons I shall explain. I will be told that it because I am wrong/feel threatened/am not educated enough etc...

Some feminists are alright A big thank you to people who gave me feedback with good reasons. I don't mind people disagreeing with me. Actually, I like it when people disagree with me if they can show me a side to a problem I have missed, or allow me to see it from a different angle. One person recommended that both parents take on part-time jobs and both take on equal responsibility for the childcare. I liked this idea.

A lot of women care more about their career than their future children Wooh, another sweeping generalisation! I cannot wait for this to be hounded on but although some people don't like it, I like to be honest. From my feedback, the words I heard all the time were CAREER, CAREER, CAREER. I actually tried to explain that my blog was in fact a pro-children blog, trying to explain how you cannot put a value on the joy and gift of bringing up children. However, many, even when faced with this argument, just shouted career in my face and said that with a job they would be able to afford a child minder. Whilst I don't want to disparage child minding and childminders, I believe parents should thrive on the opportunity to bring up a child. Turns out I am one of the only ones...

Some people won't give you a chance, no matter what you say Unfortunately for too many people, just because I implied that being a housewife may not be a bad thing, it gave an opportunity for them to have a rant at me. I felt a lot of the time that their anger wasn't directed at me, but at society. However, it was me who had to put up with it and reply to it. About half of the responses were a pleasure to read and I learnt a lot. The other half were slanderous, disrespectful and didn't deserve my time. One reader will be very unhappy that I haven't followed his advice and jumped in a river.

Not everything I said was right Understandably, people disagreed with a lot of what I said and I can see why. I put too much emphasis on women working rather than men. I also didn't make clear that when I said I would support my wife, I didn't mean in a "she needs me/she is dependent on me" sort of way, but in a mutual support kind of way. I also learnt that it is too easy to say feminism or feminist and assume that they are all the same. Much as you get different denominations in religion and politics, it is the same for feminism. Due to this, the blog did leave to feminists arguing amongst themselves. Also I should never reference the daily mail!

I am a feminist I believe in equal rights for women. I believe that women should have equal pay in the workplace in the general case. I believe the feminist cause is a good one and therefore I am a feminist.

So this is just a quick review of what I have learnt. I will come back to this and edit it at some point, but I just wanted to tell people what I thought. I know this will upset certain people, but it is just my opinion, and we live in a world where I have a right to it and a right to publish it. If you disagree and have a good reason then please comment. If you disagree and just want to have a go at me, all the more reason to comment as it just makes it more enjoyable for my other readers.

Thanks for reading.

Feel free to tweet me your thoughts @pablakeman

Here is the original blog - Am I sexist?