Might help also to describe what you think feminism is, since it’s one of those terms that is overloaded.

I once had a physical therapist tell me she wasn’t a feminist because she thought women couldn’t be as physically capable as men when serving as soldiers, and seemed to believe feminism requires treating women exactly like men.

I told her I was a feminist because I believe in equal rights for men and women, an idea she did not seem so opposed to.

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
      7·
      11 hours ago

      I’d say you’re 70% right, 30% wrong. Liberal feminism has often been a tool of empire, correct, but Marxist feminism is a critical tool for the liberation of the oppressed. Liberal feminists like the early suffragettes were only fighting for the rights of white women, as an example. The way your comment is framed unfortunately erases the need for feminism more than it highlights the imperialists coopting the movement. There are feminists like bell hooks and Angela Davis, Alexandra Kollontai, Leslie Feinberg, etc that point out that it is by uniting the oppressed segments of society that we can all liberate together. Marxism needs feminism, and feminism needs Marxism.

      • AlHouthi4President@lemmy.ml
        3·
        9 hours ago

        I understand what you are saying. And I agree that women are systematically deprived and oppressed and exploited. I just dont see feminism or at least western feminism as the route to achieve that.

        I still am deeply suspicious of feminist figures generally as Angela Davis campaigned for Biden and Holocaust Harris . I have not heard of all the ones you mentioned though. So I wont say all of them are bad. I just remain suspicious.

        I absolutely do not identify as anti-feminist as the people who staunchly identify this way are generally insufferable. I just am ambivalent about the label. Each society on earth will resolve secondary and tertiary contradictions but that is always delayed by the genocidal machine of imperialism and all its tentacles.

        For instance, I have rarely ever seen self-described feminists recognize the power and importance of hijab and instead often attack it. But the hijab can and actually is an empowering thing for many women and is a weapon against imperialism as well. How can we expect social contradictions of gender to be resolved when entire societies are subjected to genocidal attacks?

        spoiler

        The manipulation of human rights in Western media has long been used to push for an agenda of regime change. The demonization of Iran is built on narratives of human rights violations. Its purpose is to subdue an autonomous Muslim state that speaks for the historical rights of Arabs in Palestine. Given the reach of “Israel” at the behest of imperialism and its involvement in fomenting wars across the globe, the Palestinian issue is an essential concern for the emancipation of humanity. The strength of Iran in opposing the US is the strength of the working classes in the region and throughout the world.

        In this unambiguous struggle, siding with the liberalism of the Western world is siding with the enemies of the global working class. Moreover, in this lopsided context in which the power of the US and its allies is overwhelming, it is not possible to speak of the rights of women in Iran without referring these rights to their global class context. Class as I said above is after all transnational, and it is visible in the dominant ideas that govern the channeling of resources. Peoples are poor because they internalize the US’s faux science of markets, development and social rights. In fact, these dominant ideas of the West have not only depleted humans, but they also depleted the planet.

        Rights cannot be divided like cakes and the totality of rights of the working class to its resources is the context to which any partial truth must be “referred back to” before arriving at a more concrete understanding of truth. Can any rights for any gender or any people be gained when US banks absorb much of the wealth of the world leaving many developing countries without electricity and potable water? The answer is clearly no.

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
          3·
          9 hours ago

          I’m absolutely in agreement that secondary and tertiary contradictions are easier to solve when the primary contradiction is tackled. Social progress for Palestinians will speed along once Palestine is free, and would be stunted if Israel were to succeed in its aims. I do believe that uniting the oppressed in society is ultimately the best revolutionary strategy.

          • AlHouthi4President@lemmy.ml
            3·
            9 hours ago

            I do believe that uniting the oppressed in society is ultimately the best revolutionary strategy.

            I agree completely. If Zionism emerges victorious from this war then we are all doomed. I just wish the rest of the world understood this as well.