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Did feminism destroy the “traditional family”?
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by generaldecay | March 28, 2009 at 01:19 am
1003 views | 37 Recommendations | 21 comments
Note: I don't ever post entire pieces on NP but this blog post functions as a whole and I don't believe it would work as excerpts. Apologies to the blog owner, and I hope if you come here, you understand my reasoning.
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What is your answer to this question? Did feminism destroy the “traditional family”?
The piece below does not provide a detailed analysis of the question but rather provides some pointers for thought that you may find interesting. I'm rather with the blog author: if feminism has eroded the tradtional family concept of men in the workplace and women at the kitchen sink, then I, too, am happy to call myself a feminist.
Whether or not feminism is the reason the traditional family concept is quickly becoming obsolete is questionable. I think there were several factors working together that ushered in a new type of family framework for the 21st century American family.The industrial age, with its long working hours, certainly didn’t help the traditional family. In fact, this era seems to be the beginning of the end for the concept of a working father with a housewife and good little kiddies at home.
The sexual revolution helped everyone shake their prudish ways and realise there was more to life than a single monogamous relationship. Men have known this for thousands of years, but the sexual revolution opened the door for women to futher explore their sexuality.
Of course, feminism did introduce women into the work force en mass, which reshaped the family life at the end of a long work day. Equal education and equal opportunity programs opened a whole new world to the long deprived female who could now spread her intellectual and creative wings.
The sum total of these events, along with many others, has brought the traditional family concept to the brink of extinction, but in all honesty - it was high time for that archaic model to be tossed out anyhow.
Any system that functions on the assumption that one person in a group is better than the rest in that group based on gender, race or religion is as tired and dirty as King Tut’s dusty grave. The traditional family gave this primary role to the husband/father while the others were all subject to this rule.
The assumption that every man is a good leader just because he is a man, and that the family is in good hands if it submits to that leadership is as absurd as believing that every American is fit to be President simply because they are Americans. We know this is wrong, just look at our current example.
The decaying tradtional family concept is good for everyone since it is quickly being replaced by a new model that assumes equality and rejects sexism.
If people want to blame the breakdown of the traditional family on feminists, I for one will gladly accept the blame.
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Recommendations (37)
Rhonda J Mangus
North Tonawanda, New York, United States
Amy Judd
Vancouver, Canada
Roy C
Vancouver, Washington, United States
sara star
Halifax, NS, Canada
Barry Artiste
Vancouver, Canada
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (21)
at 05:49 on March 28th, 2009
Feminism didnt destroy the traditional family, Technology did! In the 1960s most everything was manufactured by manual labour, automated technology and Global outsourcing cheap labour changed the course of traditional families forever.
During the 1930s New York Worlds Fair, a Display called The Future talked of Modern technology in 2000 with flying cars, robots to do our work, with the caveat that let technology do our work so we can have free time with our families.
Now in the 21st century, the welfare rolls show many have free time to spend with their 1.5 children. How right they were in the dirty thirties as our economy mirrors way back when. The good old days are gone.
at 05:53 on March 28th, 2009
Barry, this is a really interesting perspective. Thanks for sharing. And the recommendation and comment.
at 07:31 on March 28th, 2009
Actually it is the only valid perspective Alice, the worlds female population is not made up of feminists, thus how can one say they ruined the traditional family? I also stand by a fact that technology did us all in for one the invention of the TV which had a large part to play in destroying the traditional family unit, values and upbringing of kids. Later on these kids grew up and had kids and emulated their parents upbringing of them. The vicious circle continued. In the late 50s and early 60s this traditional family unit started its decline with the invention of the TV dinners, and fold our TV trays. And then as video games hit the market, it got worse. MTV, Rap and Ho's replaced upbringing of children. Dinner time with the family all sitting around the table talking with their kids went out with the two income family too tired to talk when the TV does it for them.
at 08:14 on March 28th, 2009
So did capitalism kill the traditional family? Or is simply called evolution.... Family is just redefined. Expanded.
at 11:11 on March 28th, 2009
Well, I don't agree that there's only one valid perspective for anything - I think that with any sociological trend, there are numerous possible, intertwined explanations for what occurred or did not occur. Yes, I agree that technology changed the ways in which family life operates but so has many other things. For example, we don't send our eight year old children out to work any more - that changed the way family operates; we do keep our children in school beyond age 11 - that too changed the way family operates. Whether or not the changes which have occurred, particularly in the last century, are for the better or worse is also debated. That itself depends on what you think is 'better' or 'worse' as they are both entirely subjective concepts. But, yes, I think technology has played a large part - just not the only part.
at 07:19 on March 28th, 2009
"Any system that functions on the assumption that one person in a group is better than the rest in that group based on gender, race or religion is as tired and dirty as King Tut’s dusty grave."
That says it all...
at 11:40 on March 28th, 2009
Sara, I utterly agree. And not just in reference to men and women - to race, sexuality, disability, religion... the list goes on.
Thanks again for the recommendation and comment.
at 08:07 on March 28th, 2009
Over-masculinization of society did us in. Men and women.
at 08:15 on March 28th, 2009
Yes the world could use a dose of feminine compassion and nurturance, by both men and women.
at 13:03 on March 28th, 2009
Roy, thank you for this. I'm interested in hearing more about why you say that.
at 08:38 on March 28th, 2009
Good piece - thanks for the read!
at 11:49 on March 28th, 2009
And thank you for commenting and recommending. :)
at 12:09 on March 28th, 2009
Any system that functions on the assumption that one person in a group is better than the rest in that group based on gender, race or religion is as tired and dirty as King Tut’s dusty grave.
The mother staying at home is natural, who say's the person working for money is more worthwhile than the person that don't earn money, those negative messages come from the media. If the man feels superior or the woman feels inferior then that is a mental health problem that should be dealt with.
The assumption that every man is a good leader just because he is a man
Who assumes that?
at 12:24 on March 28th, 2009
Thanks for your comment, itslefty.
I think it's clear by now that you and I have different views on stay-at-home mothers, but I agree that a breadwinner (man or woman) is not in any way more important than a caregiver (man or woman).
Re. your second question: I understand that this is laregly an society-driven perspective because men have traditionally been in power. Oh, and it's probably assumed by men moreso than women. Although not all men of course.
at 12:37 on March 28th, 2009
Not me anyway.
Different opinions, that's OK, its what makes the world go round.
at 19:03 on March 28th, 2009
Feminism is Herstory now. It came and it will now evolve slowly involving all people and not just the radicals. The world needs this movement for we have to also treat men equally since they too are wounded. . Women batter men and mothers destroy their masculinity before it develops. There will be change but to joyfully say the traditional family is destroyed is rather harsh. There are many people who do actually have loving homes...and it's not the Waltons. We are going through huge birthing pangs worldwide now with the ending of our lack of morality . Knowing our own truth and then staying in touch with our conscience is actually coming to know true love and empowerment. Knowledge has been needed to produce changes but without conscience it will never work. Facts , theories will be outrun and replaced by more accurate truths. Simplicity will come back around with a different brain out of absolute necessity. Until we learn the reasons for woundedness whether it is a nuclear family or whateva we will continue to have a society with a lot of social ills.
Feminism has not been the answer. It helped but the ladies needed to get some therapy and understand and appreciate that there are many goddesses that are in the pantheons ! One role does not fit all. I believe men and women can be whole and have some pressure off by the feminine coming to her SELF which is also about healing the masculine side in her and for him vice versa. Jung said marriage is to be a psychological relationship. Meaning they continually assist each other to inventory their issues , heal, grow and discover new strengths and possibilites. Having power is a very lonely, souless way to live. It can be given up just as the addict can finally give up his drugs and discover a life of serenity. Both sexes want and must have love more than anything.
at 14:43 on April 3rd, 2009
I NEVER LAUGHED SO HARD IN MY LIFE AT THIS POST...
GODDESSES ? HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE PANTHEON ?
ACTUALLY WHAT IS HAPPENING IS A RADICAL SHIFT IN THE WAY MEN VIEW WOMEN... WOMEN ARE NOW LESS THAN WHAT THEY WERE 10 YEARS AGO TO MEN.
WOMEN ARE BECOMING MORE AKIN TO 'TOOLS' FOR SEX TO MEN, OR DO YOU NEED TO BE SHOWN HOW TO USE GOOGLE TO BROWSE THE PORNOGRAPHY ALL OVER THE INTERNET ?
THIS NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT FEMINISM, WHICH MEN ARE SOLIDLY REJECTING.
YES WOMEN DID NEED THERAPY AND WOMEN ARE DESTRUCTIVE AND SELF DESTRUCTIVE, BUT THEY DO NOT LIKE CONSEQUENCES OR CRIME & PUNISHMENT.
THE END RESULT IS AN INCREASE IN VIOLENCE TOWARD WOMEN, DIVORCE, MEN CHEATING AND YOUNGER MEN TREATING WOMEN WITH LESS AND LESS CARE... REDUCING WOMEN TO A MORE IMPOVERISHED, LONELY, ISOLATED SITUATION THAN EVER BEFORE... SURE THEY HAVE FEMALE FRIENDS AND PSEUDO-SUPPORT, BUT THAT CANNOT REPLACE A MAN. MEN ARE SIMPLY SAYING .... " NO TO FEMINISM"... AND REJECTING THE ENTIRE INSANE IDEOLOGY.
THIS IS GENDER WARFARE. WOMEN PITTED AGAINST MEN FOR COLLEGE SPOTS, JOBS, AND NOW IN THE MILITARY... A GRUESOME IDEA PERPRETRATED BY NEO-CONS AND ELITE MIND CONTROLLERS BENT ON GLOBAL CONTROL. THE END RESULT IS NOT A PRETTY SIGHT FOR FEMALES...
TRUST THAT THE FUTURE IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT WILL BE LADIES. SATAN ALWAYS STARTS OUT WITH A LIE. YOU HAVE BEEN LIED TO. YOU HAVE BEEN MANIPULATED.. WHAT COMES NEXT IS NOT A PRETTY SCENE.
IMAGE..... THE TITANIC GOES DOWN IN 2010, ALL THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN DROWN, WHILE THE MEN SAVE THEMSELVES, HAVING LEARNED FROM THE SICKNESS OF THESE FEMALES WHO CLAIMED "I DON'T NEED A MAN"... AND THAT THEY WERE "INDEPENDANT"... THEY FOUGHT AND STRUGGLED HARD TO GET INTO THE LIFE RAFTS BUT WERE TOSSED ASIDE AND THROWN TO THEIR DEATHS INTO THE ICY WATERS, BUT THE SAME MEN THEY SAID WERE SIMPLY "ICING ON THE CAKE IN THEIR FEMINIST WET DREAM IDEOLOGY"... THE BRUTE AND HONEST TRUTH CAME SWIFTLY AND SUDDENLY WHEN THE WHOLE SHIP SANK... TAKING WITH IT WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE FEMINIST IDEOLOGY AND THEIR OFFSPRING.. TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN.... WHERE THEY BELONG.
METAPHOR FOR WHAT IS COMING NEXT. MISERY, ISOLATION AND POVERTY FOR MILLIONS OF WOMEN.
at 14:34 on April 3rd, 2009
SIMPLY SAY "NO" TO FEMINISM AND STAMP IT OUT...
ANYONE WHO IS STUPID ENOUGH TO THINK THAT "FEMINISM" IS NOT A MIND PROGRAM SCHEME FROM THE SAME THUGS WHO CREATED THE 9-11 HOAX, ALL THE MAJOR WARS, DEPOPULATION AGENDAS, WHO CONTROL MASS MEDIA, THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, THE GOVERNMENT.. ARE IDIOTS.
FEMINISM IS ABOUT CONTROLLING THE WEAKEST GENDER IN ORDER TO DEPOPULATE THE EARTH. WOMEN ARE SO EASILY DUPED AND MANIPULATED BECAUSE THEY ARE GENETICALLY INCAPABLE OF REASONING RIGHT VS. WRONG...THEIR BRAINS WORK ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT LEVEL OF 'REASONING'... THEY CALL 'FEELINGS'.. WHIMSICAL, AND CHANGING, AND A WOMAN CAN JUSTIFY MURDER (ABORTION) IN HER MIND, AND DOES NOT OFTEN GRASP THE CONCEPT OF GENERAL CRIME & PUNISHMENT.
THE NEW WORLD ORDER THUGS DID NOT JUST START THIS MESS IN THE 70'S... BETTY FRIEDEN WAS A COMMUNIST AND DID NOT PEN THE "FEMININE MYSTIQUE".. HER HUSBAND ADMITS SHE WAS A SHAM, A CON ARTIST, A VIOLENT WOMAN, AND NEVER A HOUSEWIFE.. BUT A COMMUNIST. GLORIA STEINEM WORKED DIRECTLY FOR THE CIA TO FOMENT UPRISINGS IN COLLEGE AMONG FEMALES... .ITS A LONG LIST OF DIABOLICAL SCHEMES ALL TO BRING THE WORLD TO ITS KNEES IN A 'NEW WORLD ORDER'...
WOMEN, WAKE THE HELL UP. YOU AS A GENDER ARE DISPICABLE AND WHOREISH IN THIS COUNTRY, AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO OPRAH WINFREY WORKS FOR, WHO PROGRAMS YOUR MIND WITH FILTH AND DISGUSTING IDEAS, THAT LEAD TO YOUR DEATH, YOUR ISOLATION, BARREN WOMBS...
YES, OF COURSE FEMINISM IS 99% THE CAUSE OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE NUCLEAR FAMILY. AND THE IDEA IT IS BEING 'REPLACED' BY SOMETHING BETTER IS ABSOLUTELY SCOFFABLE AND HILARIOUS. MEN ARE NOT MARRYING WOMEN ANYMORE.
LILITH DID NOT BECOME A DEMONIC PRESENCE FOR NO REASON AT ALL. ADAM CHOSE EVE, OVER LILITH... IT IS A METAPHOR. IF A WOMAN DOES NOT ASSUME HER ROLE SHE WILL BE ABANDONED FOR A BETTER WOMAN.
I FOR ONE WELCOME FEMINISM... IT WEEDS OUT THE BAD APPLES, THE STUPID FEMALES WHO WILL FOCUS ON THEMSELVED UNTIL EXTINCTION, LEAVING BEHIND NO OFFSPRING. ITS A DEPOPULATION TACTIC, AND IT WORKS WELL... INTERESTINGLY THE PEOPLE HAVING CHILDREN ARE THE MINORITIES WHO DON'T OWN A TV AND CAN'T TUNE INTO OPRAH WINFREY AND ECKHARD TOLLE'S NEW WORLD ORDER MINDWASH...
WOMEN ARE STILL DUMB AS CATTLE IN THIS WORLD, NO MATTER WHAT BOOKS THEY READ, THEY SEEM TO FOLLOW THE HERD RIGHT OFF THE CLIFF TO THEIR OWN DEATHS...
FEMINISM IS EVIL. ITS NOT ABOUT WOMEN. ITS ABOUT DEPOPULATION. AND THE MOST IRONIC AND DISGUSTING AND FUNNY PART ABOUT IT.. ITS A GROUP OF POWERFUL MEN WHO FUND AND CONTROL THE WHOLE THING. THEY THEMSELVES HAVE WIVES. THEY THEMSELVES DO NOT ALLOW WOMEN ON THEIR COUNCIL... THESE SATANIC BASTARDS SIMPLY WANT YOU TO DESTROY YOURSELVES.... AND WOMEN ARE DESTROYING THEIR FAMILIES, CHILDREN AND HUSBANDS.
IN ORDER TO ERADICATE FEMINISM, MEN MUST TAKE A STANCE AND ERADICATE THESE WOMEN BY OSTRACIZING THEM, CRITICIZING THEM, DENOUNCING THEM AND SIDELINING THEM AGAIN. IT IS WELL WITHIN THE POWER OF THE AVERAGE MAN TO TAKE BACK HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE, ONE AT A TIME.
SIMPLY SAY "NO" TO FEMINISM AND STAMP IT OUT...
at 03:52 on April 28th, 2009
"WOMEN ARE STILL DUMB AS CATTLE IN THIS WORLD, NO MATTER WHAT BOOKS THEY READ, THEY SEEM TO FOLLOW THE HERD RIGHT OFF THE CLIFF TO THEIR OWN DEATHS..."
Now, how can I tell that this is a man who hasn't been treated well by his mum...?
Seriously, buddy, get your head out of the 19th century and join us over here in the present! You make it sound like being feminist means automatically that we cannot produce children, will never get married, and hate men by default. I, as a good example, am happily engaged to the man of my dreams AND am four months pregnant with my first child. Antifeminism is all about ego, how men have too much ego to give up their throne and let the woman lead.
What gender, may I ask, is the queen?
at 14:44 on April 3rd, 2009
IMAGE..... THE TITANIC GOES DOWN IN 2010, ALL THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN DROWN, WHILE THE MEN SAVE THEMSELVES, HAVING LEARNED FROM THE SICKNESS OF THESE FEMALES WHO CLAIMED "I DON'T NEED A MAN"... AND THAT THEY WERE "INDEPENDANT"... THEY FOUGHT AND STRUGGLED HARD TO GET INTO THE LIFE RAFTS BUT WERE TOSSED ASIDE AND THROWN TO THEIR DEATHS INTO THE ICY WATERS, BUT THE SAME MEN THEY SAID WERE SIMPLY "ICING ON THE CAKE IN THEIR FEMINIST WET DREAM IDEOLOGY"... THE BRUTE AND HONEST TRUTH CAME SWIFTLY AND SUDDENLY WHEN THE WHOLE SHIP SANK... TAKING WITH IT WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE FEMINIST IDEOLOGY AND THEIR OFFSPRING.. TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN.... WHERE THEY BELONG.
METAPHOR FOR WHAT IS COMING NEXT. MISERY, ISOLATION AND POVERTY FOR MILLIONS OF WOMEN.
at 14:45 on April 3rd, 2009
IMAGE..... THE TITANIC GOES DOWN IN 2010, ALL THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN DROWN, WHILE THE MEN SAVE THEMSELVES, HAVING LEARNED FROM THE SICKNESS OF THESE FEMALES WHO CLAIMED "I DON'T NEED A MAN"... AND THAT THEY WERE "INDEPENDANT"... THEY FOUGHT AND STRUGGLED HARD TO GET INTO THE LIFE RAFTS BUT WERE TOSSED ASIDE AND THROWN TO THEIR DEATHS INTO THE ICY WATERS, BUT THE SAME MEN THEY SAID WERE SIMPLY "ICING ON THE CAKE IN THEIR FEMINIST WET DREAM IDEOLOGY"... THE BRUTE AND HONEST TRUTH CAME SWIFTLY AND SUDDENLY WHEN THE WHOLE SHIP SANK... TAKING WITH IT WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE FEMINIST IDEOLOGY AND THEIR OFFSPRING.. TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN.... WHERE THEY BELONG.
METAPHOR FOR WHAT IS COMING NEXT. MISERY, ISOLATION AND POVERTY FOR MILLIONS OF WOMEN.