History of Feminism
Related: About this forum10 super cool Feminist men
1) Patrick Stewart
After growing up in an abusive household where he witnessed terrible things, Stewart realizedeven as a young boythat women under duress had nowhere to go for help. there were those who condoned the abuse. I heard police or ambulancemen, standing in our house, say, She must have provoked him, or, Mrs. Stewart, it takes two to make a fight. They had no idea. The truth is my mother did nothing to deserve the violence she endured. She did not provoke my father, and even if she had, violence is an unacceptable way of dealing with conflict. Violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it. As an adult, Stewart became a patron of the national domestic violence charity, Refuge, which operates a 24-hour emergency helpline, and provides shelter, protection and legal help for women and children victims of domestic violence. He continues to speak out publicly, on behalf of Amnesty Internationals Stop Violence Against Women campaign.
2) Mark Ruffalo
As the debate over womens right to choose rages on and abortion clinics around the country continue to be closed, Mark Ruffalo picked the right time to step forward and make a powerful statement; he sent a letter of support to be read at a rally outside Mississippis last remaining clinic. And he didnt just spew out some generic statement, rather he made it personal, speaking about his own mothers terrible and dangerous illegal abortion experience. I have a mother who was forced to illegally have an abortion in her state where abortion was illegal when she was a very young woman. It cost $600 cash. It was a traumatizing thing for her. It was shameful and sleazy and demeaning. When I heard the story I was aghast by the lowliness of a society that would make a woman do that. I could not understand its lack of humanity; today is no different. What happened to my mother was a relic of an America that was not free nor equal nor very kind. My mothers illegal abortion marked a time in America that we have worked long and hard to leave behind. It was a time when women were seen as second rate citizens who were not smart enough, nor responsible enough, nor capable enough to make decisions about their lives. It was a time that deserved to be left behind, and leave it behind we did, or so it seemed. We made abortion and a womans ability to be her own master a Right. That Right was codified into law. That law was the law of the land for decades. My own mother fought to make herself more than a possession; she lived her life as a mother who chose when she would have children, and a wife who could earn a living if she so chose. I want my daughters to enjoy that same choice. I dont want to turn back the hands of time to when women shuttled across state lines in the thick of night to resolve an unwanted pregnancy, in a cheap hotel room just south of the state line. Where a transaction of $600 cash becomes the worth of a young womans life. (Full text)
3) Eddie Vedder
Having played the Rock for Choice concert series with Pearl Jam, Vedder has been a consistent supporter of womens right to choose. In a 1992 op-ed for Spin Magazine, he wrote: combat lines are drawn at clinics, and women must be escorted through trenches, which only adds to their trauma. This is not a game. This is not a religious pep rally. This is a womans future. Roe vs. Wade was decided 19 years ago and the fact that a well-organized group has come close to overturning it is raw proof that we do live in a democracy. But also the reason that any opposition must be equally as vocal. You go to school in Normal, Illinois? Collegetown, U.S.A.? Shout it out. There are people wary of the strength that young voters possess. Prove them right. Decide on the issues and vote male or female for this is not just a womens issue. Its human rights. If it were a mans body and it was his destiny we were deciding there would be no issue. Not in todays male dominated society.
4) David Schimmmer
Son of a feminist, who knew? Our old friend is Director of The Rape Treatment Center in Santa Monica. After working with the organization by appearing in television spots aimed at educating men (The idea is to make guys see that it is OK to flirt, to party but not OK to be silent, to be passive, to witness a drugging of drink or a rape and not intercede.), Schwimmer met and was inspired by the woman (Gail Abarbanel) who ran the the Center. I think [it was] for personal reasons and because I feel like the issue of rape, especially when its a crime against a child, just affects me greater than a lot of other issues. For personal reasons, I had a long-term ex girlfriend of mine who had been a victim of child sexual abuse and then also date rape. And I dont know, I just thought it was an area that I really wanted to get involved with, [to] try to bring more awareness to men about the issue. Im just proud to be supporting the organization. Schwimmer also directed 2010s Trust, inspired by the experiences of some of the victims hes met during his years working at the Centre. Additionally, he has campaigned for legislation to ban the so-called date rape drugs, like Rohypnol and GHB.
Read more at http://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/10-supercool-feminist-men-who-stand-up-for-women.php#07FIMWMA31HozT0J.99
hlthe2b
(102,141 posts)Mark Ruffalo's story is an important one.
ismnotwasm
(41,968 posts)Like Eddie Vedder, mostly because I hadn't thought of him in quite some time
hlthe2b
(102,141 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)A guilty pleasure of mine is the Sean Connery Bond movies--I have to say, women weren't usually shy about getting what they thought they wanted from him
BainsBane
(53,016 posts)He's reportedly a creeper.
ismnotwasm
(41,968 posts)I said "guilty pleasure" because of the over the top gadgetry and plots.
Then he went and made THIS stinker, which I actually watched all the way through. I'm surprised he has a career after that one
In the year AD 2293, a post-apocalyptic Earth is inhabited mostly by the Brutals, who are ruled by the Eternals. Eternals use other Brutals, called Exterminators, as the Chosen warrior class. The Exterminators worship the god Zardoz, a huge, flying, hollow stone head. Zardoz teaches:
The gun is good. The penis is evil. The penis shoots seeds, and makes new life to poison the Earth with a plague of men, as once it was, but the gun shoots death, and purifies the Earth of the filth of brutals. Go forth ... and kill!
The Zardoz god head supplies the Exterminators with weapons, while the Exterminators supply it with grain. Zed (Sean Connery), an Exterminator, hides himself within Zardoz for an initially unknown purpose. He shoots and apparently kills its pilot, Arthur Frayn (Niall Buggy), who has already identified himself as an Eternal in the story's prologue. The stone head containing Zed returns to the Vortex, a secluded community of civilised beings, protected all around by an invisible force-field, where the immortal Eternals lead a pleasant but ultimately stifling existence.
Arriving in the Vortex, Zed meets two young, attractive female Eternals Consuella (Charlotte Rampling) and May (Sara Kestelman). Overcoming him with psychic powers, they make him a prisoner and menial worker within their community. Consuella wants Zed destroyed immediately; others, led by May and a subversive Eternal named Friend (John Alderton), insist on keeping him alive for further study.
BainsBane
(53,016 posts)Revanchist
(1,375 posts)BainsBane
(53,016 posts)are outraged that rape porn is now illegal in the UK.
ismnotwasm
(41,968 posts)I'm at work so I just caught part of it. The stupid is strong in that thread. I've actually watched rape porn. It should be banned right up there with child porn.
BainsBane
(53,016 posts)of the connection between rape porn and human trafficking or between rape porn and rape, please let me know.
ismnotwasm
(41,968 posts)Those kind of studies are usually unreliable because of small population samples. People won't admit watching that shit in large enough numbers, and nobody is going to admit to buying a trafficked person. What bothers me about that thread is that they were including everything from SMBD to TV shows. Rape porn is a specific genre of porn.
BainsBane
(53,016 posts)in an effort to deflect the brutality of rape porn.